Never First
Nilsson Nicks It
The Cooking Pot was packed for the derby with the team that never was, but Grilled's fans were disappointed as the visitors recorded their first away victory over the Birds with a 70th minute piece of Stefan Nilsson genius. Grilled's lack of options in attack showed as their only fit striker Dmitri Simon was mostly marked out of the game, but they spurned several key chances before the winning goal came against them.
the team that never was sat deep and tried whenever they could to get the ball out to the wings, where their strikers continually drifted in an effort to draw out defenders. This wasn't easy early on as Grilled had the additional help of Kek-Tjiang at the back, and Spirig was unfortunate to find the crossbar with his excellent shot.
The game had barely progressed past the edgy opening exchanges when Grilled's injury woes almost multiplied -
Quah Han Kok was sliced down while trying to get into the box by never's fullback Xi Quoc-Sung, and Xi was lucky to escape with a yellow card. Simon took the kick quickly after Quah's treatment, but his attempt flew embarrasingly wide.
never entered defensive mode as Grilled pushed their agenda, and Dutch winger Sjakie Muris clipped van Liere to get his own caution. No bad blood between the countrymen ensued, though. van Liere might have changed the game when he cut boldly inside to receive a smart lob by Paullin, but his breathtaking volley from twenty-five metres again found the bar.
If the home support felt injustice at that, it would be multipled further as Sid's cheeky free-kick after the break once more obligingly skipped off the top of the woodwork. Grilled had little real defending to do as never's players didn't really threaten the central area, but they were not able to translate possession into goals.
Pakistani defender
Nawaz Talib looked set to emerge a hero after back-to-back Man-of-the-Match plaudits, but he appeared to have his rear foot taken out from under him as he sprang at the uncleared ball bobbing in front of an open goalmouth. However, the referee let that pass, and minutes later Nilsson circled Kek-Tjiang to score the only goal of the match.
