Dogged Down
Albuquerque Agony
New midfielder Patryk Zaslona made a successful debut for Bass-Reflex as he led his team to a worthy 2-1 win against Grilled in the pouring rain, but the knives will be out for
Valdir Dias Paes, as a section of the visiting fans must have felt that Grilled could have gotten the points, if not for their underperforming goalie.
The long-awaited return of Subri notwithstanding, it was always shaping up to be a battle of attrition between two sides whom have not exactly set the league on fire as of late. Despite being the home side, the Woofers were especially cautious, with their players evidently being instructed to shut down Grilled's strikeforce at the cost of their own attack. Swiss forward Lionel Limberg suffered doubly from that, already barely able to lift his feet for his usual deft touces.
Maikel Rotteveel's adaptation to the Singaporean weather was more complete, as he showed no hint of being slowed when
Ciro Penati slogged through on the right side. Woofers keeper Lluís Mardones was no slouch either, and covered well. The same could not be said of Valdir, who hesitated when Østmo appeared to have pushed the ball far too long, and let him get to the ball first. Valdir conceded a penalty after taking both the man and the ball, and while he saved the indifferent spot kick, the lapse did nothing to help Grilled's jittery defence.
Rotteveel in contrast was worth more than his weight in goals, as he turned Tomov inside out, before dribbling through the legs of Spaskov to score out of nowhere.
Feng Darong will be noted down for an assist, but it was clear that Rotteveel's inhuman balance was the determining factor in the build-up.
As happened on Wednesday, unfortunately, Rotteveel's contribution was insufficient to carry the team. Having said that, there was not too much that Grilled did wrong for the Woofers' equalizer, as Darong and Talib did a fair job hemming Enero in. He just about got the cross in, and although Lik-Tsun leaped together with Svend Lyst, the slight contact that the winger made was enough to wrongfoot Valdir.
Sensing opportunity, the home side made a substitution, swapping the ineffective Østmo with Zhang Thien An, and Mardones for Liu Woon Min. The latter substitution would prove incredibly wise, as the 20 year-old trainee had the spring in his legs to keep a snazzy
Feng Darong effort from entering the top corner.
As has happened often enough, Grilled's veterans lost some bite as the game proceeded, and with Penati likewise bogged down by the heavy pitch, the writing was on the wall. Diego Enero gave warning with a terrific volley that nearly broke the crossbar, but to the dismay of the travelling fans it, Grilled eventually lost not to a gem like that, but a silly fumble from Valdir that led to Albuquerque's weak grounder slipping through his guard.
