Chen the Apostle
No Mercy from Chiew-Yen
The gathering at Apostate Arena was small but vocal as Grilled arrived for the second friendly derby between the two Western sides. The Apostate team had vowed to better the 0-4 beating they received in late October from the same fixture, and they looked good for their word as winger Tam-Jan broke free from bin Che Lah in the tenth minute. He raced impressively towards goal, but Bao-Tam was quick to come out and forced a badly taken effort from Tam-Jan.
Apostate contained the Grilled midfield well, and Grilled were hard pressed for chances in the first half-hour. Finally Machado eluded his marker Charlermsan for long enough to slice a floating ball to Chiew-Yen, as Mohd Tahir just looked on. Chiew-Yen wasted no time in advancing on Mats Rosenflod and past him to score the opener.
Soon, he added another as
Gao Seng-kar drove a ball into his path and he latched onto it from instinct. Grilled suddenly switched emphasis to attacking from the middle, and came away with a third when Sole exchanged a neat wall pass with Dai-Lin, pulling the Apostate defence thin before freeing Hobson a easy goal. Though Grilled ended the half three to nothing, combative play had earned
Ding Sun-Nee and
Ricard Machado yellow cards.
American veteran
Tom Pence showed every bit of skill he had accumulated in his long career as he was pushed all the way to the backline by Chuen-Tak before whipping a curling cross in right to Chiew-Yen, alone in the Apostate penalty box. Rosenflod's despairing dive was to no avail as Chiew-Yen simply could not miss at that distance.
Grilled then began to relax, as Qing Bao was cautioned for diving and Machado woefully inept in front of goal. Apostate gained their second wind late on in the game, coming at the Grilled defence with gusto, and Mi Jet-Li stranded
Hang Bao-Tam with a superlative effort from an acute angle which unfortunately whizzed inches past the right post. Apostate did not have to wait long for their consolation goal, though, as Zi Tam-Jan made up for his early miss by showing a telepathic connection with Shrivastava as he eased ahead of Tuan-Mu to stroke a classy grounder past Bao-Tam in the next minute. There was to be no comeback as Grilled then put the clamps on and rode out the victory.
