Humour Hitting Home
Chad Closes
Joker 9 might not be having the best of campaigns, but they ran Grilled Birds pretty close at their hallowed Aljunied Bridge, which was half-filled despite monsoonal rainfall having flooded the turf through the day. It was under these less-than-inviting circumstances that the teams marched out, with Joker 9 head coach Ariel Maceiras seeing no reason to deviate from the wide 2-5-3 that they have been sticking to all this while.
The formation did, by the way, bring them a 5-2 upset against frunzelax on this very ground towards the end of last month, and the only change from their lineup that they took to The Cooking Pot would be the inclusion of 20 year-old academy hotshot Abd El Rahman Abou El Fadl in central midfield, necessary since former Laughing Kookaburras and Singapore U-20 international Willie Yao had just been sold to Poland's ZJZ Malopolska for nearly S$5 million.
Grilled Birds would have a new face too, as Algerian
Houssam Belhocine slotted straight into Johann Schwietzer's accustomed spot on the right side of central defence, having inherited both his role and his number. Usual partner and captain
Genki Nagano would stay on the bench after persistent fitness concerns, however, as
Hisham Zubari filled the gap. This had
Hwang Teck Fu entrusted with the armband, and
Lim An Keng starting in the middle.
The Birds had perhaps gotten a little too complacent from their ongoing winning streak, as well as recollections of their recent 7-3 victory against the Jokers at The Cooking Pot, as the stadium commentators seldom hesitated to bring up. This was reflected in the somewhat lackadaisical passing that characterized their early play, which was of course further affected by the poor ground conditions.
Wu Ping De had gotten the skill on sprinting on soggy grass down to a fine art, though, and his sixteenth minute breakout on the left granted
Chia Kwang Tse an open invitation to shoot - and score!
It did not get better for the hosts just yet, especially after main striker Tejas Gopalakrishnan had to retire with a sprained ankle in the 21st minute, soon after a brave charge past Belhocine on the inside. He had apparently put his right foot down wrongly in the process, however, and would be noticeably hobbling even right after taking the shot. That had young Raghuvaran Dalavai called in once more, as he had been for Tay Fu Yew against Laughing Kookaburras some weeks back, in which he would score the Jokers' only consolation goal.
Dalavai would not be afforded the platform to shine in the first half, however, as the Birds erupted with three goals in four minutes beginning with
Lim An Keng's measured header off a deep
Hisham Zubari cross in the 31st minute. Grilled might have been slacking a little, but they were quite formidable when getting it together, and the following attacks had
Phillip Nagata and then Chia strike again as Joker 9's defensive inadequacies became more than apparent.
German goalkeeper Jens-Harald Schimmelpfennig was far from amused as he picked Chia's effort out of his net, and the Jokers' ramped-up workrate would coincide with a further drop in intensity by their visitors, to have them compete on more-equal footing after that. This state of affairs persisted across the interval, with the Birds still hardly threatened... until current national U-20 midfielder Seif Hassaab beat
Radomil Marcol up close from a fine corner, after 63 minutes.
The Grilled Birds fans remained assured enough to politely applaud Hassaab's goal, but this would turn into concern, and then near panic, as the Jokers carried on fighting. It was 2-4 barely two minutes later, as Faroese winger David Larsen fould
Wu Ping De rather less impressive as a static marker than in full flight. Avelino Franco released Larsen on the overlap, and the obvious return pass would be met by a perfect first-time finish to the far post.
This had the home supporters crank up the volume, and they would get their due another eleven minutes in, as their goalscorers combined for a third. Larsen had been pumping them in from the left at the first opportunity, with Seif Hassaab having established himself as a legitimate threat in the air today. The 21 year-old's jumping ability appeared somehow undiminished by the heavy ground, and not even
Lim An Keng could throw him off his 76th minute bullet header, which meant that the Jokers had almost tied up what had seemed to be an unassailable lead.
In came
Chad Thach for the preemptive rescue job, fortunately for Grilled, as he answered Hassaab's second goal immediately on the restart. Wu would look a lot more comfortable dribbling upfield, but his delivery then called for something special to get it past Schimmelpfennig, which Thach delivered with a half-spin in mid-air. Joker 9 were not about to let up, however, and substitute Raghuvaran Dalavai had the Aljunied mob dancing in the stands, with his gritty run and gun straight down the center, as
Radomil Marcol flubbed the catch on the slippery ball.
This was getting too much for Birds boss
Dan Alstani, who evidently felt that the team required more leadership. This had
Genki Nagano come in for
Houssam Belhocine, whose debut could probably be described as average at best. Genki's entrance probably had little to do directly with
Chad Thach's second goal on Grilled's next possession, that said, and the hosts' impetus would finally wane with Dalavai's booking for contesting the referee's decision on a throw-in, two minutes on.
