Atlethic 0 - 6 Grilled
46170 punters turned up at
Tarpots Rec., and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came.
Bahrudin Huljev was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
Benito Zitto and
Emelson Dadzie. The match took place on neutral ground. Atlethic's lineup was:
Butselaar -
Vempalli,
Hechtermans,
Velichkov -
Olmos,
Hsu,
Jongeneelen,
Forsstad,
Kim -
Echave,
Krústev.
The following players had been chosen by Grilled:
Salmiņš -
Webb,
Lunde -
Xin Lee,
Kamel,
Mohammad Harun,
Xin Seng,
Dong Chu -
Parvathaneni,
Mazhud,
Ze Han.
The teams had chosen different formations for the match. Home team Atlethic Pi went for 3-5-2 while Grilled Birds has decided to play a 2-5-3 lineup. Grilled tried to focus their attacks down the middle, taking advantage of their divine (+4) (24) level with that tactic. After 14 minutes, Grilled put themselves up 0 - 1, as
Chan Ze Han finished off a strike from the left with a real cannonball of a shot. Atlethic's
Elvis Kim was shown a yellow card after 18 minutes for slicing down an opponent.
Oh dear,
Chu Xin Lee was so close to making an own goal when he threw out his foot at just the wrong time, but the ball went in the frame.
Hendrik Hechtermans's inexperience was obvious when his continual hesitation to put in a tackle allowed
Kalki Parvathaneni plenty of time to pick an unguarded area of the goal for his shot, marking one for Grilled. 0 - 2. Grilled players heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their wing attacks to the middle instead. The visitors'
Bilal Mohammad Harun took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 37 minutes into the match. 0 - 3 for Grilled. 40 minutes into the game, Grilled were awarded a penalty and
Gilbert Webb was able to increase the visitors' lead to 0 - 4 rolling the ball in by the right post. Central attacks were the recipe of the day for Grilled, as they moved the ball from the wings to the middle with startling regularity. With 42 minutes played,
Heng Dong Chu nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through in the middle and fired from just outside the box, but his shot passed just over the bar. Halftime score was 0 - 4. Possession in this half belonged to Grilled, who controlled the ball 71 percent of the time.
46 minutes into the game, Grilled wanted to bring some new energy to their game.
Chu Xin Lee gave
Teo Chuan Yong a quick hug as he left the field. After 59 minutes, Grilled's
Teo Chuan Yong burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 5. After 74 minutes, an incisive pass through the middle gave
Moey Xin Seng a chance to increase the lead for Grilled, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 0 - 6. The referee showed Atlethic's
Derrick Jongeneelen the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The home crowd cheered when, after 85 minutes,
Kalki Parvathaneni's charge up the middle resulted in the keeper making one of his best saves of the day.
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud would have preferred to play on, but his coach decided otherwise.
Vikram Mudaliar entered the game for Grilled as the match clock showed 89 minutes. It was announced by the referee that he estimated stoppage time to be around 3 minutes. This meant there could still be an extra attack or two left in the match! The match ends 0 - 6. Grilled enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 73 percent of possession.
Atlethic's top performer was clearly
Javier Echave.
Elvis Kim was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Grilled player was without a doubt
Chan Ze Han.
Gilbert Webb on the other hand, had a terrible day.