A Cautionary Snift
The Birds would be reminded of just how far they had to go in the final day of the tourney, as they finished up with successive defeats. It wouldn't be easy against Latvian III.6 side FC Pansionats in the opener either, as the white-and-blue-striped Pansionats ran Grilled very close in a 3-4 that might have gone either way. Had Joachim Nienałtowski or Chinese defender Ouyang Renkang hit the target, the Birds could well have lost instead, but as it was
Joe Reece struck up a great partnership with
Brian Reddy, as he got a double together with an on-fire
Lim An Keng.
Hopes of finishing in the top thousand or so would be shattered in the ninth round against illustrious St. Petersburg club Tigr, as the Russian Division Two competitors saw Grilled off 6-4, despite two admirable comeback attempts by the Singaporean club.
Joe Reece and
Brian Reddy got Grilled back level 2-2 in the 23rd minute after a quicksilver Tigr start, and
Orest Tokarz dragged the deficit down to 5-4 with his assertiveness in the box. Artem Strizhov had the last word after
Aw Keng Chuan was caught pressing too high in the 81st minute, however, and that was it.
Recent Dutch fifth division champions De Snifters II then dumped a tiring Birds team 4-2 despite Tokarz continuing his hot streak, with young Colombian Number Nine José Antonio Cárdenas equalizing with ten minutes to go, and his teammates then completing his efforts against a weary Birds defence. That had Grilled finish 5597th with six wins, four defeats and a +10 goal difference, seventh in Singapore behind Ambush F.C., Good Luck FC, Lawrence, KS FC, Random Curiosity FC, International CAT F.C. and Real Batigol.
Farmer Bunnies were further behind in 11218th on a 4-3-3 record, although they did steadily progress through this third day. Hungarian V.195 contestants dortmundHU would show up the Buns' lack of a convincing offence, as they won 2-0 through clinical finishes by Sven-Oliver Langenfeld and Boris Dang. The Buns had their chances, but
Ong Li Jing in particular was not able to put them away when it counted.
There would then be a one-all draw with Liechtenstein III.7 frontrunners FC LIA - Kickers 2013, whom might regard it as a good result after playing most of the match with ten men. The combustible Piersandro Draghi was the culprit, as he got sent off in the 31st minute, after two yellows in three minutes. Gilbert Heinis then gave the Kickers the lead with an unsaveable 38th minute free-kick, only for
Ho Ah Kian to share the spoils in the 57th.
Edgar Popienia then found the only goal in the Buns' final game of the tourney, against storied Mexican IV.13 club Cobras O.C. It was a long time in coming too despite the Cobras being quite passive themselves, and
Arun Ponnusamy was left kicking himself after spurning two great opportunities in the closing minutes, ending instead with a booking after lashing out in frustration.
Grilled International won one before losing their final two, to finish a not-very-good 23310th, on just three victories and negative eight goals. They did make the most of their being pitted against Puerto Rican H.A.L VI.406 side FC Giugliano 1969, with
Umut Koza getting pumped up for the coming season with a fine brace, with goal contributions from
Leri Bezhanishvili and
Remond Bergervoet too. Bezhanishvili would prove quite clumsy on defence, but
Darshana De Abrew somehow preserved his clean sheet.
New Kilpatrick of Scotland, also of the H.A.L Division Six, did better in ekeing out a 2-1 win, as senior left winger Will McGlory lived up to his name with the equalizer and then the winner, after
Safari bin Hj Jali had chipped Ronnie Hunter in the 22nd minute. Poland's JaGabriel, again from the same league, then smothered International 3-0, in the process withstanding a late siege from the riled-up Bruneians.
