Stern Stalemate
A third S-League win in a row brought Grilled Birds back to the top of the S-League table, closely chased by Sarcastic Fringeheads, who put early leaders -= Manchester United =- in their place with a 5-2 away schooling. Both do have Singapore Cup glory on their minds, having reached the semifinals, and Birds gaffer
Eren Serpin hopes that the club can capitalize on their distraction, as they host United next.
"We know full well from hard experience how much cup commitments can take out of a team." Serpin noted. "United had done brilliantly, but as predicted by many, it's a different story when the going gets tough."
Serpin went on to put
Chan Ze Han and
Moey Xin Seng forward for another good outing against United, after the duo lifted themselves to four goals apiece - behind only United's Clarke Singal - with their production against the Legion today. "They are a honest attacking team too, which is just the type that we love to face."
With United's defeat, Haha became the only club in the S-League with an unbeaten record, as they stayed in fourth place with a 1-0 away win at UDNTK FC, Sorin-Dan Corbean scoring the only goal of the game in the 55th. Ramseille Volliard FC remained the best of the rest as they edged Club Dinosauria in the only home victory of the round, with former Slovenian international Leonard Bačnar leaving it till late.
Elsewhere in II.4, the Farmer Bunnies fell further behind runaway leaders The EV, as they were held to a 2-2 draw by the visiting Joker 9.
Djoko Tambusai and
Vishnu Tallapaka had them ahead following Jeffrey Carroll's embarassment of
Kwek Yun Jie, in hectic first-half action, but an overall lack of stamina contributed to Máté Veseta's last-gasp equalizer, as Carroll's desperate gamble at regaining possession paid off big.
Their heroes' physical decline was undeniable to many of the Bunnies supporters by now. "Four or five years ago, Kwek would have had Carroll in his pocket - and zipped it up." moaned diehard fan Long De Xuan. "Today, he had to use all his wits, just to keep up. It was painful to watch at times."
Grilled International would get a little heat off themselves with a credible 5-3 away job at Germany's header monster, as they contributed to IV.54's aggregate win over IV.21; it seemed curtains for International after
Zaini bin Hj Kaling was sent off with eight minutes remaining and them trailing 2-3, but
Tibor Atzenhain defied fate with a deadly header off
Fausto Perono's corner, after which the Italian himself drilled a free-kick home. The Germans were affected enough, that
Wang Hanxuan could add an easy fifth.
The New Vikings would do more than enough by hammering Switzerland's Sockzock Inter 7-3 in a mostly defence-free exhibition, while The Sun men fell to a third successive tourney defeat against Romania's Walking Deads FC. Tom Pettersen and Marco Fanton got the goals for the Deads, with The Sun men having no answer at all to their counters.
