Too Casual
Satarkar Superb
frunzelax again came good against Grilled Birds following a tepid start to their season, as they collected a 5-2 home win that Grilled could honestly not whine about. 27 year-old homegrown hero Jayadevan Satarkar showed just why he has been lighting it up for the national team, as he struck twice in the first half for frunzelax to build the gap that they needed.
Losses to Marine Parade Kings and Singapore Big Dogs had tempered the pundits' enthusiasm for the hosts here, though they would note that frunzelax had scored at least twice in all the games thus far, which had Chilean goalkeeper Jorge Catriman and his defence come under some scrutiny. A 2-3 midweek Singapore Cup loss to Division Three challengers Crème de la crème hadn't helped, with the underdogs holding out at a man down, after Lee Nie Keong got sent off for two yellows within three minutes by the 49th.
frunzelax were probably too good a team to be unlucky for much longer, and head coach Chadi Selawi reshuffled his midfield after the Big Dogs experience, returning Pradeep Karivardhan to the inside and shifting Walter Morán wide right. Former Tanzanian youth international defender Felix Mporogomyi was moved to a more central position too, anticipating
Phillip Nagata's narrower focus.
Hisham Zubari found it hard to recover his league spot as
Lim An Keng was picked ahead of his in central midfield, but it was Myanmar star
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko who was the standout today. Starting in his favourite position left of the middle, Hein matched up well against English veteran James Gill in the early going, with the frunzelax captain having a difficult thirty-sixth birthday. Chances were rare with the teams being cautious, but Isaia Matrisciano was a step behind in reacting to
Chia Kwang Tse in the 23rd minute, which was all the opening than Hein needed to put it past Catriman.
This was also about when frunzelax started moving up through the gears, as the Birds got sloppy in possession in turn. None of the Grilled players tracked Felix Mporogomyi as he advanced through the ranks about the 32nd minute, and only a late intervention by
Johann Schwietzer prevented him from getting a good shot off.
Chia Kwang Tse then came decently close several minutes later as
Chad Thach slid it across from the right, but Mporogomyi was there to save his goalie's blushes with a monster lunge to clear the danger.
Grilled were looking good for a one-nil lead at half-time, when frunzelax suddenly came alive - and that was if anything an understatement. Jayadevan Satarkar had gained rave reviews after his winner in a 2-1 Nations Cup victory over Kazakhstan a fortnight ago, but had not scored in his four starts since. His class remained permanent, though, and showed up when
Ananda Hettiarachchi could only redirect Edgar Busby's cross in the 40th minute. A lesser striker might have watched the deflection fly by, but Satarkar simply wheeled around to fire an unstoppable volley over
Johann Schwietzer's distraction.
Two more frunzelax goals came in the next three minutes, as the Birds found themselves entirely lost against the home side's scintillating passing. Pradeep Karivardhan might be just twenty-two, but he made the more-experienced Birds midfielders look silly with his touch out for Edgar Busby in the 42nd minute. Grilled Birds then fell to pieces trying to force an attack from the kick-off, and
Genki Nagano was left chasing a lost cause as Jayadevan Satarkar surged inside for 3-1.
Quite astoundingly, the Birds team would stick to their previous tactics on their third restart in quick succession, with
Hwang Teck Fu carrying the ball past three frunzelax players - though Loh Jia Fu understandably couldn't believe it in all fairness. Catriman didn't give his critics much reason to change their mind as he dove too early against
Chia Kwang Tse after the latter had held Isaia Matrisciano off, leaving Chia to round him.
The match still looked saveable for Grilled Birds at this point, all the more as they started the second half the more active of the teams. Their obvious bias towards bringing the ball inside might have worked against them, as was also their tendency to work it towards
Phillip Nagata's right flank on the attack. This resulted in only the one big chance for
Hwang Teck Fu before the final ten minutes, but he crashed it onto the crossbar in the 61st.
Giovanni Guaiana exited for Loh Hui Yun in the 79th minute after a thorough workout against
Lim An Keng, one that neither really won. Grilled Birds got a break on the throw-in following the substitution, as
Mohd Marzuki Khairul capitalized on a slip by Ecudadorean winger Walter Morán. Spotting Chia making his move, Marzuki produced a delightful through ball hit first time, but like Hwang before him, Chia was also denied by the woodwork.
It was just not looking like the Birds' day, and Li Fu Ze soon had the crowd roaring with a sleight of foot that had
Lim An Keng going the wrong way, but
Radomil Marcol earned his keep with a parry from six yards. Grilled weren't able to get the ball away, however, and after a couple of minutes of recycling from the hosts, James Gill strolled through to collect his belated birthday gift as Jayadevan Satarkar poked it behind the backline.
That was also it for South African winger Edgar Busby, who had pulled his right calf racing with Nagata on that same move. Adrian Nam roused the home fans as he came on, with
Dan Alstani leaving it till very late for his triple substitution that had
Hisham Zubari,
Paulino Trindade and
Fu Wenlong on to try and rescue a point - which, from the looks on the travelling support's faces, few of them expected.
The subs did not spare any effort, to give them at least that, and
Mohd Marzuki Khairul would put on perhaps his best run of the day as stoppage time began. This resulted in a long cross over to
Chad Thach, but Jorge Catriman chose this time to pull out a wonderful double save, and the return had Adrian Nam nod Morán's early ball past Marcol for a memorable win.
