Stalling Action
Chia Driver
It was back to the day job in the league after midweek's Challenger Cup success, and Grilled Birds duly forged on with a 2-0 home victory against the visiting Ambush F.C., who had swept their doubleheader versus Joker 9 amidst a very busy tournament schedule. Jimmy Pham would be on the bench today after being sent off in their recent 1-5 loss at Hab Sukan Singapura, though fellow dismissee Kee Kok Hui returned in central midfield - and as Ambush captain no less.
Lim An Keng, who Kee had put out then, would however not be there, as
Mohd Marzuki Khairul faced him down.
Striker Liew Qiang Ze would be the visitors' only other notable absence, with 25 year-old former Kungfu 11 star Hazmirul Sabri preferred over him following outstanding performances against the Jokers.
Wu Ping De kept his left wing spot for the Birds, but
Leongīns Luško was left out of the squad altogether with
Genki Nagano on the bench, and
Hisham Zubari starting in defence.
Unlike three weeks ago, however, there would not be much to watch for the opening half an hour, with Ambush F.C. having taken their experience then to heart. Their midfield would begin by pressing heavily whenever without the ball, with the attack joining in frequently, and that left the Birds with few opportunities to really get going. The first big event arrived in the nineteenth minute when
Phillip Nagata went rolling after apparently being clipped by Ambush goalkeeper Chiang Pin Xin, but Italian referee Francesco Manzolini wasn't interested, and Nagata didn't pursue it either.
The visitors were being very patient here, but their own offense was going nowhere fast either, with Wil Tai continually calling for the ball, only to be generally disappointed. The game plodded on until the 37th minute, when Kee Kok Hui's high boot against
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko - who went down clutching his face - drew a sharp intake of breath from the Ambush end. It was not clear if history would be repeated as Manzolini raced up with his hand already in his pocket, but it would only be a yellow card, to Kee's great relief.
That finally shook the match into life, and
Chia Kwang Tse recorded the first serious attempt from
Johann Schwietzer's hanging free-kick, in outleaping Li Su Yi to get his header on from ten yards. Unfortunately, it sailed just over the bar. Chia would not have much longer to wait, as it turned out, with the next move forward leaving him with space and room in the box. Chiang came out right as Chia decided to chip, which was 1-0.
Ambush F.C. would have their shot in the final seconds of the half, as Yip Jin made his dash with time running out. This had the Grilled midfield cut to ribbons as they struggled to recover their positions, and left Mahmoud El Omda breaking through the center, with Tai and Sabri having tied the defenders up. There was still
Radomil Marcol, however, and the custodian earned his keep with a splendid left-handed save tipping the ball around the post.
Manzolini drew opprobrium from the travelling fans for not allowing the corner to be taken, which extended right through the break with him getting booed at kick-off. Ambush F.C. would not change their tack as they kept focused on shutting Grilled Birds down and finding something on the counter, and although they remained pretty good at the first part, not much came of the second.
A full-on press was moreover not easy to maintain indefinitely, and it proved vulnerable whenever one of the Grilled players actually beat his man, as
Wu Ping De did in the 59th minute. Han Rong Yeng would be left in his wake as Wu charged down the left side, and Li Su Yi had no solution to the slick exchange between Wu and Chia, that left Wu continuing through and shooting past Chiang from a narrowing angle.
With about half an hour left, the onus was very much on the visitors to take the game to Grilled, and on this Chow Pin Qiang took fifteen minutes to bring Jimmy Pham on for Li - who had not exactly covered himself in glory for the Birds' two goals. There simply wasn't much left in the tank from their previous exertions, sadly, and Grilled coasted through with Alstani putting
Lim An Keng,
Genki Nagano and
Paulino Trindade on in a very late triple substitution.
