Phantasm-Menaced
Grilled's early lead in II.2 opened up to five points as they defeated their closest challengers, with -= Manchester United =- overtaking Robbie Football Club after an expected 6-1 home thrashing of Real Balmoral. Perhaps more impressively, the Birds have also managed a goal difference advantage of ten goals, with +16 to Chemistry's +6, and this without even playing the season's whipping boys.
These goals had been well distributed too, and winger
Florus Romijn became surprise joint Golden Boot leader, after today's haul. The Birds have four players in the top ten, with
Kalki Parvathaneni,
Islom Davlatov and
Cyril Künzler all one behind Romijn on three.
This was, in the mind of
Hovaness Noubaryan, a good sign. "Teams can't just try to mark out one or two threats. For instance, we came down the left a lot today, but this isn't a fixed tendency. Other days, Künzler and Mudaliar may be the ones tearing it up. Pace brings options."
Still, Noubaryan won't be writing off next opponents Chemistry, who had Kim Tae Hee FC drop more points in a nil-all draw. Finally, Joker 9 got their first league win of the season to relieve some pressure, as Dimitri Bodde and Tay Tong Leong led the way to a 2-1 win over FC Tobi 74. They may however be without Tunisian playmaker Hatem Saâda for awhile, after a brutal end to the first half that also saw former Buns trainee Ho Ah Kian bruised.
As for the Bunnies themselves, they would suffer the first defeat of their season, as Phantasm Hotspurs grabbed a 1-0 at Carrot Field - the first to manage that since current S-League side Ropelearner FC.
Nurlan Ablaev's creativity came to naught in the first half, and Teng Keng Boon faked
Vivian Grubenmann out with a beautiful free-kick, with eleven minutes remaining.
This would undeniably be another blow to the Bunnies' confidence, coming so soon after a Singapore team that featured four of their defenders got hammered 0-5 by Romania; certainly, it was not how one wants to go into a clash against Bot Team FC. To
Lau Chang Wan, though, it was all water under the bridge. "Well, we can't do anything about that now. Why not look forward to Wednesday?"
Fortunately, neither Club Dinosauria nor littlehorse were able to make up much ground, with both held to draws by Ambush F.C. and The Sing Tigers respectively. JUtd pulled three points clear, however, as they outclassed The EV at home, winning 4-0 on a Sönke Spiller double.
Friday in Switzerland, Grilled International defeated AC Uettligen 5-1, to further cement their status as co-favourites for the V.231 title.
Fausto Perono poached the opener in the second minute after Alois Driesbach got too casual with a routine backpass, which was followed by goals from
Wang Chu Chi,
Ragib Banović and
Osertz Indurain.
International will now have a breather against bottom-placed Livonia United, before a high-profile doubleheader against Black Trapper that may well decide the destination of the championship. Trapper for their part beat fc Snoetie 4-1 to preserve their two-point advantage.
