Grilled 3 - 0 Apostate
was an exceptionally sunny day for the crowd of 96000 that came out to The Cooking Pot.
Egor Braginskiy was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
Vladan Ilić and
Gilberto Brenha. The derby had been the talk of all week and fans of both teams could be seen throughout the stadium. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Grilled. They fielded: Abed-Sulaiman - Zywczyn, Lik-Tsun, Talib - Kek-Tjiang, Han Kok, Spirig, Paullin, van Liere - Rotteveel, bin Ku Zainol.
Apostate tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Starters: Viggiano - bin Ismail, Postic, Prauliņš - Hoi Chun, Yew Lee, Ming-Yau, bin Rashid, King Yu - Damas, bin Haji Mohd Aliff.
Apostate used their ability to concentrate their attacks in the middle of the pitch, rather than on the wings.
Sylweriusz Zywczyn was very close to giving Grilled the lead with an ingenious free kick routine 2 minutes into the match, but the ball just grazed the bar. The home side put themselves ahead 1 - 0 after 18 minutes courtesy of a breakthrough from
Shen Kek-Tjiang, who, unaided, came in from the right wing hooking the ball over the visitors' keeper. Grilled's
Subri bin Ku Zainol had an excellent opportunity after 27 minutes, shooting on a through ball down the right hand side, but he missed the goal by miles! 1 - 0 was the halftime score. The forty-five minutes were dominated by Grilled, with an impressive 65 percent possession of the ball.
After 52 minutes,
Subri bin Ku Zainol put Grilled ahead 2 - 0 when he rose to head in a hooked ball, the result of an effort from the right side. Grilled's
Shen Kek-Tjiang swung in a good chance from the left, but the visitors' defence were able to clear the ball. Many in the crowd felt the referee was being too lenient when he only showed Grilled's
Sylweriusz Zywczyn a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 71 minutes into the game. The Apostate player who had to be helped off the pitch, was
Li Ming-Yau as he was unable to finish the game.
Abdul Talib bin Hamir came in to finish the match.
Germain Postic got left behind when Grilled's
Maikel Rotteveel made a sudden pull forward after 75 minutes, finishing off with a swift strike. 3 - 0! The structure of the game started to change as Grilled decided to pull back and meet their opponents in their own half. After 76 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by
Lorenz Paullin might have resulted in another goal for Grilled. However,
Gian Gastone Viggiano made a spectacular save.
Quan Hoi Chun of Apostate received a yellow card after 84 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. After an industrious effort down the middle,
Dani Spirig could have closed the game off after 85 minutes, but his finishing shot hit the post.
Subri bin Ku Zainol almost managed to score another goal for Grilled, coming from the right, but his header was tipped to a corner by the visitors' keeper. The forty-five minutes were dominated by Grilled, with an impressive 62 percent possession of the ball.
Grilled's top performer was clearly
Han Lik-Tsun.
Shen Kek-Tjiang was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Apostate player was without a doubt
Tan Yew Lee. However,
Abdul Talib bin Hamir made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 3 - 0.