The Birds were back to something like their old selves, as they convincingly defeated the visiting Holy Satans at home, in spite of a dismal turnout of less than forty thousand. This could be partly attributed to the thunderstorm at kickoff, but those who attended would be treated to a vintage showing.

Grilled skipper Han Lik-Tsun was dropped for Ronny Behr in defence, and the armband went to Quah Han Kok as Grilled looked to get their first win in this league. Their ambitions nearly suffered an unnecessary setback when Martin Torsson, filling in at leftback, was caught napping as he casually sheparded a ball out of play, allowing Saša Didović to nip in and dispossess him. Zeng Wan Ho lashed at Didović's cutback, but could only send the ball straight to Valdir.

That bit of drama over, the Birds concentrated on pulling the Satans defence wide, and soon their other fullback covered himself in glory. Feng Darong and Ciro Penati made themselves a deadly double threat down the right flank, amply illustrated in the 13th minute when the Italian drew two defenders to him before playing a slide-rule pass along the touchline for the overlapping Darong. Darong made straight towards goal, and surprised Grafhorst with an early strike that nestled itself in the bottom corner.

It was frightening to think of what Penati could have done had he not been hampered by the heavy pitch, as he was instrumental in setting up the second goal too. Despite nearly falling over a few times, he still managed to pick out Subri with an accurate lob into the area, and the Grilled Number Nine silenced his critics with a stylish turn-and-shoot to pick up his first league goal of the campaign.

Success gave the Malaysian a confidence boost, and he threw off the shadow of Rotteveel with another well-taken goal just two minutes later. This time, it was Branbilla who thought quickly after an opposition midfielder lost the ball in the centre circle, sending it down the right to a waiting Darong. The muddy ground allowed Darong to get to the demanding pass, and Subri finished off the move by nutmegging Grafhorst.

Grilled could have made it really embarassing for the visitors, as they wasted a couple more good chances before half-time. Torsson nearly made amends for his earlier absent-mindedness with a wonderful lob off a counterattack, only to watch it drop off the crossbar. Subri then made a bid for his hat-trick with a mighty shot out of the blue that the Satans goalie barely beat behind for a corner.

The second period was more even, with prolific Spanish forward Iker Moral coming close in the 67th minute, after the Grilled defence allowed him space to shoot. Moral picked out the bottom left corner, but Valdir was not about to be beaten from that distance, and got a palm to the grounder.

The match was conclusively won in the 74th minute, after a handball in the area by Nojman, which while seemingly unintentional, deprived Grilled of a real goalscoring opportunity. A penalty without a booking was a fair judgment, and Subri sent the kick high down the middle to complete his treble.

Holy Satans fought back, and Moral scored from the restart as he went it alone, dribbling past both Ham Kok and Behr to record an outstanding solo goal. However, any hopes of a fightback evaporated after Israeli winger Viktor Parkhomchuk got into a dispute with Chuancheng and lost his cool, butting the Grilled youngster, who obligingly went down like a sack of potatoes. The referee was left with no choice but to send Parkhomchuk off, and consign Satans to defeat.