Farmer Not Finished
It all went exactly as planned for Grilled, from the match proceedings to the afterparty, as a temporary podium was ferried onto the field without a minute to waste. Moey and Noubaryan would be first to lift the Division Two trophy together, before the others took their turns.
"No comments today - let's just take it all in." a visibly-moved Moey declared.
Hovaness Noubaryan was more forthcoming, particularly on why he had denied
Chu Xin Lee a shot at only his second career hat-trick. "The tactics had been prepared before hand: Chu would play the first half, and
Bernie Egan up the tempo in the second. Yes, I was tempted to keep Chu on, after his heroics, but I can't say that sticking to the plan was a bad choice either."
Results from the other leagues further meant that Grilled will require but a single point from their final two matches, to guarantee automatic promotion to the S-League. This was down to JUtd's 1-2 upset against Ambush F.C. in II.3, which had them stay on 29 points, and fall one point behind II.4's Singapore Big Dogs in the division-wide stakes.
Farmer Bunnies didn't pass on the opportunity to make up lost ground, as they mauled Club Dinosauria 4-0, playing away. Under-fire forwards
Mushtag Al-Nameeri and
Nurlan Ablaev both found the net in a busy first ten minutes, and
Tham Leng Teck made it three off
Morgan Hu's assist, in the 26th. Al-Nameeri would then spurn multiple chances for a hat-trick, leaving it to
Namdar Zarar - who had replaced Hu - to complete the rout well into injury time.
This leaves the Buns a single point behind JUtd, and captain
Tham Leng Teck maintained that the title remained within reach. "All we need is for the Tigers or littlehorse to have a big day, hold them to another draw, and it's in our own hands. It's been a long season, and mere quality won't be enough to eke wins."
There were no such hopes for Grilled International, who fell to Louis Coleman's 77th minute counter, in their home game against persistent nemesis Manchesthair United FC. The loss all but confirmed the championship for Black Trapper, who saw third-placed AC Uettligen off with nary a hitch.
The only silver lining was Burung Memorial Stadium being filled to its 50700 capacity for the second time in three games, which club vice-chair Mohd Firdaus bin Thaqif interpreted as a sign of International's growing support base. "The football hasn't been going our way, but the fans are sticking with us, and that's wonderful. The board is contemplating expanding the stadium further in the off-season, and we hope that the team lives up to it!"
