The rain was pouring down at the stadium today. The wet pitch made it difficult for technical or quick players to stand out. For once, the players relying on physical strength gained the upper hand. The following players took the field: Thoriq - Shahid, Singh - Chitre, Mukherjee, Joshi, Hameed, Asif - Shihab, Alaa, Tahseen.

Starters: Germanakos - Keng Chuan, Hutter - Reddy, Thach, An Keng, Khairul, Parada - Reece, Ming Xin, Tokarz.

As the teams spread out over the pitch, it became clear that they would both be using a 2-5-3 formation today. It was an obvious ambition of Males to play a wide game with their utopian (19) ability to attack down the wings. Males took the lead 18 minutes in, as Mohammed Tahseen broke through on the left and put his shot just beyond the reach of the outstretched keeper, bringing the score to 1 - 0. Phua Ming Xin tied the game at 1 - 1 after 23 minutes, when he converted an incredible pass from the right. Ihsaan Asif's name was chanted throughout the stadium after his goal in minute 23 following a run up the middle gave Males the 2 - 1 lead. Phua Ming Xin came close to leveling the score 25 minutes into the game, as he was set up with a through ball coming in from the left, but his shot hit the post. The visitors didn't give in and, after 36 minutes, Federico Parada got through the home side's central line of defense, rolling in the leveling goal to make it 2 - 2. The teams went for the halftime break at 2 - 2. Looks like Nate Silver was right again - his prediction that Grilled would have 57 percent possession in this half was spot on!

Males broke through on the left after 54 minutes, with Dayashankar Chitre firing at an impossible angle to give the home side a 3 - 2 lead. Grilled got a chance to level the scores in minute 57 as Chad Thach suddenly found himself free with only the keeper to beat, but the finish hit the bar. After 63 minutes, the visitors evened the score after Chad Thach made it through the middle and struck home making it 3 - 3. With 65 minutes played, Males's Mohammed Tahseen received a yellow card for challenging a play with his cleats first. The guests took the lead 66 minutes into the match, after a right-side attack resulted in Brian 'Was Born' Reddy scoring to make it 3 - 4. Feeling like a boy about to meet his girlfriend's father for the first time, the inexperienced Grilled struggled to maintain their level of play after 74 minutes. Grilled's Joe Reece was shown a yellow card after 78 minutes for slicing down an opponent. It was announced by the fourth official that he estimated stoppage time to be around 2 minutes. This meant there could still be an extra attack or two left in the match! The match ends 3 - 4. Grilled did a good job holding on to the ball, with 57 percent of possession. We'll be back after these interminable commercial messages.

Ali Hameed performed admirably for Males. I can't remember Ibrahim Thoriq ever having a worse night than he just had. The most outstanding Grilled player was without a doubt Mohd Marzuki Khairul. Speaking of stinking up the place, Damian Hutter sure smelled like the bottom of Batman's shoe after a night of crimefighting in Gotham.