Perfect In Possession
Hovaness Noubaryan was grinning from ear to ear after the final whistle. "As far as I'm concerned, the team did everything they were told to. We should have been two or three up by the time Mudaliar scored, but they just kept on going despite the poor luck. Well done all!"
Noubaryan couldn't resist boasting about what had to be a rare statistic, at this level. "United didn't even get an official shot on target, which is incredible. Anyway, I hear that Jahid's concussion wasn't serious, which everybody can surely be happy about."
Grilled didn't make up ground on the leaders with both littlehorse and Mia San Toa Payoh managing big wins over richlyeng rangers and Talpons respectively, while Robbie Football Club got a very good away win against Kim Tae Hee FC. Antti Ravi's late chip decided a finely-balanced game, which saw half-chances aplenty, but few clear ones.
Farmer Bunnies' early imperious aura seems to have deserted them, though they managed to salvage a point against Phantasm Hotspurs. It was disappointing given that Hotspurs had started the day in last place, but they had woeful finishing - especially from
Sim Leng Cheng - to blame, after Ronald Chan's big header from a 24th minute corner for the visitors.
Sim would further rule himself out for the midweek cup match, with his third caution of the season, and it was left to
Sofian Azfar to save the day with a clinically-hit grounder from the right side.
Enzo Paolo Panzarino, who was substituted out in the seventieth minute, was open about having a bad day. "I believe we should have won this. Hopefully we get our heads screwed tightly on, before Wednesday comes round."
As it was, Grilled International became the most successful of the three league-wise, as they rose to the top of V.231 on the back of their 8-0 thrashing of Rift Valley FC. In what the local press dubbed "
A Day of Kings",
Wang Hanxuan got four, and
Wang Chu Chi two, against the beleaguered Kenyans.
Fausto Perono had to be content with a lone free-kick goal on his first start in over two weeks, and was a bit off his game otherwise.
More notable perhaps was the seemingly-unstoppable Black Trapper losing 1-3 to Gute Freunde, who successfully converted their grim holding on of the ball into goals. The upset leaves G.I. as the only undefeated side in the league, and will have to be considered as a great morale-booster for the upcoming doubleheader against the Trappers.
