Equator Rounded
Maikel, Peter Neck To Neck
A second double-digit outing in the Cup marked
Valdir Dias Paes' birthday debut, even if the newly 24 year-old goalie was not yet especially popular and could have set up a hammock between his goalposts anyway. In fact, Valdir earned the rare distinction of completing a full ninety minutes without ever handling the ball, so dire were the parttimers from Equator Changi.
Starting with nine men and going down to eight after just seven minutes had a lot to do with it, and some elements in the local football community are getting quite displeased with the turnout of amateur teams already.
Lee Jie Siong's opportunistic shot in the third minute bounced under Wu Ja-Kwan, and Equator never looked like getting back.
Nawaz Talib went in unnecessarily hard on 41 year-old defender Long Chien-Houng, which ended in a caution for the Pakistani and a stretcher for Long. Unsurprisingly Talib found himself booed by the small band of hardcore supporters when he nicked the second, before Mirchev tapped in a third and captain for the day
Quah Han Kok smashed a fourth straight down the middle.
Han Kok then incurred the wrath of the fans with a stamp on an Equator player's foot, a move which some thought not accidental - Megat Amir Faisal bin Hassan retaliated by slicing down bin Yaacob rather carelessly a few minutes on, which led to the referee's book containing two more names and somewhat stole the focus away from Tuan-Mu's first goal - and appearance - in three seasons.
The second half was remarkable only for Rotteveel and Fjällbratt collecting a brace each to settle at five Cup goals each in the two games so far, even if they are still somewhat off the pace set by the top scorers, what with the extremely unbalanced matchups at this stage of the competition. Bona got on the scoresheet too, as Grilled breached the nine-goal barrier again.
