Bright Is The Future
It was another successful day out for Grilled Birds despite
Joe Reece's litany of misses, for which the Welsh striker credited Mayuyu goalie Philip Boestlinger. "I ain't even mad." Reece claimed afterwards. "Or at least not as much as I could have been, had I not scored at the end."
That late goal extended his Golden Boot lead to three over Phantasm Hotspurs' Bok Wee Jian, who didn't even feature in his club's 8-1 crushing of Sunrise Treasure FC this round. Instead, it was Masyhur Zulfadhli to feature with a hat-trick, after Mak Hao Heng had made it eight for the season with his 20th minute effort. The hosts would rely on a penalty converted by Steeven Thomann to get it back to 1-2, only to fall off the pace badly.
Controlar stayed on the tails of the top two as they got their three points against tpyers, but it was a lot closer than they would have liked, especially after Kwok Ho Shi had opened for tpyers. Shadow Chaser(R) SC took the opportunity to leapfrog Mayuyu AKB48 into fourth place by denying Krattene 2-0, as Cameron Currier bent home a great free-kick in the first half, before an ageing but still fast Thom Godling confirmed it in the 87th minute.
Farmer Bunnies stayed top of the charts too despite being held 1-1 by second-placed Brighton UK away, a result that probably suited the Buns more than Brighton. Patrik Nyffenegger found
Gilberto Sorondo out with a snap half-volley half an hour in, while Farmer Bunnies equalized through
Lau Keng Kwang playing to the whistle, after 55 minutes.
Ho Ah Kian and Koki Ono had chances to win it, but both missed by a hair.
That outcome saw the Buns maintain their two point lead over Brighton UK, with there being no change in league positions elsewhere either. FC Phondle failed to make up ground as they were surprisingly caught by AFC Woodlands after taking an easy two-goal advantage, with Goh Yeng Chu's brace all the more impressive given that Lim Jing Ze had been sent off towards the end of the first half for Woodlands. Really McCoys stepped closer to safety by smashing FC Jurong Rovers 6-3, as did Mangrove Pittas by all but condemning WhiteSandsMechs to relegation, with their 3-1 away win.
This leaves Farmer Bunnies with a real shot at the title, and head coach
Vishnu Tallapaka was of the opinion that it would be theirs to lose, if they beat FC Phondle next Sunday. "Well, we have won against them and Mangrove Pittas already this season, and Brighton have to play Phondle at the end. I wouldn't swop our position with anybody else, let's put it this way."
Toh Eng Guang would be rightly rested given his international commitments, with him collecting his fifth and sixth youth caps in the Nations Cup over the past two weeks, first in a 1-1 draw with Benin, and then an unfortunate 1-2 defeat to Lithuania. "Everyone here is happy for him." Tallapaka continued. "I darely partly because they figure that if he can make it, anyone can... and I don't mean that in a bad way!"
There would be a lot less excitement at Grilled International for all their 6-0 versus Germany's Baboon Show St. Pauli, that had
Leri Bezhanishvili pick up two from the spot. International would be mathematically eliminated from championship consideration after Amelinho Kickers thrashed Nice AS as expected, with AC Rabissale doing themselves no favours by slipping up against Ponyhof, to yield a goalless draw.
The Battle for Division V would also conclude with V.56 in a respectable third place out of ten leagues, with International doing their bit in hammering wooden spooners Real Murcia Club de Fútbol. of V.172, 5-2. The Kickers didn't have much joy in this competition either as they fell 0-1 to FC Železniki Hellhounds, but AC Rabissale whitewashing Horns Up 8-0 via a Guan Keong Kong treble had V.56 staying ahead of V.147.
