Grilled 0 - 4 Nigma
Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 26050 to
The Cooking Pot.
Orlando Marouco was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
Kautik Patel and
Armin Dehnst. The following players had been chosen by Grilled:
Germanakos -
Panigrahi,
Webb -
Baena,
Thach,
Keng Chuan,
Kwang Tse,
Mohammad Harun -
Ze Han,
Chitre,
Parvathaneni.
Nigma fielded:
Srbić -
Grigoraş,
Levne,
Knesebeck -
Hasar,
Lee,
Lam,
Marcu,
Pruzzi -
Vepric,
Winna.
Grilled Birds entered the field in a 2-5-3 formation. The visitors, TeamNigma, chose to start the game with a 3-5-2 lineup. Grilled used their titanic (15) ability to concentrate their attacks in the middle of the pitch, rather than on the wings. Some great play up the middle by Grilled led to a chance for
Chad Thach to score after 6 minutes, but the shot hit the crossbar. 24 minutes into the game,
Vittorio Pruzzi almost gave the visitors the lead, as he clipped a delicate lob over the keeper, but the ball glanced harmlessly off the crossbar. After a fine move down the middle
Bilal Mohammad Harun nearly gave the home side a goal after 25 minutes. However the finishing shot went just wide. Down the middle came
Tom Winna, making a fantastic play that nearly had Nigma take the lead after 28 minutes, but
Dimitris Germanakos preserved the tie. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave
Vittorio Pruzzi from Nigma a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 36 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! After 38 minutes, Grilled were awarded a free kick. Rather than shooting straight at goal, the taker went for an indirect variant which seemed to take his team mates a bit by surprise.
Enrique Baena did attempt a finish, but from an awkward position, sending the ball into the away fans. It was 0 - 0 at the break. Possession was split evenly between the teams.
46 minutes into the game, Grilled wanted to bring some new energy to their game.
Chia Kwang Tse gave
Lim An Keng a quick hug as he left the field.
Enrique Baena would have preferred to play on, but his coach decided otherwise.
Paulino Trindade entered the game for Grilled as the match clock showed 46 minutes. The visiting
Maksym Vepric was booed thoroughly by the home crowd 60 minutes into the game, after he broke through the middle and scored, resulting in the visitors taking the lead. 0 - 1 was the score. Nigma's counterattack was impressive and was only stopped by a shocking foul. Somehow, the referee's cards remained in his pocket - a terrible decision!
Jürgen Knesebeck's resulting free kick was easily saved by the keeper. Grilled's
Bhavya Panigrahi had a hard, curved free kick after 69 minutes that would have paid off, had it gone just a little lower. After 70 minutes, the Grilled coach wanted to see a new face on the pitch, waving
Chan Ze Han off the field.
Moey Xin Seng took his place.
Moey Xin Seng was handed the Grilled captain's armband. Nigma increased their lead after 72 minutes when
Terry Lam broke through on the right, upping the score to 0 - 2, much to the home crowd's dismay. A couple of inches to the right and
Bhavya Panigrahi's free kick 73 minutes into the match would have resulted in the goal of the year for Grilled.
Lucian Grigoraş received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 76 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 3. The Nigma fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. After 81 minutes, an incisive pass through the middle gave
Tom Winna a chance to increase the lead for Nigma, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 0 - 4. The players were tired, but when the referee announced that there would be 2 minutes of added time they, nonetheless, welcomed the extra opportunity to make an impact. The match ends 0 - 4. Nigma enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 52 percent of possession.
The most dominating Grilled player was without a doubt
Moey Xin Seng. On the other hand,
Bhavya Panigrahi's play was disheartening. Most important Nigma player was
Maksym Vepric.
Vittorio Pruzzi was a disappointment, however.