LA XI 0 - 3 Grilled Birds
Day Of Five M's
Three's The Charm
Grilled pulled off a tremendous smash-and-grab raid at the colesius atrium, not once, not twice, but three times. LA XI's supporters were left shaking their heads at how their side managed to end the game without a goal, much less a point, and some attention must be called to their underwhelming forward line.
Their goalkeeper Ramón Jimenez could hardly be blamed, especially after his heroics against Bögengang last week. The home side must have fancied their chances after matching Grilled at The Cooking Pot, but strangely the return of Best in LA XI's favoured 3-5-2 didn't have the expected effect. Grilled ended up dominating the early proceedings, with
Quah Han Kok pulling out one of his seldom-seen belters to test the keeper in the opening minutes.
It was nearly déjà vu for LA XI in the twenty-first minute, as Bögengang turned his marker and rushed towards a telling pass from Penati. Mindful that a similar situation at the same stage of the match last week had led to the decisive goal, Jimenez was off and running almost immediately, and did brilliantly to courageously throw himself on the ball a split-second before the German striker would have gotten his boot there.
The home fans then thought that their time had come when Vukota unnecessarily manhandled Edel in the box, leading to a flagging by the linesman and a LA XI penalty shot. Colin Best stepped up to take it, but didn't seem particularly steady, and he whizzed the ball high and wide after sending Valdir the wrong way.
More bad luck was in store for the hosts, as the quickly-taken goal kick was sent up the other end in a jiffy, where Bögengang's physicality forced the defence to concede a corner kick.
Maikel Rotteveel bent it in right into the middle of the six-yard box, where Mohd Safri leaped highest to redirect it into the net as Jimenez was blocked off by his own man.
It was a great pick-me-up for the wonderkid, who had just been picked for the national U-20 squad, and he remained a real thorn in LA XI's side for the remainder of the match. The home side retained possession well, but never quite threatened Valdir after Best's penalty miss.
LA XI were hit by another quick breakaway in the 62nd minute, and Milan Judež, who had returned to central defence after playing as a makeshift midfielder last week, had to block off Mohd Safri illegally to stop play. He must not have counted on
Maikel Rotteveel's cultured right foot swerving the free-kick unstoppably past his goalie.
That was the end of Maikel's contribution, as Grilled coach
Han Lik-Tsun saw this as the perfect time to give
Martin Torsson and
Zheng Lihai some game time. Bögengang also departed, and the game had barely restarted when
Matthias Branbilla crudely chopped Bastien Edel down in a dangerous position, earning him a straight yellow.
Milan Judež was next to get called up as he kicked at
Zheng Lihai, probably partly in retaliation for Branbilla's tackle. That could have turned nasty had Lihai actually been hit, but the Taiwanese 19 year-old managed to skip out of the way just in time, which did not however save Judež from being booked for the intent.
At this point, Grilled had three extremely good jumpers in their forward line, and Penati couldn't quite miss when he chipped it square into the area. Safri and Zheng made a right nuisance of themselves, leaving
Martin Torsson more or less free to pick his spot to get his first league goal.
The match was more or less decided by that point, but there were still be be a couple of highlights, such as Safri's near-miss from a free-kick some twenty metres out, and Spanish midfielder's Emiri Izagirre pop at goal that nearly caught Valdir unawares.
