Set Alight
Subri Stunners
Archlight proved less fiery away from their home arena, and Grilled were able to take the game to the visitors off the bat. There was no question who the Man of the Match award would go to, after Malaysian forward
Subri bin Ku Zainol struck four times to bury them.
Subri had been on a good run, scoring in his three previous league games, and was a marked man with the opposition defence recognizing the danger he presented. The Birds were not short on potential game-winners, however, and after
Ciro Penati slalomed his way past Malaysian defender Tan Nam Quoc, Cees Crol was forced to peel away from Subri, which proved extremely unwise.
Archlight's best hopes rested on their left winger Ken Paquette, who was especially active on the day, especially against a Grilled defence that preferred not to move unnecessarily in the hot sun. Nothing came of his clever moves, though, and instead Grilled doubled their lead from the penalty spot after 34 minutes. Subri went down after a slight challenge, and took the kick himself with no objection from Rotteveel.
Five minutes later, it was Rotteveel's turn to be felled by Sukarin, and the Dutchman graciously motioned for Subri to complete his hat-trick. The visitors took it rather more badly, as expected, and several of their players surrounded referee Mitrofan Beleuţa, hoping to make him change his mind to no avail. Subri smashed the ball hard and low to his right, in a carbon copy of his first effort, and again fooled Carlos Luis Ibáñez.
It didn't end there, however, and Dutch central defender Cees Crol was seen having some heated words with Rotteveel in their native language, probably accusing his countryman of diving. Crol then threw a half-hearted punch after losing his temper, which was completely unacceptable, and rightly got him sent off. The game could have descended into farce after Archlight captain Marko Tauz deliberately tripped Branbilla, but the referee salvaged the situation with a long telling-off followed by a caution.
Grilled exploited their man advantage to the fullest, and only brave stops by Ibáñez prevented the home team from running up a cricket score in the second half. Key among these were near-certain goals from Penati and Talib, though he could do nothing when Subri combined well with the Italian winger to nick a fourth.
Tauz then got his marching orders after a relatively innocuous tackle on MacKinnon, while Grilled would not end the game unscathed either, with Han Kok pulling a muscle with minutes to go.
