mist 2 - 6 Grilled Birds
Steaming Counters
Han Shows Way
Team captain Han-Lik Tsun led Grilled to a 2-6 away spanking of mist in a potentially tricky derby, with the hosts having won their last five games on the trot. Bad weather sadly lowered the crowd numbers, but those who came would be greeted by two rather uncommon formations at this level - mist tried an attacking 3-4-3 to pin Grilled back, to which Grilled responded with a standard flat 4-4-2 to accommodate an extra defender in anticipation.
The clash had hardly begun when Grilled seized the advantage, though. Retaining position for a full minute after kick-off, a just-recovered
Lorenz Paullin held play up on the right side. After sufficient numbers had filtered up into the box, Paullin smartly went short to Han, who had ghosted unnoticed up to its edge. Despite two defenders converging swiftly on him, the Singapore ex-international succeeded in scoring with a deft chip into the near top corner.
That early strike appeared to shake mist's resolve somewhat, and they leaked goals for the rest of the first half, at ten-minute intervals.
Dani Spirig displayed good balance to stay on his feet after stealing the ball off Abel Everts, who had his back turned as he concentrated on the irritating Subri. A bit of a run-up was followed by a screamer that gave Chilean goalie Alfonso Walton little chance.
Walton was equal to MacKinnon thundering drive which should have merited a goal, but ironically his long throw left his defence undermanned as his teammates sprang forward in support. Rotteveel shines in this sort of situation, and all Talib had to do was to pump the ball up in his general direction for the striker to chase. As expected, Rotteveel won the footrace easily and put the ball past Walton with panache.
The frequently-overshadowed Subri finally got his moment in the sun when
Fabian Bona overlapped Quah on the left and had plenty of time to prepare the perfect cross. Walton made an admirable attempt to reach the floated ball, but it was hit too well, and all Subri had to do was to put his head to it to convert. Rotteveel then got his secord caution of the season for a silly kick at an opposition midfielder before the half-time whistle went.
mist coach Dhanushkodipandian Khan was visibly furious at his side being 0-4 down, and began his tirade even before his players got off the pitch. Whatever he said to them during the break worked wonders, since mist came out of the tunnel a transformed side. Franz Schauer barged past Sid in a high-tempo move to connect with Chan How Wen's cross to pull one back in the 56th minute and instill even more belief.
The home team began to translate their possession advantage into dangerous high balls, which they sought to exploit by shifting lanky midfielder Edilio Viotti into an advanced position. The makeshift target man stretched Valdir with a well-positioned header that had the Brazillian goalie scrambling from one post to another, and later scored from a corner as Liao Chung-Hong dropped a hanging ball onto his head.
Grilled's backline was at sixes and sevens, and mist might have managed an improbable comeback had Sid not remembered that the best defence is a good offence in time. The Polish fullback, never shy at going forward, covered a lot of ground in the 67th minute to be in just the right place for Rotteveel to lay the ball off. Sid responded with a searing first-time grounder that crept in at the far post to relieve some of the pressure. Four minutes later, he would thump a free-kick straight through a small gap in mist's defensive wall to close out the game.
