Blanketed By Wet
Champs Chumped
It was thirteenth time lucky for the Birds, as they resoundingly humbled the reigning S-League champions Herron for the first time in seven seasons. It took five goals, the same number as the last time they did that, with Sid, Quah and Hidde being the only holdovers from that team. Also, they did not allow Herron the consolation of a goal today, as
Nawaz Talib made an early return, while Herron missed the attacking services of the suspended Niclas Ulfsson.
Grilled were well poised to take advantage of a weary Herron team, which had suffered a gruelling trip to Chile where they were knocked out of the Hattrick Masters by kashop. The pouring rain and heavy pitch contributed to Herron's problems, as both famous player-coach Shu Chit-Fu and French centreback Barthélémy Boulant struggled greatly.
Though Herron put five men in midfield and succeeded in attaining parity with Grilled there, there was a marked difference between the teams in the effectiveness of their attacks. Rotteveel exemplified the Birds' ruthless attitude by crashing in a poorly hit shot after it skidded off the outside of his boots, putting to rest early the hanging question of whether he would be able to equal Hobson's longstanding record of scoring in nine consecutive matches.
Herron, down by that early goal, began to push further up, and should have been rewarded when a visionary pass from defence flew straight to a breaking Chit-Fu for a one-on-one situation with Valdir. However, the ball stuck in the wet grass after it plopped to the ground, buying Valdir a precious second to close the gap and smother the shot.
Sid had a forgettable stint at right back as he had to be continually bailed out by van Liere, but he enjoyed brief success when he switched flanks on a whim. Having given Grilled an extra man on that side, he ran onto a forward pass by Spirig and simply stroked the ball past Nadzir into the bottom corner.
The Grilled support brightened up as their team went two goals up before half-time, and optimism that Grilled would pull off the win this time seeped into the stands. They launched into a selection of Maikel chants, interrupted only by a short spate of whistling when Herron's Gidi Zandberg sliced Han Kok down with a late tackle. Rotteveel came very close to adding another when he teed up and ball and tried to volley it over Nadzir, which he did, but the ball caught the top of the crossbar.
Herron's slick passing, normally so evident in their favoured 3-4-3 formation, was nowhere in sight on the slicker surface of the field. They adapted to a more direct approach in the second half, but that tactical change didn't help as Paullin was sent through by a beefy MacKinnon header in midfield. Several Herron players belatedly waved their hands at the linesman, oblivious to the fact that Paullin was at least a metre onside. The quick Swiss midfielder pushed the ball past the onrushing Nadzir and coolly passed it into an empty net.
van Liere couldn't repeat what he did seasons ago as his technically excellent header was pushed wide by Nadzir's amazing reflexes, but Rotteveel made no mistake with a booming shot in the 74th minute. Han Kok capped the magnificent victory a minute later, as he flew like a battering ram into a dipping cross by van Liere to score Grilled's fifth.
