Roving Fine
Rotteveel Thrice
Grilled experimented with a 4-6-0 against part-timers City Rovers, but despite his turning out as a midfielder,
Maikel Rotteveel was still the clear dangerman for his side. His teammates acknowledged as much, and generated a collection of opportunities for him, from which the Dutchman cherrypicked a hat-trick.
The City side were no easy pushovers, and the 50 year-old Volaha Khare served notice of their determination with an attempted slide in on Spirig that surprised the Swiss midfielder. Spirig had little difficulty in hurdling it, but it was still frowned upon by the referee, who gave Khare a direct yellow card.
Sándor Deme then made a good run down the left side, scattering defenders as Grilled made full use of their substantial width. Han Kok was on hand to complete it, tapping Mirchev's final pass past Tat-Chung after Deme had searched out the Bulgarian free in the six-yard box. Even then, Rovers made life difficult for the Birds, with central defender Jiang Man-Ho twisting his ankle mildly in his haste to repulse an attack.
The roof then came off the cosy City Field, as Volaha Khare scored a dream goal. It appeared highly improbable that the string of fancy passes could all come off, but come off it did, and Khare found himself facing Bao-Tam alone, with the ball on his favoured left foot. A wild swing got the ball past the goalkeeper, and sent the crowd into delirium.
Rovers then fell back in order to protect the lead till half-time, but they didn't quite manage that feat. Rotteveel went into overdrive, and upended See-Leong in a sprint to the ball, which was still impressive given that the defender had a ten metre lead over twenty metres. Rotteveel then made an impact in his usual way, as he bent a free-kick over the wall and into the net after 44 minutes.
Rovers nearly replied through the same method in the second-half, with 44 year-old Qiu See-Leong packing a deceptively mean punch in his thick thighs and long run-up. Bao-Tam was aware of the danger, fortunately for Grilled, and raced across goal in time to claw it around his post for a corner.
Rotteveel finally removed the Rovers threat as he first spun by two markers to put in a third goal, before making it 4-1 to Grilled from the penalty spot, thanks to a careless handball. Even then, Rovers did not give up, and a quick turn of pace by Cam-Tai caused Spirig to put his foot in too late and garner a booking.
