Blues 0 - 6 Grilled
49 spectators had come to Jug of Ale this cloudy day.
Yury Lyubimenko was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
Roy Forslind and
Paco De Miguel. Blues decided to use a 5-4-1 set up. The following players took the field: Baliña - Chaney, BoboÅ¡Ãk, TatarÄiak, TomaÅ¡ko, Kempes - Hajzoch, PohanÄÃk, TomÅ¡o, Lupa - JurovÄÃk.
Grilled started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. They fielded: Dias Paes - Zywczyn, Lik-Tsun, Ãrva, Talib - Penati, Branbilla, MacKinnon, Han Kok - Rotteveel, bin Yaacob.
For their match strategy, Blues had decided to use their ability to counter-attack whenever possible. 0 - 1 was the score with 4 minutes played, after Grilled's
Quah Han Kok cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal. Grilled's
Zoltán Ãrva was shown a yellow card after 8 minutes for slicing down an opponent. The visitors nearly scored again after 24 minutes, but a superb save by
Sergio Baliña kept
Sylweriusz Zywczyn's free kick out of the net. Blues had a great opportunity to score following a counterattack after 25 minutes, but
Erik Lupa's shot from the left sailed high over the bar.
Mohd Firdaus bin Yaacob came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle, but he lifted the ball over
Sergio Baliña and it was a little too high and hit the bar. After 27 minutes, Grilled sent a free kick in high over the penalty box. In what looked like a well-rehearsed move, the ball was headed backwards and reached
Matthias Branbilla, who had plenty of space to place a well aimed shot and score the 0 - 2 goal. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 2. The forty-five minutes were dominated by Grilled, with an impressive 85 percent possession of the ball.
Mohd Firdaus bin Yaacob increased the visitors' lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 3. After the ball was lifted in from the left,
Quah Han Kok was on his own in the home side's penalty area and should have scored after 62 minutes, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. Despite having a free kick in a decent position 71 minutes in, Grilled tried a variation that brought the ball through to the other end of the penalty area. However,
Ciro Penati did not manage to connect with it, as his team mates had hoped, and the ball went out.
John MacKinnon increased the visitors' lead by putting a volley shot away on a pass from the right. 0 - 4. At this point in the game, defending their lead became the main priority for Grilled.
Ladislav PohanÄÃk showed his inexperience when he failed to anticipate the bounce of a high ball, allowing Grilled's
Quah Han Kok to take advantage and place a shot into the bottom corner of the goal. 0 - 5. 80 minutes into the game a free kick by
Sylweriusz Zywczyn found its way through the home side's poorly assembled defensive formation, making Grilled's lead 0 - 6. This half belonged to Grilled, who controlled the ball 86 percent of the time.
Blues's top performer was clearly
Å tefan JurovÄÃk. However,
Karol Tomšo made a disastrous appearance. Most important Grilled player was
Quah Han Kok. On the other hand,
Mohd Firdaus bin Yaacob's play was disheartening. The match ends 0 - 6.