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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 50 | D | 3 - 3 | Tournament (Group Phase) | | Season 47 | W | 6 - 3 | Qualification | | Season 34 | W | 1 - 8 | League | | Season 34 | D | 5 - 5 | League |
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Rapala Netted
Safri Makes Six
Grilled went six points clear as they upset Rapala FC at their Fisherman's Horizon, once more recovering from a deficit to win by one.
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim was a deserved gamewinner, as his tireless movement came to fruit late, late on.
Chow Ying Lee was a surprise omission from the starting eleven, retiring to the bench after participating in the warmup, and it soon became apparent why when
Ling Fuquan took up position between the usual back pairing of
Qassem Madaini and
Lin Jungui. Rapala FC likewise spread out in a 3-5-2, Spanish striker Jesús Peñarrubia in particular looking eager to get going.
The seasonal November rain did not do either side, or the attendance, any favours, and the proceedings were stunted as typical in these sort of clashes, with rightback Michele Nanotti nearly getting into trouble several times against
Seytek Djekshenkulov, who has been rumoured to have received several enquiries, on his flank.
Rapala decided that the best form of defence was attack, and began to push into Grilled's penalty area with alarming consistency. The extra man at the back helped, at least until Daniel Leaşcu picked up steam and sent a cracker in off the crossbar with 25 minutes gone.
Grilled's defence was weakened further when Roelof Wilstra did a number on
Lin Jungui, who was still out from the ankle tap when Peñarrubia entered on the right and hit a second, thanks to Madaini trying to cover too much area by himself.
Niculae Stanca decided that he couldn't wait for Jungui any longer, and ordered
Walter Ross to come on, though Jungui frantically signalled that he was almost ready to continue. The Rapala fans were by now pretty confident of victory, though, from the songs that reverberated around the stands.
They might however have forgotten Grilled's key strength that has allowed them to sail through the league - their attack. The celebrations had barely died down when Djekshenkulov finally made one of his passes count, and
Ling Fuquan didn't hesitate when the ball came to him. The defender put everything he had behind the strike, beating the renowned Harry Tebbitt with sheer power.
The Birds changed tack and began focusing on taking it wide, which the hosts were indeed less prepared for.
Abdul bin Jantan kept things flowing nicely down the right, before applying the coup de grace with a neat flick to
Tian Yonghang, who pounced on the chance to tie things up again.
That dampened spirits in the stadium considerably, and Grilled were the more adventurous when play restarted. Natércio Caxaria's departure after suffering an accidental stomp to his foot helped Grilled's cause, and only Tebbitt's star quality saved Rapala from going behind first from Mohd Safri, and then from Tian.
Just when it seemed that Rapala had at least prevented Grilled from taking full points, Mohd Safri popped up nine minutes from time, and barged his way past Wilstra to extend Grilled's dream start once again.
