Too Toxic
Bratberg-Antonazzo Whammy
League leaders Neo Toxicants were untouchable at Toxicity as their experienced forward duo of Vegard Bratberg and Gary Antonazzo, both 31, scored first-half goals to earn maximum points. Grilled persisted in packing four men at the back, and although still retaining three inner midfielders were sorely outmatched in the engine room.
Zhan Ju-Hau was perhaps the most energetic player on the muddy pitch, while
Shen Kek-Tjiang popped up with some last-gasp tackles, but Neo Toxicants had buffed up their already superior midfield with winger Peter van Barneveld and Howard Ponman both played towards the middle. The Baena-Persson-Fiedler trio was well-balanced, and all but eliminated Grilled's few forward thrusts while staging plenty in return. Barneveld and Antonazzo both cut through Grilled's central defence pairing of Tuan-Mu and Pakpao to shoot wide, before Bratberg inevitably went one better by feinting past Pakpao to curl one past Bao-Tam. That signalled for Alcántara and Dewilde to help out in the middle, but Englishman Antonazzo, all time top-scorer in the Singaporean leagues with over 170 goals to his name in a prolific career, extended his record with finesse. Neo Toxicants appeared a little relaxed after that and their goalkeeper Cheung Chao-Fah had to be on top of his game to deflect a blistering shot from Zhan.
Neo Toxicants played to a stalemate for much of the second half, as the Grilled midfield worked furiously to keep chances out. Kek-Tjiang was out of position when young Mexican Alvarado Baena jinked past, but Baena lofted it high. By this time
Ma Dai-Lin had given up on attacking at all, instead stooping to messy challenges as he failed to find his feet on the slippery ground. Antonazzo lost out on a double thanks to
Hang Bao-Tam's quick hands in the 81st minute, and
Asher Stanton picked up a yellow card for his lunge into defender Petre Vrabie. The Romanian offensive sweeper played with a limp for the rest of the game. Neo Toxicants nearly got their payback three minutes from time as Antonazzo had an excellent chance to score with a long shot with the Grilled defence in disarray, but Bao-Tam proved to be his bogeyman once again.
