Underwhelming
The final day defeat saw Grilled drop behind Joker 9 into fourth place, with the only saving grace being that their continued participation in II.4 had been renewed for another season. Head coach
Hovaness Noubaryan had to admit that the club had performed below expectations for the most part, despite their successful Emerald Challenger Cup bid.
"Today's loss to the Big Dogs was our sixth in the league, and that's far, far too many." the head coach said. "On paper, we have a better squad than that of our perfect season - we just need to get that challenger's mentality back."
Ramseille Volliard FC underlined their automatic promotion to the S-League with a 10-0 spanking of ~Pollen~ - which also cost
Chan Ze Han his scoring title, with Hugo Lamm overtaking him in injury time with a fourth strike. As noted, the Jokers went up to third by defeating West Coast Point Automat 6-3, and Batok Earthquakes relegated Shoryuken FC on the back of a fiercely-fought 2-1 home win.
Ramseille may yet rub shoulders with Farmer Bunnies next season, after the Buns earned a qualifier with a one-all draw against KingofNoobs United. They went behind early to Trần Nhất Vĩ's stinger, but
Mushtag Al-Nameeri would equalize in the 75th minute, after messing
Richard Agyei's prospective assist up. Farmer Bunnies then had several chances to take the win, but
Christophe Fouche and
Tham Leng Teck couldn't keep their attempts on point.
This sees the Buns up against II.2 champions Kim Tae Hee FC next Sunday, and despite them falling to the now-leaderless Ropelearner FC,
Dalibor Kostadinović cautioned his players to remain wary. "They're three-time Singapore Cup winners, they know how to handle themselves in one-offs."
Elsewhere in the S-League, Arrogancae picked up another national title on cruise control with their 3-0 against Haha, leaving Sarcastic Fringeheads' 4-0 whitewash of main rivals Bot Team FC nothing more than a footnote. FC Barca Singapore stayed third by thrashing already-relegated Random Curiosity FC by six, while the Bots will have to fend Arcturules off, to keep their spot in the top flight.
As for Grilled International, they booked a promotion game against Austria's Violett United, with their 5-2 victory at Nice litle pingvin, that saw a
Didi Reidenbach brace. The prize will be a place in IV.59, and the International players and staff agree - it's been way too long.
Ragib Banović would unfortunately, like Chan, lose out on the Golden Boot due to a final burst of goals, in this case from Rennschwein's Marcel Stangl.
