Rajah Rescue
Valdir Claim Denied
Grilled were seemingly on track to start their II.4 campaign with a bang with two early goals, but their 1-3 lead evaporated in the second half as fellow promotees Rajah XI played to the crowd.
The first meeting between these clubs ended in a slender 2-3 victory for Grilled in the Singapore Cup some six seasons ago, with half of the team that day appearing once more for the Birds.
As with then, Grilled went ahead first, as Subri fell over in the box after the chasing Nie Jin appeared to get in his back; The linesman didn't hesitate to flag for a penalty, and Rotteveel sent it right down the middle to kickstart Grilled's season.
Rajah's forward line was always dangerous, to the extent that defender Jacob Bjørn was mostly ignored when he made his forward run before that, hitting the crossbar. Bjørn's participation ended shortly thereafter, though, as he jarred his ankle while trying to change directions quickly.
Mohd Ariffin, who had scored in the clubs' first meeting, then impressed with a cutting free-kick that was headed for the edge of the goal. Valdir palmed it down, however, and his resulting long kick out resulted in a free-kick at the other end. MacKinnon took it quickly, and Rotteveel cushioned the ball intelligently for Penati to beat Straal with a well-placed strike.
The hosts were not to be denied, and Ariffin shimmied his way past Lik-Tsun a little too easily to get Rajah on the record. Grilled would take a two-goal advantage into the second half, however, as Rotteveel lined up a dead ball from twenty metres out and hit it expertly around the wall, to complete a great individual performance in one half.
There were signs of fatigue as Grilled's ageing core were constantly pulled out of position by Rajah's engine room, and substitute Nie Yew Wei's roamings paid off as he was in the right place to meet Luengo's snappy cross, poking it into the corner to make it 2-3.
Mohd Ariffin then matched Rotteveel by swinging in a free-kick that was something between a cross and a shot, with Valdir blocked by a mass of players in the middle. The ball bounced straight into goal, leading to a furious protest by the Brazilian as he sprinted to the linesman to protest, and barely escaped a booking.
The match turned cagey as neither team wanted to overcommit and risk defeat, but Rajah continued to have the better chances, with Dutch left winger Danny Plasterk spurning a pair of good chances, and really should have scored instead of redirecting a brilliant knockdown into the post. A point looked to be fair takings for Grilled if only for their first-half inspiration, but local forward Lee Wai Guang dashed those hopes with as he collected a late goal from a mazy run.
