Off By One
A disappointed
Ha Qicai would admit that the team felt slightly reduced, after this narrow loss to Joker 9. "You can't lose four big names in weeks, and claim that nothing has changed." the captain explained. "Sure our other guys are stepping up, but losing that much quality in attack still hurts, and it trickles down to the rest of the side."
The Birds did stay in fourth place even as Joker 9 overtook them with their victory, after Glory Paradiso's goal difference took a huge hit in their 1-6 away loss to a rampant Arrogancae, who began with a Tishan Markham hat-trick. newbies are newbies remain title favourites after seeing off Queenstown MZKs via Chen Meng Heng's brace, as Tampines Phoenix F.C. got their welcome first points by flattening The Sing Tigers 5-0, with their own treble by Fong Tze Wai.
Farmer Bunnies claimed a needed win, and by the skin of their teeth too, through
Prakash Bhujbal's poach ten minutes from time as
Amirul Jufri Khairil rushed his cross. Before that,
Guan Ming Kum should have put them ahead on the hour after a dreadful mistake by Davoud Hajizadegan, only to be caught unawares. FC Phondle's best effort came early from Damijan Mileta, but
Gilberto Sorondo saved.
kaloons were stopped by Mangrove Pittas in a tremendous 4-0 upset, in which Wojciech Owocki had the game of his life. This allowed Really McCoys and FC Jurong Rovers to catch up within two points, with a 7-0 over Livernuts and an 8-0 against Pasir Ris Warriors, respectively. "It's an open league for the taking."
Ong Li Jing commented. "So why not we take it?"
Grilled International didn't have it easy against longtime foes AC Rabissale, despite the Swiss club being a fraction of what they one were, after entering administration. They certainly hadn't lost any of their bite, with five yellows - including a second for Andri Saeger - garnered by their players. Remarkably, their Ivan Beitler was the only departure due to injury, as his left foot got accidentally stomped on, in the chaos after
Leri Bezhanishvili's free-kick in stoppage time.
International's poor finishing was a huge letdown despite playing most of the game against ten men, and after
Umut Koza's nice positioning and easy finish in the 42nd, they managed just one more goal, from
Phua Li Kong. This was of little enough import in the bigger picture, and a win over Elefanten der Wüste - who have also grabbed a fourth successive win, 3-0 versus Ponyhof - would confirm their favourite status.
