Tight funding, mediocre league placing, Herron win the title again - on first sight, it would appear a carbon copy of the last season, except that Grilled had some fresh blood to show for it.

Promising Danish midfielder Terkel Borup, who had been pegged for a future first-team spot, was traded back home early in the season to raise the cash for Martinsson's strike partner. Grilled brought in speedy Belgian Dimitri Simon, taking care to talk his wages down to the bare minimum in negotiations.

Grilled also allowed two strikers to graduate into the senior squad from their academy early in the season, a good sign after an unproductive season; To top it off, they poached central midfielder Lim Chuan Jing from a local side, though by all accounts none of them were exactly youth international material.

With four clubs from the West in the S-League, there were plenty of derbies to go around; Grilled lost all three away in the first half of the season, then roared back to win all three at home to salvage a fifth-place finish.

The club also encountered trouble relatively early on in the Singapore Cup, as the effective gap between divisions narrows - especially with good lower-division sides being able to concentrate fully on the competition. The Birds had to hold on for dear life against The Beribeliabilable in the sixth round, which left them at the mercy of Aurochs Blitz a week later.

Grilled literally fielded their full strength against the Aurochs, but such was the standard of the hosts that Grilled had to stay back and counterstrike whenever possible, which was not often. Player of the Season Lorenz Paullin's injury in the second half was a huge blow to the Birds, who rallied to 3-3 before being eliminated by Božidar Lero's late winner.