Haunted At Carrot Field
There was no hiding the joy on the Grilled players' faces as Albino Santos blew to end the match, not with the result leaving them three points in front of everyone else in the S-League. "This would have to be the hardest fixture of the season on paper, and we passed the test with flying colours." head coach
Eren Serpin enthused. "The guys showed great character to stage our comeback in the last half-hour. I have not often seen such exquisite teamwork."
Captain
Moey Xin Seng had to be the toast of the town with his timely first two league goals of the campaign, but he would also credit the squad as a whole. "There is no team we can't defeat when we're playing like this. But we've to keep our heads screwed tightly on, this isn't over by a long shot. Heck, it's barely begun!"
And so it was, with recent champs Arrogancae silently going level with the Fringeheads, as they demolished Puh erh at home through a Jan Tim Liebenstein brace, and few worries overall. Upcoming visitors FC Barca Singapore entered the top four with their 2-2 home draw against The EV, and Bot Team FC's recovery continued with a 4-1 hammering of Haha, though with Carl Pelowski and Stewart Russell garnering minor knocks.
No such luck for Farmer Bunnies, who crashed to their first league loss of the season, against Pasir Ris giants Phantasm Hotspurs. In an ill-tempered affair, George Cao's clinical poach in the 37th minute was equalled by a
Vishnu Tallapaka free-kick to the top corner, awarded after
Mushtag Al-Nameeri was charged off his feet. Tensions hardly improved as Arul Teja and then the Buns'
Sunil Patel were sent off in the middle of the second half, before Goh Chin Wan won it with a late dash from the right.
This was all extremely disappointing for acting captain
Kwek Yun Jie, moreover with the club now without
Wong Ting Yew for a week or two due to a pulled hamstring. "We have to be better than this."
With this, the Buns were overtaken not only by the Hotspurs, but also by Arcturules - who overturned Tecos Foreign Legion 3-2 away - and surprise package kala811s, who held Real Batigol off to win 2-0. FC Tobi 74 earned their first victory in the league, beating Marina Sailors 3-2 with an early blitz, but this wasn't enough to take them out of the basement just yet.
There was more woe for Grilled International, as they had
Wang Hanxuan dismissed for two yellows, in a 1-2 loss to Germany's Hamburg High Horizon in the Battle for Division IV tourney.
Tommy Dongelmans's individual skill brought International the opener, but the IV.27 leaders were just too steady, in the longer run.
IV.59 would end up tying this round, as Munich Giants and The Eagle Flies Alone won their fixtures while FC Gränsö managed a draw, with the Giants' Roberto Reyna now leading the tournament scoring charts.