Winning Legacy
Borup Nightmare
Winning Eleven flattened the visiting Birds 5-0 through sheer quality in possession, and the match was effectively over by the third minute as the hosts blitzed an unready Grilled defence.
Grilled were perhaps overconfident after putting eight past Titus last week, which showed as half the team sprang forward as Martinsson lifted the ball rugby-style from kickoff. They would pay dearly as Winning headed the ball back to the goalie, who started a breakaway down the right, and seasoned forward Zang Kai-Chung slotted it past Abed-Sulaiman.
The shock hadn't fully set in when
Terkel Borup failed to look up as he played a backpass to Sulaiman from the restart, and to his horror Nikos Avramidis was closest to the ball. Sulaiman tried to narrow the angle, but it was useless against a striker of Avramidis' calibre, and he easily lifted it into the unguarded net for 2-0.
This was more or less game over for the Birds, and they were fortunate not to end the half further behind, after Zang struck the post in the sixth minute as Sulaiman could only parray Hultander's stinging drive. Avramidis then narrowly missed connecting with David Ashworth's cross, which would have been a near-certain goal.
Grilled's only attempt at a reply came late in the half when
Quah Han Kok burnt two defenders for pace down the left side and squared it accurately to Paullin, but the Swiss midfielder's finish was feeble, and Guardiola had no problem picking the ball up.
Ashworth underlined Winning's superiority in the 49th minute as he headed home a hanging cross from Delarue, who also supplied Zang with the ammunition required to complete his brace in the 53rd. Even Abed-Sulaiman was disheartened by then, and he let in an effort from Yin Van-Phuoc that he would have been expected to save.
There was still half an hour to go, though, and Winning satisfied themselves by playing the ball around in defence. Borup, who had not quite forgiven himself for his early mistake, ran about trying to retrive the ball, a hopeless endeavour that got but a yellow card.
Borup's misery was not yet complete, and he was injured in the 83rd minute after his extended leg was hit studs-on by Karim Delarue's lunge, and he had to be replaced by a grim-looking
Luis Alcántara.
