Western 0 - 9 Grilled
1911 spectators arrived at
Western Tigers FC HG Arena, where weather conditions were pretty good for football.
Benedict Mramba was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
Eugen Marcu and
Dukuran 'Dragon' Dragonetti. Western fielded:
Ross -
Banerjee,
Reed,
Ward -
Sturm,
Manhas,
Campbell,
Dutcher,
Demarest -
Ghorpade,
Pandit.
The following players had been chosen by Grilled:
Law -
Jaška,
El Khateeb -
Trindade,
Thach,
Keng Chuan,
Khairul,
Ferzan -
Reece,
La Face,
Chitre.
Western Tigers FC HG started the game in a 3-5-2 formation, whereas Grilled Birds lined up in a 2-5-3 formation. Grilled decided to play creatively at a titanic (15) level. Some good play on the left wing created an opportunity for the visitors 7 minutes into the match, and
Paulino Trindade wasn't about to let it go by. He got past the defenders and fired a shot that the keeper just missed. 0 - 1 for the visitors. 19 minutes into the match, a typically brave header by
Evandro La Face from
Paulino Trindade's cross looped just over the opposing goalkeeper's desperate reach. Goal for Grilled, making the score 0 - 2. Against a lesser team, Grilled could very well have succeeded with their smart indirect free kick routine after 23 minutes. A trio of passes took the ball all the way past the defenders, but by then the intended recipient was already blocked off and the keeper could make a leisurely save.
Joe Reece increased the visitors' lead by putting a volley away after a pass from the right. 0 - 3. After 31 minutes,
Radovan Jaška sent the corner kick right to
Evandro La Face who headed it sharply past the keeper. 0 - 4! Some fine movement on the left led to a Grilled goal after 32 minutes, making it 0 - 5.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul was noted down as the scorer. With 34 minutes played, Grilled put themselves up 0 - 6 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was
Joe Reece. 0 - 6 was the halftime score. Grilled had most of the ball, with 73 percent of possession.
46 minutes into the game, Grilled wanted to bring some new energy to their game.
Egemen Dinçer Ferzan gave
Federico Parada a quick hug as he left the field. As the 70 minute mark approached, the Grilled coach decided it was time for a substitution.
Mohsen El Khateeb reluctantly made way for
Teo Chuan Yong on the pitch. The visitors added to their lead 72 minutes into the game, after a sensational penalty kick by Grilled's
Radovan Jaška slid just past the home keeper. 0 - 7. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents,
Joe Reece got himself booked. The manager of Grilled was not happy. After the ball was lifted in from the left,
Gandhik Chitre was on his own in the home side's penalty area and should have scored after 74 minutes, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. After 81 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for
Paulino Trindade who increased Grilled's lead to 0 - 8.
Sahasrad Pandit was unable to continue, as he once again hurt that bad left knee of his. He left the field in frustration in minute 84. This gave
Benjamin Hanger a chance to take to the field instead. The home crowd cheered when, after 85 minutes,
Evandro La Face's charge up the middle resulted in the keeper making one of his best saves of the day. The visitors'
Evandro La Face took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 86 minutes into the match. 0 - 9 for Grilled. That was his third goal of the match - a hat trick for
Evandro La Face. The referee showed Grilled's
Evandro La Face the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. After 88 minutes,
Kamlesh Banerjee suffered a slight injury to his right calf muscle. However, it was not enough to stop him from continuing the game. After 89 minutes, the Grilled coach wanted to see a new face on the pitch, waving
Gandhik Chitre off the field.
Bilal Mohammad Harun took his place. The referee announced 5 minutes of stoppage time, giving fans a slim hope that their team could get one more attack in before this was all over. The match ends 0 - 9. Grilled claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 75 percent.
Western's top performer was clearly
Avi Ghorpade. However,
Kamlesh Banerjee made a disastrous appearance. Grilled's best player was
Evandro La Face. On the other hand,
Radovan Jaška's play was disheartening.