Wombats Maul Birds
The Birds would miss out on the Supporter Week Trophy knockout stage after taking another defeat, though they did improve on last season's 383rd-placed finish by settling in 350th with an identical 8-0-2 record. This had Grilled Birds as Singapore's best performers, ahead of St. Xavier's FC in 886th, and returning league rivals Random Curiosity in 1614th.
Their conquerors would be The Pacific Premier runners-up Wombat Combat F.C., who had agonizingly missed defending their title on goal difference to Meerkats Athletic. While the Birds went one better than them on that point, the Wombats had Bulgarian stopper Ivan Stoyanov, who largely man-marked
Chan Ze Han out of contention. The match appeared headed for a draw when former Indonesian national striker Erwin Tanjung popped up with a first-time finish on Sergio Vicioso's swept cross, and although Bakhtiar immediately put
Vikram Mudaliar on to chase a result, the Wombats would stall without much trouble.
With their hopes dashed, Grilled would revert to their attacking roots against Pakistani II.4 club and former Ruby Challenger Cup winners FC HÄYHÄ, and Mudaliar would record the club's only hat-trick of the tourney in a 4-2 win, which also saw a rare
Teo Chuan Yong goal.
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud worked himself back into the limelight against Portuguese fourth division favourites Almancil Sporting Clube next, as he claimed a brace in an exciting 5-2 thriller.
Well, the Wombats would fail to qualify too after falling to Montenegro top division side FuarceCormòns in their next game, which hammered in just how tough the competition was. "Statistically, the vast bulk of national league and cup winners won't be able to make it." Bakhtiar noted. "As always, we did learn quite a bit about ourselves; from what I can see, the fans can hardly wait for Hadi to make his full debut."
Off the pitch, there would be a brief hubbub on social media, after trending tweets that trainee Safwan Nasir al Din was being considered for the national youth squad. These rumours would soon be all but dismissed by those in the loop, though; neither Grilled Birds nor Safwan offered comment.
Farmer Bunnies staggered in with a barely-passing 4-3-3 record for 10540th place, as they were involved in three one-nil matches, losing two of those. Andorran III.11 champions kinpal began by taking them down through Andreu Armeijach's 60th minute stunner, which had
Djoko Tambusai do Czech sixth divisioners Fanklub Defenzivního Fotbalu in, from a corner. Austrian Division Four representatives Rapid Kindberg then beat the Buns the same way, through American midfielder Noah Mercer's header at full throttle.
Grilled International were about five thousand places ahead in 5272nd with one additional victory, as they kicked off with a 3-3 draw versus Dutch Division Five winners Garden Deluxe.
Yao Erguo had them two goals up with his pouncing on a defensive mixup in the 63rd minute, but German wide attacker Horst Dieter Kieselhumes would rally his troops.
A 4-0 sweep of Maltese III.15 former Tazza ta' Kemmuna holders High Ridge would be next, as
Li Xin Chi sparkled at right wing, scoring twice before being closely involved with both
Zaini bin Hj Kaling's and
Tibor Atzenhain's later strikes. Bosnian III.11 club Che Guevara * Trošanj were another matter altogether, however, and
Subhi bin Hj Ahmad would offer the only consolation in a crushing 1-6 loss, built from the back for Trošanj.
