It was a season of two halves - or more precisely, four quarters - for the Birds, who kicked off with one of their most-dominating tenures in Division Two ever, only to stutter and crash at the final straight. newbies, Claseek and Singapore Red Dragons made for a stiffer test than most, but Grilled passed it with flying colours, garnering a perfect nine points only for Ambush F.C. to then hold them to a draw - which was also when they sustained cup losses to Dragon Devil's and Glory Paradiso in turn. No matter, the league appeared ripe for the taking as Grilled Birds recovered with five straight victories, and their S$9.2 million acquisition of former Slovenian youth international goalkeeper Radomil Marcol seemed but one more feather in their cap.

It all went pear-shaped from there, however, and not through any direct fault of Marcol, without whom it could have gotten even uglier. A 2-4 away loss to Queenstown MZKs might have been deemed an accident, but another draw against Ambush shattered any lingering sense of invincibility that the team had. It would then be three defeats in a row as exhaustion caught up to Grilled's squad early, and in the end it was Claseek to promote at FC Barca Singapore's expense, with Grilled slumping to third behind newbies are newbies.

Tian Yonghang could at least point to the lack of reinforcement, Marcol excluded, and to this end the club's hiring of Lu Leng Seng to shore up their finance department, should bode well for future dealings in the transfer market. As Tian often noted, the club's squad depth has been thinner than the norm for some seasons now, with fans especially angsty over the lack of cover - or upgrades - for Paulino Trindade at left wing in particular, despite the 27 year-old's obvious resilience. Raúl Himadas, while an improvement over Hong Kang Leong in terms of mobility, proved not to be too hot against true pace either, and he must be a target were the Birds to refresh their numbers.

Farmer Bunnies would rebound to the second division right after dipping back to III.9, although it was not as if it was a gimme for them. Indeed, FC Jurong Rovers had led the table from the sixth week onwards, and it was only a slip-up against Really McCoys in the tenth week, that left them within striking distance. The Buns had been hobbled by two losses to bogey team kaloons, and a 1-1 with Mangrove Pittas, but they would somehow scrabble together enough goals to win the other games, often thanks to hand-on captain Koushan Khatibi. It all came down to the last match at Rovers' home ground, and after Khatibi's early retirement from a knee injury, Gabriel Priebe and Dušan Václavík stepped up to claim the win - and the league title. It remained to play frunzelax for their spot in II.3, but the East Coasters were not averse to rebuilding in Division Three, so it seemed.

Cup-wise, frunzelax's progenitor frunzelite had eliminated the Buns in the third round of the main cup through a Willem van der Lijn goal in extra time, and Shoryuken FC would likewise nudge them from the Sapphire Challenger Cup through Naim Mohd Jehan's lone strike in the 73rd minute. Coincidentally, winger Louis Lee would find himself cast as the villian in both defeats, as he got sent off after two yellow cards in both. The more understanding of Bunnies' fans recognized it as mostly being down to Lee's willingness to help out in defence, and did not hold it against him.

In any case, the Buns' main mission had been accomplished, and their new campaign would be bolstered by returning faces in former national U-20 fullback Lim Su Liang, and academy goalkeeper AES Anchan. Both would return for fees around a million and a half, and will provide valuable experience to a maturing Buns squad.

Grilled International endured the curse of near-effortless success once more, as they barely broke a sweat in the first thirteen games of the league, before Austrian club FC Inter Ottnang spoilt a perfect season through Andreas Lang's strike seven minutes from time. That did not prevent International from lifting the trophy, or Chua Jun Long from picking up a fourth Golden Boot - if shared with Ottnang's Valentin Hohoi - but they would then be kept from promoting by Conquerors FC anyway. The qualifier ended 6-4 to the Slovenians, but really it would have been a bit of a travesty had International snuck through. Belgian IV.4 side Clowns on the field would knock International out of the main cup in the third round, with Germany's Internationale Lenni finishing the job in the Sapphire Challenger Cup, thanks to a Ingolf Wenter hat-trick.

From their experience in Division Four last year, this was perhaps just as well, and the board would finally fire Didi Reidenbach after fourteen long seasons of no real progress under the affable Swiss. Sazwan bin Hj Muhd Salleh would find himself in the hot seat immediately after his retirement as a player, but should be helped by the arrival of much-needed heft at the back, in the form of Stef Vreys and Khosrov Danelyan. According to club sources, Sazwan has been given the key to the treasury - but also a good view of the chopping block, if results do not come fast.