Herron Headache
Wilting Late
The initiative was handed back to Rollin' Thunder after Grilled slumped to a 4-2 loss at the hands of Herron. Despite foreknowledge that Herron's midfield probably had the edge over them, Grilled gambled with a offensive gameplan, trusting that on-form forwards Subri and Rotteveel would take their chances. The visitors managed to take the lead twice, but never got the cushion they needed and finally ran out of gas late in the game.
Acknowledging the suspicion that his key players were not in top condition, coach
Marcus Liehner strung together a tight midfield five, with Jie Siong in his favoured central position and Paullin shifted wide right to test Herron fullback Pontus Molstål with his pacy dashes. It worked like a charm in the twelfth minute when a split second's headstart was all Paullin needed to place himself beyond Molstål, but the 35 year-old Nadzir denied Grilled as he had done so many times before with the perfect diving save.
Valdir was not to be outshone, and when Eriksson surprised most people by taking his shot first time as a ball fell awkwardly in the Grilled penalty area, the Brazillian goalie kept it out by his fingertips. The match remained refreshingly open, and
Dani Spirig gave the travelling support extra reason to cheer when he directed a very short pass from Han Kok past Nadzir at the end of some rapid passing through the middle.
That goal was exactly what Grilled needed, but they wasted it by falling back prematurely. That gave Herron a spell of sustained pressure, which was broken only when MacKinnon made a good interception and was taken down by Florian Jähnisch. Nothing came of the clearance upfield though, and the hosts came back instantly - Xie Meng Siong caught Valdir napping with a floater from twenty metres to level matters.
Grilled answered two minutes later through
Maikel Rotteveel, who broke his mini-drought with the simplest of push-and-run moves. None of ex-national defender Chen Haupai's experience was of any help when faced with Rotteveel's blazing acceleration, and the Dutchman was left to place it past Nadzir to make it 1-2.
Herron's goalscorer Xie fancied his chances seconds from the kickoff as he launched another dipping striker at Valdir, who wisely decided to punch it this time. Shu Chit-Fu was lurking though and would have been first to the rebound had
Han Lik-Tsun not executed a superb sliding tackle to send the ball into the stands.
Han headed the corner out too, but no one watched Pian Hyoung-zoo as the wily winger worked his way silently down the left. Zandberg picked him out with a chip, and Pian nudged the ball across his body just as Talib stepped in, earning himself a precious moment to line up a grounder right into the far post, leaving Valdir no chance.
Fabian Bona came in for Talib soon after as the Pakistani defender complained of a twisted ankle after a successful tackle, and although Grilled bravely held on they were pushed further and further back as the match continued. The expected Herron breakthrough arrived in the 77th minute as the Grilled defence was stretched to failure by a series of quick horizontal passes, but Gidi Zandberg can still take a lot of credit with his wickedly swerving shot that cut sharply away from Valdir's right hand.
The result was confirmed after lanky German striker Florian Jähnisch got the better of
Han Lik-Tsun in a shoving contest for a long pass and ripped a strike between Valdir's legs to give Herron a two-goal lead.
Quah Han Kok tried to make something happen in the final minutes, but it just didn't come off for him.
