The Wobble
Point Saved
Grilled dropped two points as they were held to a one-all draw by the team that never was at the Hell Hole. The home side probably deserved something from the match as they dominated possession throughout, leaving Grilled content with probing breakaways whenever opportunities presented themselves.
This might have been a consequence of Grilled's early goal, which came courtesy of
Nawaz Talib. Having been instrumental in Grilled's last away league match when he too scored Grilled's opener, the Pakistani defender again made a name for himself by instinctively charging up the pitch level with Han Kok's sprint down the left. Li Chun-fai, normally a midfielder, nearly cut out the cross with his trailing leg, but it still went through to Talib who punted it beyond Riis' reach.
That settled the Birds down and they promptly allowed never to dictate play. They could have been punished when Sid appeared to have tugged at Andreas Sunesson after being beaten by a neat turn from the striker on the edge of the box, but the referee felt that never's top scorer went down a bit too easily for his liking. Eventually the hosts changed tactics and tried to bypass midfield entirely with searching long balls, but Lik-Tsun and Talib stood firm.
Their equaliser came in the 58th minute when all Argentine leftback Ernesto Enrique Alameda was stupidly left free in the six-yard box during a corner. Valdir correctly stayed on his line as the ball drifted away from him, but could have done nothing as Alameda powered an unstoppable bullet header between him and van Liere, who was standing at the post.
The game might still have been won had Han Kok been just a little quicker to Lik-Tsun's sixty-yard ball out from defence, as only Chun-fai stood between him and a clear run to goal. never's midfielder continued his impressive showing at centerback by sticking out a perfectly-timed foot to throw Quah off his stride and allow the other defenders time to recover, though.
The home side finished the game strongly as Ferrer tested Valdir with a curler towards his top corner after Sunesson stepped over the ball on a free-kick, but Grilled's Brazillian goalie recognized the disguise and got batted the well-worked effort to the ground. Sunesson himself had one last chance to win it for never as he got a clear sight of goal after a heavy attack down the middle, but instead of passing he opted to fire away and missed the bottom corner by inches.
