Grilled 5 - 4 Paradiso
Clear skies welcomed the 21271 spectators who had made their way to
Love Street Stadium.
Hans-Henrik Odgaard was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
David Esparza and
Daniele Peis. The match took place on neutral ground. Grilled's starters:
Germanakos -
Thach,
其材 (Qicai) -
Reddy,
Chitre,
Keng Chuan,
An Keng,
Parada -
Kwang Tse,
Khairul,
Teck Fu.
The following players took the field for Paradiso:
Fu -
Bozkan,
Jacobsen -
Escalante,
Duncan,
Yeng Eng,
Kian Yao,
Hermes -
Mohd Raimi,
Chung,
Abdul Fattah.
2-5-3 was the choice of the day for both coaches. Paradiso clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could, taking advantage of their excellent (8) level with that tactic. 1 minutes into the game, Paradiso wanted to bring some new energy to their game.
Pang Kian Yao gave
Mah Lee Kim a quick hug as he left the field. With 20 minutes played, the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending.
Mah Lee Kim put the ball away for 0 - 1. The visitors'
Mah Lee Kim took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 34 minutes into the match. 0 - 2 for Paradiso. With 41 minutes played,
Federico Parada was very close to reducing the score for Grilled with a low drive from the left, but a defender stuck his foot out just in the nick of time, blocking the shot to a corner. Grilled supporters cheered as good work down the right got the ball to
Hwang Teck Fu who reduced the visitors' lead after 42 minutes to 1 - 2. With the crowd on their feet chanting wildly, some great moves down the right hand side after 43 minutes gave Grilled a wonderful opportunity to level the score, and
Lim An Keng stepped up to the challenge. 2 - 2
Gandhik Chitre caused the crowd to go mental with his goal up the middle after 44 minutes. This gave Grilled the 3 - 2 lead. Halftime score was 3 - 2. Possession in this half belonged to Grilled, who controlled the ball 56 percent of the time.
While defending the Grilled lead,
Gandhik Chitre got a new role. 46 minutes in the game, his coach ordered him to change positions with
Hwang Teck Fu.
Ajwad Mohd Raimi looked like he could fly, as he rose high to head the ball. Unfortunately for Paradiso, the ball went just barely wide.
Gandhik Chitre increased the lead for Grilled to 4 - 2, getting a head onto a hooked ball from the right. The ball looked to have taken a deflection on the way in, but he's claiming it!
Chad Thach was the first to reach the corner kick, but his header was blocked by the keeper. However, Grilled's
Lim An Keng managed to get hold of the rebound and tucked the ball into the empty net. 5 - 2 The coach of Grilled was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 76 minutes,
Damian Hutter came on for
Chad Thach. Morale on the visitors' bench was greatly improved when their player
Ajwad Mohd Raimi reduced the lead to make it 5 - 3 after 77 minutes, following a pass from the right. After 78 minutes, Grilled's lack of experience resulted in the team's loss of their edge at the end of the game. Grilled put in a good effort on the right, but
Chia Kwang Tse saw his volley fly wide of the mark 81 minutes into the game. After 89 minutes, the Grilled coach wanted to see a new face on the pitch, waving
Mohd Marzuki Khairul off the field.
Gústav Thoroddsen took his place. The referee announced 2 minutes of stoppage time, giving fans a slim hope that their team could get one more attack in before this was all over. Paradiso managed to reduce the score to 5 - 4 as
Ajwad Mohd Raimi finished off a well-played combination from the left, easily carving through the defence. The match ends 5 - 4. Grilled claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 56 percent.
Gústav Thoroddsen performed admirably for Grilled.
Damian Hutter turned in a dismal performance, however. Paradiso's top performer was clearly
Gilbert Chung.
Ang Fu was a disappointment, however.