mist 4 - 4 Grilled Birds
Misty Eyed
Egelund Excellent
The travelling Grilled fans who stayed to the end were compensated with their side roaring back to pilfer an away point from West rivals mist, though not many of them would have thought that Grilled could draw level from two goals down twice in a single game.
mist had a top-half S-League finish to prove their strength in their maiden season, and maintained a largely unchanged team, with a strong focus on midfield power, for their second run. The no-nonsense Dane Leif Egelund played a big part in their success too, though, as was sculpted like an archetypal Viking and behaved much like one too in his goalbound rushes.
Egelund had pillaged his first S-League hat-trick just a month ago against the team that never was, and he soon confirmed his heightened performances in derbies with an 11th minute goal against Grilled to kickstart their campaign. Portuguese winger Bastos nipped in and sent a ground pass for Egelund to chase, and Bona was no match for the Dane's bullheaded run.
Dimitri Simon turned his marker smartly but was unlucky to hit a post with his snap-shot, and Grilled went further behind after Egelund freed his strike partner with a nimble shimmy that caught the defense unawares. Mãdãlin Ilie went for goal directly, and Sulaiman was taken out by the high bounce on the strike.
Simon didn't make the same mistake twice after Spirig gave him something to chase, and this time he took the ball much closer before dinking the ball past Kalmo Nuka in the mist goal. Grilled were ascendant for this period as mist attempted to defend their lead, which lasted only till the 52nd minute when Sid flew in to head home a bar rebound from Martinsson.
Egelund ripped through Grilled's central defence like a hot knife through butter though, as he built up a deadly partnership with Bastos on the right flank. Eventually, a cross was only partially cleared, and Egelund displayed sublime skill to lob the ball into the far corner of goal even with Fredgård breathing down his neck.
Spirig earned a booking as mist got their second wind, and it looked like curtains for Grilled as the unstoppable Egelund rammed his third goal of the game with minimal subtlety. Grilled perservered, and
Quah Han Kok was overzealous in his challenge on local midfielder Tao Sunheng, who had to be replaced by the Australian John Johnson.
Although the game seemed well lost, Han Kok's foul turned out to be more important than mist had thought, as Johnson wasn't able to adapt to game conditions quickly enough. Grilled knew that their time was running out, and a kamikaze attack that saw only Bona in his own half manufactured a good opportunity that Simon converted.
Grilled still needed one more, and inexplicably mist tried to sit out the final three minutes, allowing Grilled to continue piling men up front. Almost the whole population of the pitch was in the mist penalty area for a long punt by Bona, and after it was headed back out, Han Kok made some room for Martinsson and then teed the ball up for one last throw of the dice. Grilled's Swedish legend didn't disappoint, as he sent the ball sailing into the top corner to the disbelief of the home fans.
