Duelists Mastered
Hopes Up
Grilled's relegation fears were greatly eased after the team motivated themselves to a comprehensive 3-1 win over United Warrior Team, thanks to an outstanding first half in which they had nearly everything under control.
Sid looked a shoo-in to score from a free-kick right at the edge of the box thanks to a mazy van Liere run, but the Polish defender decided wrongly to pump it low and hard instead of sticking to his usual tricky curlers. No such problems with the penalty given after Rotteveel went to ground, though, as he Afandi bin Zainal stood still only to see it fly into his top right corner.
What was expected to be a nervous tie turned out surprisingly comfortable for the hosts, as the Warriors didn't manage to put up much resistance until Paullin doubled the lead adroitly off a pass from the left side from van Liere. Gordon Rosado then struck one for his side in the 38th minute as the Grilled defence fell asleep, but Sulaiman was there to save the high-velocity ground and of course to berate his defenders.
Grilled should really have added a few more as their opponents' lethargy carried over into the second half, and Talib's strong run and shot was simply unlucky not to have gone in as it came off the inside of the post and rolled along the goalline.
Hidde van Liere's unorthodox attempt from no angle at all would have been a shoo-in for the season video had it gone in.
The near misses continued, with Sid being the next in line as his mighty free-kick exploded inches over the crossbar.
Dimitri Simon's chance was probably the best of the lot, as he robbed a fifty-metre pass off the feet of a defender and got into a mano-a-mano with Afandi. The Warriors' goalie reach was simply wonderful, though, as he palmed away Simon's perfect early strike.
The visitors then pulled back the lead after a few decent counterattacks as forewarning, as Wu Kang-yin wheeled away from a slow-turning Talib to surprise Sulaiman with a fiery half-volley. Grilled's fans were to be placated as Simon did his job when given a second chance, and thereafter it was always going to be too late for the Warriors.