Grilled came within a draw of winning their first S-League title, but their hopes were cruelly dashed as Brazillian goalkeeping rock Valdir Dias Paes was injured twenty minutes into the decisive match against only challengers Rollin' Thunder. Thunder went on to dump three goals past a less-than-able Bao-Tam and defend their title.

It had been a nearly flawless season up till then, with Grilled having a perfect record against all teams other than eventual third-place finisher TTTNW, who took five points off the Birds. So complete was Grilled's dominance in fact, that they won by three goals at least in nine of the other eleven games, and by two goals in the rest.

Zoltán Árva came in for Fabian Bona, Branbilla took over Paullin, Benny Josefsson stayed for little more than a week, and new signing Sandy Edmond nearly made fans stop pining for the departed Hidde van Liere - but the star man in a season of goals galore remained evergreen Dutch superstriker Maikel Rotteveel, who scored in the first ten games, and failed to score in only five of the 23 matches that he started. Truly an intoxicating mix of consistency and competency.

Whispers of a double were heard around The Cooking Pot as Grilled got into the semi-finals of the Singapore Cup, but were outgunned by eventual losing finalists Arrogancae in a pulsating 4-2 loss. No matter, as Grilled would have taken the S-League title over the Cup anyday, but it was not to be.

A victory against TTTNW would have put Grilled in great stead, but the local rivals were once again a thorn in Grilled's side as they held the Birds at The Cooking Pot, while Rollin' continued to win their games to keep within touch. Most pundits still gave Grilled the edge when the fateful day arrived, until the freak loss of Valdir turned everything on its head.