Over The Edge
Mediocre Backplay
FC RaZer Infernus soundly whipped the underpar Greens in eight minutes, as Tse Hyun-Shik, Xiao Wen-miin and Heikki Leinonen fired them to a three-goal advantage. Grilled resisted grimly for the remainder of the non-event, and plummet two points below RaZer in the S-League table.
Grilled's malaise was open to public view, as
Nui Pakpao's niggling injury forced
Luis Alcántara's hand. The returning coach entrusted youth midfielder
Lorenz Paullin with the vacant rightback spot, only to learn that pace is not sufficient against top-level strikers. Veteran forward Tse Hyun-Shik was played through by Mikey Willard as early as the third minute, and Harlow dived prematurely giving Tse a simple chip-in.
Grilled's midfield looked unsettled against RaZer's proteges, and Xiao Wen-miin struck a beauty from a foot inside the box. The ball took a further deflection off
Fabian Bona, misdirecting the goalkeeper totally. The home fans roared their approval as Harlow stood, arms akimbo, in disbelief.
His goal was to be breached once more, even though Grilled were back in strength. They paraded the wrong side of the field unfortunately, and a quick crossfield pass from Shen Mun-Nee had lithe Finn Heikki Leinonen accelerating away from Dewilde at the right instant. He was about to be sandwiched when he stroked a curler into the far corner, marking the end of Grilled's torrid start.
Thrice bitten, forever shy, and Grilled's
Aznan Noor Yadah abandoned his normal wing runs for heavy defending. The prospect of leaving the club might have been weighing heavily on him, as his game lacked its usual drive. Compensating with late challenges, he brought down Weng Shen once too many and followed
Jan Langeland into the referee's black book.
Grilled were more like their usual selves after Alcántara gave the whole team a dressing down, and two minutes after the restart
Shen Kek-Tjiang deceived a pair of defenders with neat control before bending a cracker into the side netting.
Ma Dai-Lin got carded for holding an opponent back as he laboured to keep up with his diminishing pace.
Goalscorer Tse Hyun-Shik suffered his fair share of hard knocks which had his coach almost replacing him in the 57th minute. He wasn't done yet, and the 31 year-old fired a low grasscutter that Harlow kept out. Grilled began to knit together some patterns late on, but faltered and did not manage a consolation goal.
