Kick In The NutsZ
Ananda In The Zone
Grilled Birds would rematch with the former Four Leaf Pandas and now Ultimate NutsZ II in the fourth round of the Singapore Cup, having won by four goals in both their shared league fixtures last term. While the NutsZ have been doing quite well in III.1, having won their first three matches thus far, there would be little change on the Birds end as
Ananda Hettiarachchi pulled out a Man of the Match performance, before over sixty thousand watchers.
The sunny weather and quick pitch at Singapore Arena moreover favoured Grilled's wingers, as young NutsZ head coach Kwa Jia Ying made the most of what he had; 19 year-old prospect Yaseen Ridhwan Nazmi had left for Chile's Iberia UC reportedly to raise his chances of making the national youth squad, but there would be otherwise few changes with Kasey Yeo still standing proud in his Number Nine shirt. Dutchman Lennaert van Mol had established himself as perhaps NutsZ's biggest threat on the front foot, but it would be Polish goalkeeper Józef Krygiel on whose shoulders rested his team's hopes the most.
It would not go well for Krygiel, who would concede after just five minutes of play. NutsZ's ambitions to counterattack in a 4-5-1 could be understood, but as before it was a case of the personnel not quite up to the requirements of the coaching staff's strategy. All the numbers at the back meant for little as
Genki Nagano moved up on a suffocating Grilled press, and the Birds captain would volley
Phillip Nagata's return cross into the net, after his previous strike off the crossbar had gone across to the winger in the first place.
That made an unlikely scorer, but Grilled were by no means complaining, as they strove for a quick second. Ultimate NutsZ II got better, it had to be admitted, and they withstood a constant siege by guarding their final third with an understated ferocity. Turkish centreback Ufuk Yalçın would be in the thick of things, but a single mistake in the 33rd mistake had him play it too close to
Chia Kwang Tse - who went on to calmly take it around Krygiel, with Lee Youyao's sliding save coming a fraction too late from the replay.
The tempo only increased going into the final five minutes of the half, which saw Kasey Yeo crunch into
Chad Thach's right ankle while helping out at the back. Polish referee Sędziwoj Akonom allowed play to go on then, which had
Lim An Keng force a big save off Krygiel, before he stopped the game to book Yeo. Two minutes later,
Chad Thach had a go from Nagata's tee-up from about twenty yards out, but it went hopelessly wide with Michael Hao courageously blocking his view.
Things got a lot more exciting six minutes into the next half, after Syamsul Bahri Daniel Hariz stopped Nagata mid-dribble for once, after correctly reading his feint. The ensuing counter got off to an excellent start as Hariz swept it forward for Lennaert van Mol depite being closed down, and the wingback would top it off by running some seventy metres to finish off what he had started, with
Radomil Marcol late to go to ground. 2-1!
NutsZ's quest for an equaliser would only end in tears, sadly for them, as they pushed too recklessly in their search. It was Van Mol's turn to be robbed four minutes after the reducer, as
Ananda Hettiarachchi positioned himself right where he thought the turn was going.
Phillip Nagata took a page out of the opposition's book as he beat NutsZ's offside trap to score on the return, and might have had another three minutes later, but for former Brotherhood SG star Wang Kwang deflecting his drive into the side netting.
The match remained within reach for NutsZ, or so their fans thought, from the incessant cheering coming from their end. The roar came to a head after Krygiel's block off
Hwang Teck Fu in the 63rd minute unleashed Alex Ónodi up the right wing for once, and he passed two players to feed the chasing Juhamatti Männikkö... only for it to crash off the crossbar.
Hisham Zubari reacted first, and the counter-counter soon saw
Ananda Hettiarachchi put it past Krygiel, to fittingly crown his day with a goal.
Alex Ónodi would be off five minutes later for reserve winger George McDonald as Kwa urged his team to one last effort, eventually also replacing captain Lee Youyao with Hunter Nguyen as a second striker. This did not have much of an impact, as the final score implied, with Grilled holding the ball for the entirety of added time.
