Royal Rumble
Hwang At Fore
The Birds halted their losing streak at two games with today's home victory against frunzelax, which saw
Hwang Teck Fu record four goals in a dazzling individual masterpiece. The East Coast side had admittedly not travelled well the past weeks, having lost to FC Jurong Rovers in the league after a Sapphire Challenger Cup semifinals defeat to Queenstown MZKs - who went on to fall to East Coast Warriors in the finals.
Grilled were not doing much better themselves, and head coach
Dan Alstani would make it clear before the game that all he wanted was the three points, come what may. frunzelax boss Chadi Selawi had come under fire for their loss to Rovers last Sunday, but there would be no changes in his starting lineup at The Cooking Pot. There were some tweaks though with national star Jayadevan Satarkar stationed in the centre instead of to the left of the attack, not that it was his day today.
The Birds started with fire in their bellies as the home faithful cheered them on, and opposing vice-captain Licínio da Conceição lasted just six minutes before being booked, for holding up a free-kick by
Phillip Nagata. That merely delayed the inevitable for a little while, as
Wu Ping De availed himself of the space left behind from his teammates' crowding the other flank.
Hwang Teck Fu spotted the opportunity, and bent Wu's inside ball past Jorge Catriman first-time.
Hwang made himself the centre of attention with his frequent hanging off Felix Mporogomyi's shoulder, to the point that the former Tanzanian youth international had to call in for assistance at regular intervals. That was not soon enough to prevent Hwang from doubling up just three minutes later off a ferocious dribble, with Swiss defender
Johann Schwietzer contributing his first goal for Grilled Birds in the 28th minute on a late supporting run.
This was going better than what the home fans had anticipated, although they were perhaps fortunate that Satarkar didn't get the service that he wanted. Young Romanian playmaker Alexandru Cozma tried to get attacks going, but was unfortunate to face a
Chia Kwang Tse who quite relished his central role. There was some worry towards the end of the half when Li Fu Ze broke through the lines, but
Ananda Hettiarachchi was there to cover in the end.
Johann Schwietzer was back in the thick of things three minutes after the restart, as frunzelax perhaps sat a bit too deep in trying to stabilize. The centre was well-guarded, which had Schwietzer lift it to the sprinting
Phillip Nagata without so much as a confirmatory look. A fourth goal appeared on the books as James Gill missed the interception, but Nagata then fired into the side netting, instead of squaring it for a
Mohd Marzuki Khairul sitter.
Selawi had little to lose by shaking it up now, and it would be Gill off for local trainee Pradeep Karivardhan in the 59th minute, with Da Conceição taking over as skipper. The restart saw a clash of legs between Edgar Busby and
Hisham Zubari as they went full tilt for Matrisciano's throw-in, with the frunzelax man coming off the worse. It wasn't serious, fortunately, and Busby was back up and running after brief treatment.
Busby went on to create an assist about thirteen minutes later, as the visitors sought to stretch Grilled on the wings. The cross from the right seemed a little long, but Pradeep Karivardhan inserted himself adroitly where Satarkar had been held off, and headed it firmly past
Radomil Marcol.
Hwang Teck Fu reclaimed the limelight six minutes on though, with his hat-trick coming from
Lim An Keng's patient planning.
The frunzelax captaincy changed hands again as Andrés Eduardo Gallese entered for Licínio da Conceição right after that, but that only encouraged Grilled to try and run up the score; Catriman made a great stop from Lim right after that substitution, only for
Hwang Teck Fu to then mop up the rebound from his own strike in the 82nd minute. Walter Morán burnt
Phillip Nagata on the touchline but had no end product, and it would be the woodwork to save the visitors from a couple more late attempts by Grilled.
