Never Put Pressure
Kleint Kops It
Grilled fell to TTTNW in a relatively quiet derby at the Hell Hole, no thanks to rainstorms that kept the attendance down. With the participants having little to play for, though, motivation was in short supply, and inspiration was nowhere to be found either on the waterlogged field. Altogether, a depressing game to watch.
Sid was restored to the side as Grilled reverted to a standard 4-4-2, while the hosts went for the flanks with two wide players in a 4-5-1. Indeed, these formations were probably the most interesting observations of a soggy first half, made slightly entertaining by Rottevell falling flat on his face in an admirable attempt to save a throw-in.
After ten minutes, the fans didn't even bother to taunt their rivals, as a sort of shared gloom bonded the supporters in their suffering. The home fans gave Chun-fai an ironic round of applause when he slipped and conceded a corner in the final few minutes of the first half, and the Grilled supporters sportingly responded in kind when Sid somehow contrived to send the corner straight out for a goal-kick. Sid saw the funny side of it, and took a shallow bow.
The restart saw the event take on some semblance of a football game, mostly through the efforts of TTTNW central defender Xi Quoc-Sung, who took it by the scruff of its neck and tried to shake some life into it. His courageous rampage down the length of the field didn't pay off, but it inspired his team sufficiently to put together a series of passes that was finished off by Ángel Ferrer.
Quah Han Kok wasn't lacking in effort either, and he got Grilled back into it with a strong punt after 69 minutes, with Subri laying off the ball. Sid didn't make a case for his future at Grilled as he allowed Lewing to get in on the inside, though, and the short cutback saw Heinz-Hubert Kleint win the game for TTTNW with a timely sliding tap-in.
