Herron Overhauled
Half Hour Hammering
After breaking a seven-season long barren run against Herron some months ago, Grilled repeated the feat with a worthy 4-1 win on a rain-soaked day that kept technical ability under wraps.
Herron's squad depth was tested as they had to go without regulars Pian Hyoung-zoo, Anders Eriksson, Pontus Molstål and Nie Yong-chul, and barely managed to get Gidi Zandberg fit in time. Grilled displayed little mercy to the replacements, with Zhou Tiankang and Sergio Teixidó particularly unimpressive, and raced to a four goal lead in double quick time.
Despite their threadbare starting eleven, Herron have always had something of an aura about them, and the Birds knew that they needed a goal to settle nerves. That duly came in the ninth minute, as Rotteveel pivoted past Zhou rather easily and lobbed Nadzir with pinpoint precision.
It was two after another ten minutes, with Talib showing wonderful determination to struggle to the head of a chasing pack of players and slide a through pass just past a flailing Nadzir, who could do little about the ball slowing prematurely on the waterlogged pitch.
Sid arrowed in number three just a few minutes later, as he was surprisingly unchallenged when lining up a shot from outside the area. Even notwithstanding his deadly reputation for long shots, the swirling rain and wind would have made any decent effort tricky for even great goalkeepers. Indeed Nadzir was undone as the ball took an awkward bend and dipped beneath his reach.
The always reliable Rotteveel was there to convert a fourth, as
Quah Han Kok sought him out with a delicately weighted pass, quite a feat in the inclement weather. Grilled were thus well in the driving seat before the half hour mark, as what was feared to be a tricky fixture had proven to be a soggy walk in the park.
The injury-battered Herron side began to click together, and Grilled enjoyed much less luck in front of goal. The visitors however found it hard to get back into the match as Grilled's defenders engaged in safety-first play, clearing the ball whenever they could get a boot to it in their own half. Otherwise creative players were left frustrated, as Israeli Gidi Zandberg found himself skidding more than once, then Edmond slipped on his way to tap in a gilt-edged opportunity, banging it onto the crossbar instead.
Richard Ashton then obtained a consolation for Herron as he rose unstoppably to head in from a good corner, denying Valdir his first league clean sheet of this season. Grilled could have widened the goal differential as Han Kok twice came close and Subri hit the woodwork after being booked for diving, but were unable to add to their tally.
