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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 53 | L | 3 - 4 | League | | Season 52 | W | 2 - 7 | Tournament (Playoffs) | | Season 52 | W | 4 - 3 | Tournament (Playoffs) | | Season 52 | L | 4 - 6 | Tournament (Playoffs) |
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United Rampant
Double Treble
Grilled were unceremoniously trounced at Old Trafford by -= Manchester United =-, who thereby became the third club to achieve a 7-0 scoreline against the Birds, after FC RaZer Infernus and FC TerriFic. Forwards Valentin Bugaev and Volkmar Messner, both valued at S$9 million by the side, each took hat-tricks, with Alex Margue rounding out the scoring.
The loss could however be put into perspective, as despite
Niculae Stanca's bold pre-match pronouncements, Grilled lined up with a seldom-seen 5-5-0 formation. There were no lack of first-teamers, but for some reason or another, they were ordered into two defensive ranks, which was simply not their forte.
The home support, if confused, were not unhappy as their heroes began tearing through the Birds' amateurish defence, and there was a loud roar as Bugaev opened the day with gusto. Up against
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim, who somehow found himself in his own six-yard box, the Kyrgyzstani undid his stiff defensive stance with a dinky little nugmeg, before stroking it beyond
Wong Tian Han.
Grilled might have made it a more even fight had
Rashid bin Ahmad managed to convert a long ball straight out of defence, but couldn't stretch far enough. This was the signal for United to double down on their attacks, and soon enough Szymon Fedorczyk sprinted past
Qassem Madaini, whose loss of pace has become painfully evident.
Walter Ross went over to cover, but this left Alex Margue unmarked. One simple pass, and it was two-nil.
The match still had all the makings of a competitive encounter as Wong pulled off a stunning save from Messner, before Mohd Safri seemed certain to reduce after losing Zlatomyr Churilov. He lifted it onto the crossbar, though, and there was no returning once Messner made up for his earlier failure with a zigzagging run past all comers to cash in the third.
The visiting Birds certainly didn't look at all pleased, but half-time brought no changes. With their stamina slowly drained by being constantly on the defensive, it was United who really began to turn the screws, and Gastón Ovelar had half the goalmouth at his mercy in the 57th minute following Wong's scramble over to cover Margue, only to smack his volley wide.
Grilled appeared to be escaping with a still-respectable result, but it all became to come apart again in the last fifteen minutes. Messner paraded through in the 78th minute after a dashing one-two to make it 4-0, and then the canny Bugaev played to the whistle after what appeared to be a marginal offside to pick up an easy fifth. The Birds' defenders didn't even bother to protest it, which about summed up their attitude by then.
They still had an opportunity to take home a consolation, but
Tian Yonghang's snappy attempt was spotted by Basilio Lazzaretto, and Bugaev and Messner then completed their hat-tricks respectively, to leave Grilled staring morosely at their worst defeat in fourteen seasons.
