Night Blues
Surprising Sid
A bracing double by adventurous Polish wingback Sid let Grilled hoist their league record to a neutral goal difference and six points from a possible twelve. Had BlueNite's influential goalie Mohd bin Abdul Hamid been able to start, he may have caused some trouble as Grilled's strikers continued to misplace their scoring boots, so Grilled have Codingin FC to thank for roughhousing the 24 year-old ex-Catalans FC player off the pitch last Sunday.
It was
Jon Andrea Rottman's turn to warm the bench as he had seriously underperformed throughout the week's training sessions, and he and
Hidde van Liere made a disgruntled pair as they sat with arms folded in the dugout. Quah would play central midfield, while Spirig enjoyed his first league appearance of the season at Quah's usual right flank.
BlueNite's Zhuan Ha-Tram continued to stand in for his more illustrous compatriot in goal, but he never radiated the same confidence even as his defence tried to provide quality cover. Martinsson's touch let him down several times, but Spirig appeared sure to score in the 21st minute when he blazed past Leo Ho-kuen, capped 31 times for the national U-20 side.
Ha-Tram was already too far in front to make retreat an option, and rushed Spirig at the edge of the box. It all happened so quickly, with the goalkeeper getting his arms in the way of both the player and the ball. Spirig needed no further invitation to execute a rolling breakfall and make his appeal - one which, if successful, would almost certainly have seen Ha-Tram sent off and BlueNite really in for it, with no reserve custodian available.
Spirig however got a yellow for simulation, which had the vocal support incensed. They were still singing a satire on the referee's glasses when Spirig had another opportunity seven minutes on, but he pulled his rising drive some distance wide. Ha-Tram's short goalkick turned out to be disastrous, though, as Kek-Tjiang found the BlueNite defence in a state of reorganization.
Sid was still hanging out on the left wing with Borup kindly doing the defending, and Kadak was strong enough in the air to redirect a header to the Pole. Sid then cut inside the last man and forced a volley with his weaker left foot that caught Ha-Tram unawares. Nicely done indeed.
BlueNite then attempted a few combination plays through the middle, but were blocked out. Eu Yeng Eng tried a through pass to Moana that came off Fredgård. It went to Paullin, who was off in a flash. There was no question of stopping him from the sides as his sheer pace discounted that, and a sweet tap-on saw the equally quick
Quah Han Kok bury it.
Now comfortably two-nil up, Grilled nevertheless operated at a blistering tempo to the delight of the nearly eighty thousand home crowd, but Paullin got too much into the spirit when he clipped Widar Mårtensson in mid-stride. Having already received a few verbal warnings, the referee felt obliged to issue an official caution.
The second half began in similar vein, and Martinsson came oh-so-close to ending the strikers' duck with a patented screamer from nowhere in the 51st minute. Zhuan Ha-Tram however showed real class to contort himself as the ball swung wildly as it approached the goal, and Ho-kuen hacked the ball out of Kadak's path to complete the move.
Spirig had no better luck a bit later, as Grilled piled forward from the left. Rapid short passing found the Swiss midfielder free just eight metres from goal, and he lifted a chip towards the top corner. Unfortunately he realised that he had hit it a bit too hard as soon as it left his foot, and vented his frustration before the ball indeed plinked off the top of the crossbar.
BlueNite's Liu Yi-Ping did a number on Paullin and got the third yellow card of the game, and then Sid put up a demonstration for the strikers with another cameo through the opposition defence. Even Yang Zhi-Peng was caught flatfooted by Sid's willingness to go past his man, and Sid stabbed it high with great form for 3-0.
Swedish forward Giuseppe Moana then stopped the rot with a sublime individual goal right from the restart, as the picked up a lobbed pass and then burnt Fredgård for pace. Bona couldn't help as he was on the wrong side of the battling duo, and Sulaiman couldn't keep Moana's low finish from going under him.
The match then wound down as Grilled began defending their two-goal cushion, and remained dangerous on counterattacks. Right winger Mikael Iren was involved in a collision with Borup and landed hard on his hip bone, but there was no lasting injury and he would stay to play out the remaining twenty minutes.
