Belakang Pusing
Hwang Resumes
It was a bad start, but Grilled Birds recovered from two goals down to prevail 6-2 against Marine Parade Kings in today's league match at The Cooking Pot. The Kings had entered the game undefeated in II.2 so far, with wins against frunzelax and Joker 9 before being held to a 3-3 draw by FC Jurong Rovers last weekend. All eyes were naturally on Dutch striker Alex Blom, who had scored in all three fixtures, before going into his four goals against the Birds from last season.
Blom had however been denied in the Kings' 3-7 Singapore Cup defeat to frunzelite, that instead had Tiziano Lauri outshone by Federico Benvenuto's hat-trick. Both Lauri and Blom would start today as Kings boss Lasse Ericsson dropped Sebastiano Benigni for a wide 3-5-2, that had György Aradi as centreback with defensive support by Stefan Rahmby and Manuele Capirossi. The Birds fielded
Hwang Teck Fu after his absence from cup competition, as well as
Hisham Zubari, who made his first league start of the term.
The early going would raise valid questions about whether Zubari deserved his spot on current form, however, as he failed to mesh with Ananda and Hein against a well-marshalled Kings midfield engine. Rahmby demonstrated excellent leadership both with the ball and without, and it was his defence-splitting long pass that set Tiziano Lauri free in the twelfth minute. Zubari and
Genki Nagano converged on the forward, only for Lauri to slide it smoothly across the box, right into the path of Johst Heidekorn - who hit it with real venom for the first goal.
Zubari did try to rouse his teammates, and the second goal was not down to him in fairness, as the Birds lost their shape in pursuing an equalizer in the 23rd minute.
Chad Thach sold a pass to
Lim An Keng before pulling it back for
Hwang Teck Fu, who unfortunately missed the roof of the net. Ahmad Al-Arab blasted a big goal kick over to Pier Francesco Olei on the right touchline, and Lauri polished the rapid counterattack off with the Birds defenders outnumbered two to three.
Ericsson was seen beaming as the match cameras swung over to check the reaction in the dugouts, and he evidently saw few reasons to change a winning formula. This however became a topic for debate after the match as the hosts started to wrest control, leading into a free-kick given for a high boot by Gael Delgado against
Lim An Keng in the 32nd minute.
Johann Schwietzer surveyed his options, before tapping it short for
Genki Nagano. The expected shot never came, though, and a couple of tap-ons later, it had circulated wide to
Phillip Nagata, who ripped it into the net from just inside the six-yard box.
That had the home supporters the loudest that they had been thus far, and the volume would only increase as Grilled Birds overturned Marine Parade Kings' lead in the next four minutes.
Wu Ping De's feverish sprint in the next minute had
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko's effort take a huge deflection off Krisztián Kolozár that left Al-Arab stranded, and Nagata was next with an assist for
Chad Thach, as he was left with far too much space on the right side.
The travelling fans appeared shellshocked at how quickly the tides had turned, but they would recover with chants directed at Alex Blom, who had been so lethal in similar big games. Swiss defender
Johann Schwietzer had his number for much of the time today, sadly for the Kings, and on the few occasions that Blom lost his marker, backup usually arrived within seconds.
The second half got going with Marine Parade Kings presenting themselves with a lot more ambition than they had towards the end of the previous one, but this was not exactly to their benefit after Delgado lost out to
Ananda Hettiarachchi as their offensive dragged out. Ananda poked it over to
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko right as Manuele Capirossi came in with the tackle, and Hein flaunted his awareness with a perfectly-weighted lob over the top, exactly where
Hwang Teck Fu wanted it - and he doesn't miss often in such cases.
It became 5-2 just five minutes later in the 52nd, as the visitors found no answer to a Birds team that had gotten into their flow. They were effectively toughing the assaults out with five strung across the back now, but this would also yield Grilled plenty of maneuvering room, right in front of their penalty area.
Wu Ping De took it inside Kolozár as his forwards sowed chaos, and although
Lim An Keng couldn't get a clear sight of goal,
Johann Schwietzer could after it was decisively laid back to him.
There was little question about whether Grilled Birds would be taking the three points by now, just how many more goals there would be, and the Kings largely stabilized it up until the eightieth minute, when
Hwang Teck Fu got his brace after a mazy dribble.
Ananda Hettiarachchi then got the only yellow card of an otherwise clean contest for going hard into Manuele Capirossi, after which Ahmad Al-Arab kept the scoreline down with saves from Schweitzer and then Hwang, before
Chad Thach put it well over with two minutes remaining.
