Wo Waved Away
Captain's Ball
Grilled prevailed in an extremely close-fought match against league leaders Woxingwosu FC, who proved more than a match for the Birds in midfield, led by Russian playmaker Mikhail Zhigalko and ably assisted by the Austrian Rüdiger Horvat.
Woxingwosu had ridden to comfortable victories over SHEV UNITED, Archlight and Initial D for a perfect start, even if the last of those matches was made easier by Miguel Claro's dismissal early on. The visitors therefore saw little reason to be cautious, but paid for it when Grilled exploded into action after a bad pass out wide was intercepted by MacKinnon.
The Scotsman automatically pumped the ball up for Rotteveel to chase, and Belgian fullback Vick Smeets had to intentionally impede the Dutchman after some initial success at forcing him wide. Rotteveel's less-than-ideal penalty was parried by Colin McWilliams, but
Han Lik-Tsun was on hand to sweep up the rebound.
That would prove to be the decisive goal, with Grilled digging in and hogging possession whenever possible. Their calculated play nearly brought them another, as
John MacKinnon found himself invited to shoot from long range. Rising to the challenge, he banged a very hard strike at McWilliams, who barely managed to redirect it beyond his post.
Valdir, who had little to do for most of the game, was called upon in the 49th minute to face a powerful effort by Smeets that flew menacingly towards his top left hand corner. He proved equal to it, thankfully for Grilled, and kept his goal unbreached.
There was uproar from the Woxingwosu fans after Talib went in two-footed on their German forward Tom Breitung, and not a few of them held up imaginary red cards. The referee however decided on a caution instead, after the precedent he set earlier on with Gumercindo Ascenzo.
The final minutes were Zhigalko's as he bossed the pitch at The Cooking Pot in a dazzling display of distribution, but it was all to no avail as Grilled stopped Woxingwosu's winning streak at twelve consecutive matches.
