Controlar Hold, Hel No
The press saw the one-sided result as more an indictment on Joker 9B's part than any brillance by the Birds, from how they swarmed Imrich Tršo afterwards. Noubaryan had to agree.
"Kalki was in top form, overall everybody was good, but we can't read too much into this."
Grilled join United and KTH FC on six points, after the former triumped 4-2 at Kim Tae Hee Fan Club Arena. In a day of away victories, Mia San Toa Payoh kept up the pace at the top with a businesslike win over RFC thanks to a last-gasp winner from Aleš Pukl, though national forward Jerry Lim's serious groin injury may see him out till January, to the dismay of the Mia San and Singapore supporters.
Moey Xin Seng admitted to having some mixed feelings about this. "Mia San Toa Payoh have superb depth in their forward line, but Lim's more or less irreplaceable, and hopefully we can work on that come Wednesday. Yuta's out too, so it's fair in a way."
Real Balmoral rounded out the weekend with a 4-1 win over still-pointless Be Champions FC. Over to Farmer Bunnies, they made it fourteen matches without a loss after their nil-all draw at Controlar, which has however allowed Ropelearner FC to overtake them with a 6-0 smashing of Parkway Paladins.
Brendan Leung completely shut Gael Shiloah down, but as so often has been the case, the Buns' problem was finding a goal. It was not for want of trying from their backline - who did have a fair amount of freedom to roam - but Controlar skipper Vadim Pushin was always there to play spoiler.
Finally, Grilled International recorded their first league win of a disappointing campaign, by shutting Hel out 4-0. The Polish visitors were stunned by an early
Fausto Perono brace, before
Wang Hanxuan and
Tommy Dongelmans added on in the second half.
This was, of course, also
Roar Olaisen's first official league game in charge, and the new head coach dished out praise liberally. "To be frank, I don't know most of the players all that well yet. From the looks of it, it won't be a problem!"