Prince Of The North
Ananda Application
Entering his third full season with Grilled Birds, 28 year-old Sri Lankan midfielder
Ananda Hettiarachchi bagged his first hat-trick for the club against III.10 leaders One-North CF today - and it took him just twenty-four minutes to do it.
Chia Kwang Tse added a fourth before the half was out, but that was it as Grilled wound down afterwards.
This would be the sides' first meeting, with One-North CF being the latest in a series of setups by the same management that includes the former FC Sofitel, Holland Saint-Pierre and Andaz FC. The latest incarnation appears to have stuck with One-North CF celebrating their eighth season, moreover with the recent signings of Topias Lehkonen and Wiktor Kramkowski for a combined total of over S$10 million seen as a sign of ambition by Slovakian head coach Roland Ondráš.
Both would start - at goalkeeper and sweeper respectively - in One-North's 3-5-2, though the bulk of their hopes remained resting on Peruvian forward Maurice Zignago, who has only grown since his arrival. 23 year-old Barbados playmaker Joel Lewis captained the team despite his relatively tender years, having struck up a fine understanding with similarly-aged Italian right winger Gino Petretto. Russian counterpart Artemiy Savostikov provided balance on the other side of the pitch, with big Norwegian pivot Torbjørn Berger tasked to shield the backline.
It was a formidable arrangement certainly, but unfortunately not quite up to the level of the Birds' own just yet, what with Grilled's midfield having close to a decade of experience on them. Savostikov in particular had been making quite a name for himself in the third division, but the contrast against
Ananda Hettiarachchi was only too obvious to the eye. The Russian was left tackling air as Ananda moved in accompanying
Hisham Zubari's advance in the eleventh minute, with Ananda then making the finish against Topias Lehkonen look almost trivial.
Torbjørn Berger tried to spark a response with some fierce runs at the Grilled opposition, but Ananda was just getting started in showing off his oeuvre. While he has oft been described as the cerebral and calculating type of midfield controller, his game very much has an edge to it when needed too, as he amply displayed in the 22nd minute. Berger appeared to have his approach covered, but Ananda accelerated through with a seldom-displayed aggression, before putting his laces through the ball to bulge the net.
The question of whether Ananda would finally get his treble after over forty appearances took just two more minutes to be settled, as a winding run by former Myanmar international
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko got a corner out of combative Chilean fullback Nabor Chavez. Referee Géza Balsay watched the shoving in the lead-up to the corner kick with some interest, but eventually decided that Lehkonen had not been impeded as
Johann Schwietzer's delivery came in. It dropped inches out of the goalkeeper's reach, and who would be there but
Ananda Hettiarachchi, who kneed it past Prateek Vookanti standing guard at the post.
The travelling Birds support was only too pleased to sing of Ananda's feat, which had also all but secured the team's progress to the next round. Grilled continued pushing the ball forward, and Lehkonen recovered some of his reputation with an incredible one-handed save off
Lim An Keng 33 minutes in. He couldn't do it alone, however, and a merciless crashing drive by
Hwang Teck Fu was parried only into the path of
Chia Kwang Tse, who couldn't miss from three yards.
That had Grilled Birds four up at the break, with little indication that One-North would be able to mount a response. Zignago did get in a successful dribble against
Johann Schwietzer as the second half got going, but there was not much more to show on that end, even if Artemiy Savostikov did finally start to get a handle on Ananda. The first big chance of the new half fell to the Birds too, with Chia lifting an attempt onto the crossbar about the 59th minute.
One-North CF were the ones to improve more as the match went on, with captain Joel Lewis showing
Mohd Marzuki Khairul up in their midfield duels more often than not. Romanian Number Nine Cezar Ráby was simply not able to get to and maintain the correct positions under
Genki Nagano's watchful eye, unfortunately for them, with the Birds skipper showing his warrior spirit by refusing to slow down even after pulling his back muscles some 73 minutes in.
That was largely it for the nominal hosts, but Grilled were not entirely done, and made one last big offensive as stoppage time began. With two extra minutes indicated,
Wu Ping De ran it past Vookanti on the left, and banged a mid-height cross into the box only for
Chia Kwang Tse to catch the volley too high. The miskick was not dealt with properly by Kramkowski, and
Hwang Teck Fu manufactured his own second chance once more, just to shoot it straight into Topias Lehkonen.
