Seven-Eleven
Absolute Nadir
Winning Eleven handed Grilled Birds their worst league defeat by far. Grilled have never subcummbed by more than three goals before, and Winning doubled that margin to six with their 7-1 thrashing before ninety thousand spectators on home soil.
Grilled were riding strong on three consecutive league wins, only for Winning to poo-pooh all that as they intensified their attacks down the middle. One-time Oceanian international Sammy Ketteringham set off the rout as he breezed down the sidelines with embarrasing ease. The 34 year old supplied the crosses and Hans Hjorting provided the finish as he volleyed past Bao-Tam in the 13th minute. Attacking midfielder Jimmy Nederwald bore down on goal with both Stanton and Siu-Yue overextending themselves looking for an equaliser, and Tuan-Mu couldn't keep up. Nederwald's goal was followed by fellow midfielder Jan O Silverling, who has two Allsvenskan medals with Swedish superpowers Gäddträsket. Grilled just didn't have the defensive nous to turn him away, and a sweet redirection by Nederwald left him with a straightforward shot.
Making matters worse, Dewilde came down with cramps and greenhorn
Jon Andrea Rottman had to take over the right. Grilled screamed defiance with a wild free kick that flew wide of Markus Stålbom in the Winning goal, but the mismatch at the back told when Greek ex-international Nikos Avramidis thundered into the six-yard box, eluded Rottman's half-hearted tackle and tapped past a furious Bao-Tam.
The second half was more of the same, with Grilled realising that a fightback was beyond them and trying to limit the damage. Central defender Gustav Håkansson would have made it five-nil without a problem had he been a striker, but he held back his boot and
Hang Bao-Tam protected his goal with a cougar-like leap. Despite the disparity all over, Grilled got a break when Siu-Yue lobbed a pass up to Martinsson, who seized the chance. Håkansson sheparded him wide, but Martinsson was always comfortable anywhere within twenty metres and stopped the whitewash with a searing grounder.
That however was only a blip in the face of Winning's dominance, and they proceeded to pick apart Grilled with a combination of majestic midfield play and deadly finishing. Silverling, Hungarian fullback Ödön Vincze and Avramidis scored three more in eighty seconds to condemn Grilled to some serious soul-searching.
