ULFC 4 - 2 Grilled
Clouds darkened the skies at
Jurong Bridge as 62825 spectators turned up for the match.
Søren Stenild was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
Henry Devine and
Vadim Tarasov. The derby had been the talk of Jurong all week and fans of both teams could be seen throughout the stadium. Lineup:
Armijo -
Battle,
San Sebastián,
Shirshin -
Goucher,
Buga,
Chakúrov,
Warren,
Mudrinić -
Makarin,
Tavares Jr..
They fielded:
Dob -
Webb,
中北 (Nakakita) -
Künzler,
Xin Lee,
Mohammad Harun,
Muthyala,
Dong Chu -
Ze Han,
Davlatov,
Xin Seng.
United Legends FC fielded a 3-5-2 lineup. For Grilled Birds, the formation of choice was 2-5-3. Grilled seemed to prefer attacking in the middle, taking advantage of their divine (+5) level with that tactic. With 9 minutes played
Valentin Chakúrov almost put the home team one ahead on a cross coming in from the right, but the shot went just wide. After 13 minutes,
Valentin Chakúrov came in from the right, feinted, then sped past the off-balance defender to make the score 1 - 0, giving ULFC the lead. Perseverance paid off for Grilled as
Cyril Künzler equalised for them, making it 1 - 1 with a fabulous free kick. Some great play up the middle by ULFC led to a chance for
Vlad Makarin to score after 24 minutes, but the shot hit the crossbar. Grilled's
Bilal Mohammad Harun managed to lose the defenders as he advanced down the right wing and scored, putting the visitors ahead after 26 minutes. 1 - 2. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 2. Possession in this half belonged to Grilled, who controlled the ball 51 percent of the time.
As the 46 minute mark approached, the Grilled coach decided it was time for a substitution.
Neeraj Muthyala reluctantly made way for
Kalki Parvathaneni on the pitch. 46 minutes into the game, Grilled wanted to bring some new energy to their game.
悠太 (Yuta) 中北 (Nakakita) gave
Bhavya Panigrahi a quick hug as he left the field.
Islom Davlatov would have preferred to play on, but his coach decided otherwise.
Bernie Egan entered the game for Grilled as the match clock showed 60 minutes.
Kalki Parvathaneni made a quick rush after 70 minutes, but
Franklin Battle had no problems keeping up the pace and stopped the attack. The crowd roared in delight as
Ivan Mudrinić finished off a spectacular series of passes through the middle to even the score for ULFC 71 minutes into the match. 2 - 2. The referee signaled a penalty for the home side after 73 minutes, amid vocal protests from the visitors. ULFC fans erupted in celebration as
Laurent Goucher rifled the ball into the the top corner. 3 - 2! ULFC managed to extend their lead to 4 - 2 when
Franklin Battle cut in neatly from the left side and struck a fine shot past the away team's goalkeeper. As the match nears its end, the referee has deemed it appropriate to add 2 minutes as stoppage time. The match ends 4 - 2. Neither team was controlling the possession at this point in the match, with the stats showing a 50:50 split.
Most important ULFC player was
Alderney Tavares Jr.. However,
Juan Luis San Sebastián made a disastrous appearance. Grilled's top performer was clearly
Moey Xin Seng.
Bhavya Panigrahi on the other hand, had a terrible day.