Derby For All
Zhong Gets It
Grilled Birds signed off the latest season with a 5-1 home win against crosstown rivals newbies are newbies, in the 44th competitive fixture between the clubs. newbies being safe from automatic relegation probably took some edge off the match at The Cooking Pot, where the home fans loudly demanded recompense for the opening day loss that the visitors had inflicted. With captain
Genki Nagano suspended for his third yellow from last Sunday's defeat to Legends, Chinese reserve
Fu Wenlong got a rare start, as
Hisham Zubari got rested to leave
Lim An Keng linking up with
Mohd Marzuki Khairul in central midfield - the latter enjoying his two hundredth competitive start.
Rising national U-20 star Raphael Lei would be a new face for newbies as he took left wing today, a fortnight after representing Singapore in a 1-2 effort against the Ivory Coast. He effectively replaced veteran Number Nine Li Choon An, after the 36 year-old pulled his left hamstring badly against Batok Earthquakes last weekend. There were otherwise no changes from the side that had defeated the Birds to kick their campaign off, with the newbies fans placing their trust in on-form striker Chen Meng Heng, judging from the huge banner that they unfurled.
It quickly became evident that Grilled had the endurance advantage over newbies are newbies, unfortunately for the travelling support, as their forward line glutted themselves with four goals before the break. They would not take long to get started either, as
Chia Kwang Tse teased Harry Chong incessantly with bold runs slicing in from the left. After a couple of failures, Chia skipped sideways in the seventh minute, and caught Kishore Panjabi napping with a curling lob to his far post.
There wasn't much to be commended about the newbies' resistance for the remainder of the half, and maybe the best that could be said was that they were committed to a free-flowing and expansive style... that too often didn't come off. Lam Kang Su might be an excellent midfielder, but he had no way of stopping an inspired Marzuki in the eighteenth minute, resulting in a delightful forward tap that
Hwang Teck Fu gleefully snapped up.
That second goal had the fans bouncing, all the more after the commentators reminded that it stretched Hwang's Golden Boot lead over FC Jurong Rovers' Khalfan Al-Mukhaithi to two, and Grilled were not slowing down.
Chad Thach took over from here, first winning a free-kick that was eventually converted by
Chia Kwang Tse after a reverse pass in the 29th minute, and then racing through a sea of players to nod a fourth home some three minutes on.
Burkina Faso referee Pierre Aurier had decided to spare newbies the torment, from how he blew for half-time seconds after the forty-five minutes had ended. Whatever Kwok Wan Yau told them in the dressing room, it looked to have worked, as they came out a far more incisive unit. The Grilled team were taken aback by the change, and
Fu Wenlong came up short in the 61st minute when Zhong Kim Tse drifted all the way across before slashing past him to reduce.
Radomil Marcol could have done nothing with the finish, buried right into the far lower corner, and his shift would just be starting. He would have to parry respectable strike from Mike Kim and Lam Kang Su in turn within the next ten minutes or so, with Grilled mustering up only a floated free-kick in the meantime, that
Wu Ping De missed contact on. Lam's shot would however see Chen Meng Heng sweep
Johann Schwietzer's legs out from under him in his eagerness to rush Marcol, which had him carded.
Wu Ping De wouldn't let his earlier miscue get him down, and he would be rewarded with a goal 78 minutes in. The Birds had not been attacking much for some minutes, and the sudden transition coming after
Ananda Hettiarachchi won a fifty-fifty challenge against Ghani Zakwan would prove the break they needed. Wu raced inside early anticipating the move, and a decisive pass from Chia brought him the opportunity to split the newbies back two with a dribble - which he did.
newbies could not have held much hope of turning the game around at this point, but they did try for a second consolation about the 84th minute. Ghani Zakwan's silky footwork embarassed
Lim An Keng then, with
Radomil Marcol saving the day - before having his quick throw out read by Raphael Lei. Lei wasted no time in passing it on for Zhong Kim Tse, who alas couldn't get the ball under control before the angle tightened.
There would be a huge roar towards the end of the match after it was confirmed that
Hwang Teck Fu had won the Golden Boot, and he would be greeted with a standing ovation upon passing the armband to
Lim An Keng, before being subbed off for
Kendell El Khateeb in the final minute.
Johann Schwietzer and
Fu Wenlong came off for
Hisham Zubari and
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko too, with the trio waiting on the sidelines for the season-ending bow to the fans.
