newbies 5 - 2 Grilled
Dark skies made the crowd of 55975 at
the newbies ground a little nervous, but the rain held off.
Aristide Djobo was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
Danson Eshiwani and
Gerhard Ettig. Everyone was excited about the upcoming Jurong derby and the crowd was divided evenly. newbies's starters:
Manning -
Gardner,
Eutiner,
Gibson -
Keng Jia,
Choon An,
Kang Su,
Meng Heng,
Ping Keong -
Kim Tse,
Syarif.
Grilled fielded:
Germanakos -
Hutter,
其材 (Qicai) -
Reddy,
Teck Fu,
Keng Chuan,
Kwang Tse,
Khairul -
Thach,
Chitre,
An Keng.
newbies are newbies entered the field in a 3-5-2 formation. The visitors, Grilled Birds, chose to start the game with a 2-5-3 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. After 8 minutes, Grilled's
Brian 'Was Born' Reddy made his way through the middle and nonchalantly placed the ball out of the keeper's reach, putting the visitors up 0 - 1. Due to some great work on the right wing newbies's
Lam Kang Su was able to even the score after 28 minutes to make the score 1 - 1.
Chia Kwang Tse went down after twisting his right ankle in minute 35, but was able to continue the match none the less. 41 minutes into the game,
Hwang Teck Fu was a hair's breadth away from giving Grilled the lead with a shot from over on the left. A prompt block by
Nihe Manning saved the home team that time. newbies were very close to putting themselves one up after 42 minutes as
Lai Ping Keong got through on the left. However, his concentration failed him, and he shot wide. A corner kick created great disorder in the penalty area with a goal nearly scored by
Lai Ping Keong. At last, newbies's
Ang Keng Jia was able to backheel the ball in. 2 - 1. After 44 minutes,
Wan Wadi Syarif put newbies ahead 3 - 1 when he rose to head in a cross from the right wing. A bit later, Grilled's
Mohd Marzuki Khairul easily reduced the lead to 3 - 2 after a misunderstanding in the home side's central defence. The teams went for the halftime break at 3 - 2. newbies enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 54 percent of possession.
newbies managed to extend their lead to 4 - 2 when
Zhong Kim Tse cut in neatly from the left side and struck a fine shot past the away team's goalkeeper. With 79 minutes played, newbies's
Wan Wadi Syarif almost extended the lead, but his shot from the left glanced off the top of the bar to fall behind the net. As the 89 minute mark approached, the Grilled coach decided it was time for a substitution.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul reluctantly made way for
Paulino Trindade on the pitch. 89 minutes into the game, Grilled wanted to bring some new energy to their game.
Lim An Keng gave
Chan Ze Han a quick hug as he left the field. The referee decided to let play continue for an additional 2 minutes beyond the regular 90 minutes. newbies's
Li Choon An increased the lead to 5 - 2, after he saw his shot go between the legs of the advancing goalkeeper following some good play down the right wing after 89 minutes. The match ends 5 - 2. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by newbies, with 54 percent of the ball.
Chen Meng Heng performed admirably for newbies. However,
Lai Ping Keong made a disastrous appearance. Grilled's top performer was clearly
Gandhik Chitre.
Damian Hutter was a disappointment, however.