Stragglers 0 - 12 Grilled
000 punters turned up at Hougang Stragglers Arena, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came.
Guus Wortel was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
Luis Varela and
Anders Gunnarsson. Stragglers had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: 清松 (Qingsong) - Jing Ming, Chu Chi, Hao Kok, bin Abdul Aziz - Rong Kang, bin Burhan, bin Ismail, Fu Leng - bin Derus, bin Yusof.
A 2-5-3 alignment was the formation of choice for Grilled. They fielded: Noubaryan - Bakhtiar, Awyong - Shaahee, bin Mohd Kassim, 福泉 (Fuquan) , 勇航 (Yonghang) , Ying Lee - Yong Yau, Wan Kang, Wee Li.
Grilled took the lead after 10 minutes making the score 0 - 1.
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim placed the ball out of reach for the home side's keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left. Having been awarded a free kick in an awkward position after 20 minutes, Grilled did not go for a shot but instead fired the ball hard into the 6 yard box. After a brief tussle with his marker,
Shiya Shaahee was able to power the ball past the keeper to make the score 0 - 2. Grilled's
Chow Ying Lee was shown a yellow card after 24 minutes for slicing down an opponent. In a fantastic display of determination, Stragglers's
Looi Rong Kang forced himself to his feet, after an opponent viciously knocked him down. After 26 minutes, a mistake by the home side's left defence allowed
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim to get through. He outclassed the home side's keeper, adding another goal for the visitors. 0 - 3. After this, you could see that the players of Grilled were more interested in killing time than scoring more goals. With 28 minutes played, Grilled put themselves up 0 - 4 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was
Chow Ying Lee. A corner kick created great disorder in the penalty area with a goal nearly scored by
田 (Tian) 勇航 (Yonghang) . At last, Grilled's
Leong Wan Kang was able to backheel the ball in. 0 - 5.
Chow Ying Lee of Grilled was able to make an impressive rush past the sluggish
Quek Jing Ming, which resulted in a goal making the score 0 - 6. The visitors'
Leong Wan Kang took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 38 minutes into the match. 0 - 7 for Grilled. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 7. Grilled had most of the ball, with 73 percent of possession.
Encouraged by their lead, after 46 minutes the Grilled coach asked
田 (Tian) 勇航 (Yonghang) to change positions with
Chow Ying Lee. After 49 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for
田 (Tian) 勇航 (Yonghang) who increased Grilled's lead to 0 - 8. The home crowd was not impressed when
Chow Ying Lee came in from the right, shooting hard to score after 52 minutes. Grilled were now up 0 - 9. By then
Chow Ying Lee had scored three goals - a hat trick! After 54 minutes, Grilled's
Hung Wee Li burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 10. With 56 minutes played,
Zamri bin Derus of Stragglers fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. Grilled increased their lead after 57 minutes when
Shiya Shaahee broke through on the right, upping the score to 0 - 11, much to the home crowd's dismay. After 68 minutes, an incisive pass through the middle gave
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim a chance to increase the lead for Grilled, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 0 - 12. That made three goals for
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim and he was marked down for the hat trick. Possession in this half belonged to Grilled, who controlled the ball 79 percent of the time.
Most important Stragglers player was
Quek Jing Ming.
卢 (Lu) 清松 (Qingsong) was a disappointment, however. Grilled's best player was
Shiya Shaahee.
Hilal Bakhtiar">
Hilal Bakhtiar on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 0 - 12.