Zai Hui
Ace Asher
Grilled Birds just edged past Division Three longtimers Rui Hui to enter the sixth round of the Singapore Cup. Rui Hui were without defenders Darren Sloan and Anthony Davies to injury and suspension respectively, and
Ulf Hjortlind's deadliness was displayed to all when he extended his four-match scoring streak before most of the seats at Rui Hui's AnGeLs PArk stadium were warmed. Blissenbach, deployed out wide for this game, gave Hjortlind an open look at goal and that was all Hjortlind needed. Pakpao got a caution as the referee imposed his will on the game. Rui Hui's Swedish keeper Niclas Eggner was exposed by Grilled's incisive passing, but Hjortlind somehow bounced his lob onto the crossbar. No goal. Eggner earned this week's wages with a one-handed response to
Peter Åhsten's lunging header. It fell to
Asher Stanton to poach the second three minutes later, as the offensive midfielder got Stern's expert pass through a sea of players to push the ball right into the corner of goal. Hjortlind was aghast as he had already begun celebrating his second goal after beating Eggner comprehensively, but Rui Hui's alert leftback Fernando Moreno slid his languid finisher away from goal. Hjortlind had earlier been carded for inappropriate behaviour, something Bakunin surely gave him stick for at the interval.
The second half was a real sleeper, as both sides appeared to have colluded to maintain the score and end the game without further losses. The only chance of the half was in the 54th minute when
Joe Stern went alone against Eggner and touched the ball past him, but the weak shot was collected comfortably by Mexican centerback Freixes Montes. Rui Hui's USA midfielder Denis Mccartney did dribble past a few men, but never came close.
Peter Åhsten concentrated on the weak Rui Hui right flank, but didn't create any breakthroughs, even getting a yellow card as he got too free with his hands against Lin Fu-sheng. Hang Wong-Soon tried hard to increase his number of Cup goals, already having ten under his belt this season, but was starved of service. Hjortlind fared little better as his teammates took to passing horizontally, as
Asher Stanton orchestrated the midfield to the end.
