Grilled 2 - 4 newbies
Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 69140 to
The Cooking Pot.
Graziano Del Pia was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
Magnus Ivarsson and
Wairangi Ferguson. Fans of both teams had been eagerly awaiting this Jurong derby and were doing their best to outshout their opponents. Grilled fielded:
Germanakos -
Keng Chuan,
其材 (Qicai) -
Reddy,
Teck Fu,
Chitre,
Khairul,
Parada -
Kwang Tse,
Thoroddsen,
An Keng.
newbies's lineup was:
Manning -
Gibson,
Eutiner,
Gardner -
Keng Jia,
Choon An,
Chu Chao,
Meng Heng,
Ping Keong -
Kim Tse,
Syarif.
Grilled Birds entered the field in a 2-5-3 formation. The visitors, newbies are newbies, chose to start the game with a 3-5-2 lineup. Grilled mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle, taking advantage of their divine (+8) (28) level with that tactic. newbies took the lead after 19 minutes making the score 0 - 1.
Chen Meng Heng placed the ball out of reach for the home side's keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left. After the ball was lifted in from the left,
Tan Chu Chao was on his own in the home side's penalty area and should have scored after 21 minutes, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. The home crowd was not impressed when
Chen Meng Heng came in from the right, shooting hard to score after 22 minutes. newbies were now up 0 - 2. It emerged that
Aw Keng Chuan had hurt his right foot after 33 minutes, which led him to abandon the game. This gave
Damian Hutter a chance to take to the field instead. Grilled players heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their wing attacks to the middle instead. The home crowd was given a certain amount of consolation when
Gandhik Chitre scored after a brilliant midfield combination through the centre, reducing the lead to 1 - 2.
Wan Wadi Syarif of newbies took advantage of a mistake on the home side's right after 42 minutes which increased the away team's lead to 1 - 3. It was 1 - 3 at the break. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by newbies, with 52 percent of the ball.
Lai Ping Keong came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle. He tried to lift the ball over
Dimitris Germanakos but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. After 59 minutes, an incisive pass through the middle gave
Li Choon An a chance to increase the lead for newbies, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 1 - 4. The players were tired, but when the referee announced that there would be 2 minutes of added time they, nonetheless, welcomed the extra opportunity to make an impact. The home team's supporters got excited again when
Gandhik Chitre broke through the visitors' central defence and caught their keeper off guard, making it 2 - 4. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave
Brian 'Was Born' Reddy from Grilled a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 90 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! The match ends 2 - 4. newbies claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 52 percent.
Chia Kwang Tse performed admirably for Grilled.
Dimitris Germanakos on the other hand, had a terrible day. newbies's best player was
Nihe Manning.
Ang Keng Jia turned in a dismal performance, however.
