Goal! 0 - 6 Grilled Birds
Goal Out
Sid Shines
Pulau Ubin club Goal! couldn't score against a fresh Grilled side, even as their Italian player-coach Massimiliano Carlucci prevented a total washout with a sensible tight pressing defence. An upset was never in question, though, as Goal! didn't muster a single serious shot on target in the entire game.
Ola Martinsson could have gotten Grilled off to a quick start as he stopped a hard pass by Spirig and took a toe-shot, but 20 year-old goalie Adhideva Singaram brought some lusty chants from the home support at the Istanarena as he pulled off a stop with his chest.
Borup would be the first scorer instead, as often-overlooked Romanian midfielder
Dragos Olaru muscled his way into the box and smartly deflected Martinsson's corner to the Dane. Borup appeared to send a high cross to the far post, and while Hjortlind never got to it, it curled inside the post on its own accord.
Hjortlind and Bukhari contributed two more goals before half-time, both through intricate passing in front of the penalty area followed by neat dribbling. Goal!'s local forward Ong Ping Seng took a bad knock to his knee when running for a rare long clearance, forcing young 19 year-old Ng Fu Jian, formerly from Hyuuga Clan, to come in.
Martinsson made no mistake three minutes after the restart, as he eluded Heng Wen Jie to test Singaram with a rocket of a shot. Singaram got both hands to the ball, but didn't manage to change its course significantly, and the ball ended up hitting the roof of the net.
Hjortlind made a mess of a genius Martinsson layoff in the 57th minute, as he was as taken aback as the rest of the Goal! back four. Having lost two seconds in processing the situation, he failed to beat Carlucci in the dash for possession and had to hold his head as the Italian captain slid it back to the safety of his goalkeeper.
Bukhari profited from a horrible decision by the now thoroughly disheartened Cheranpandian Menon in the 80th minute, as Hjortlind released the excitable youngster for him to notch his second goal of the match. Bukhari tarnished his performance somewhat when he made a wholly uncalled for tackle on Carlucci seconds later, which was so bad that it might have warranted a direct red card.
The final minutes saw Hjortlind being selfish with Grilled's chances, but he did make it 0-6 with a memorable dipping strike from nearly thirty metres out. Singaram decided to stick close to his goal from then on, which helped him keep out another Hjortlind special from just inside the penalty area.
Borup then received Grilled's second yellow card of the day as he took a personal duel with the nippy Zheng Khim Hong a little too far, and there was more than a hint of malice as he won the ball with his right foot and felled Zheng with his left. No hard feelings on either side, though, as the downed Zheng accepted Borup's handshake as way of apology immediately after.
