Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim was upbeat at Grilled finally laying their first-match curse to rest. "That's three points in the bag. Given that we've not done too badly for some of the most recent seasons, it's hard to imagine how much better overall we could have been had we been good starters. We've taken a big step towards that today."

There was more to brighten up about as the medical team confirmed that Zhu Changchun's injury, while excruciatingly painful, was also not serious. Zhu will almost certainly be back by next weekend, though not against Rapala FC in tomorrow's SG Super Cup V tournament, which should be a tough one given how Rapala hammered SpartanSG 4-0 today.

The other two matches ended all square, showing just how tight the league is, with Phantasm Hotspurs and JUtd slugging to a 2-2. JUtd's João Joaquim Azambuja, who was both a national league and cup winner with Brazilian giants Mirassol FC, was sent off late after two yellows, but will be available to face Grilled after sitting out his suspension in the Cup.

Reigning champions CharlesCheesePie were undone by some trademark tenacity from Siegmund United, in a see-saw battle that had neither side manage to hold a lead for more than seven minutes before it was answered. The home fans could have been forgiven for thinking that they had won it in sensational fashion when Lai Yau Meng dribbled through to make it 4-3 with five minutes remaining, but Leo Simons tied it up within two minutes, after Feddo Heersema sped through.

The Chicken Wings likewise got off to a winning start to the second half of their campaign, 1-0 over current runaway leaders Freezer. New recruit Lai Tze Chao was the hero, the 16 year-old winger revealing great technique with a mid-air strike in the 73rd minute.