Midway Battle Won
ZhangCai Ejected
Grilled retained the S-League lead at the halfway point of the season, by slugging it to a 1-4 away victory at The Dome Of The White Lion against a reduced but courageous Team Singapore selection. The hosts had a couple of first-choice players unavailable through injury, but still went on the attack; It wasn't nearly enough, however.
For all of Jani Tegelberg's flair and speed, it was defender Loo Jie Kok whom they looked like missing more, as his replacement ZhangCai Khoi-Khoa was short on match fitness and never looked comfortable. His hesitancy spread to the rest of the backline, and allowed
Quah Han Kok to collect his fiftieth career goal with a simple run and gun.
The fighting spirit that won ZhangCai ten youth caps was still clearly present, at least, as he knocked Spirig down without hesitation to prevent Grilled from doubling their lead within two minutes. The expected yellow card was probably good value, since it would have been a two-on-one otherwise.
The remainder of the first half belonged to star goalie Chew Xiaolun, who became one of the few to deny Rotteveel as he pulled off save after acrobatic save against the Dutch forward. Team Singapore tried to give speedy striker Syamsul bin Md Johadi something to chase with balls played in behind the defence, but Han and Talib between them mopped those up effectively.
Veteran striker Vaios Rodostoglou beat Valdir narrowly with a free-kick that whizzed by the outside of Grilled's wall, which sparked a spate of yelling between the famously irascible goalie and MacKinnon, who was standing at the edge. That spat blew over quickly enough as Spirig, restored Grilled's lead with Edmond providing the assist.
Grilled's aggressive midfield were afforded several shots as they often broke forward without warning, but MacKinnon's piledriver was somehow warded off by the superlative Chew, while Paullin waited a fraction too long to hit his and found his lob deflected by a defender. Subri's killer instinct finally did it, as he found his third league goal in as many matches with a beautifully spinning kick.
Lorenz Paullin made it four with more energetic play by Edmond on his flank, and the hosts finished with ten men after ZhangCai Khoi-Khoa couldn't get out of Quah's way swiftly enough and was given his second caution for impeding movement.
