Holders Steamrolled
Rotteveel Rampant
Grilled Birds broke their league duck against current S-League champions Rollin' Thunder in fine fashion, as they became the only side to triumph despite the away handicap on opening day. The passion-filled match at the Takemikazuchi could not be faulted for lack of action, with seven goals and chances aplenty to reward the over 80000 who turned up.
Rollin' had not strengthened their squad significantly during the off-season, and were moreover without Nigerian ex-U-20 winger Robson Khumalo, who was suspended after an unwise tackle against Goal Federation in the Cup fixture on Wednesday. That left the hosts with one less option in attack, and they had to resort to fielding Haji Jamal Nasir bin Saleh and João Carlos Batista in tight positions to try and gain control of midfield.
The didn't manage that as Grilled's trimuverate of Paullin, Han Kok and MacKinnon were on form, but first blood would be drawn by newcomer
Sandy Edmond. The American continued ingratiating himself with the Grilled fans, as he put in a lot of determined running and happened to be in exactly the right spot to put Spirig's cross into the net in the 22nd minute.
Rollin' were then to suffer a large dose of bad fortune, as Spirig followed up his assist with a crunching lunge into veteran midfielder Mak Sze Wai. It could have been a borderline straight red, but the referee judged that the Swiss had been more clumsy than malicious and settled for the caution, even as Mak was given oxygen on the field. 41 year-old Hsiao Xiao-Peng replaced Mak, and unsurprisingly looked completely out of his depth.
Effectively playing with ten men, Rollin' then barely escaped a Subri combo punch as the Malaysian striker contrived to send a couple of makeable lobs over the bar. Even as his cold streak continues, Subri reminded everyone that his game had more than goals to it when he dummied a sharp pass by Edmond for Rotteveel. Now there's a player who doesn't shoot blanks, and indeed Deng Wei-Ming couldn't get anywhere near his strike as he made it 0-2.
Sid increased the ill-temperedness quotient of the contest by sticking a leg out to fell Hiekka just outside the box, and the referee had no hesitation in heeding the Rollin' players' appeals for a booking.
Subri must have wondered what he had to do to score when he thundered a mighty header at the bottom corner of the goalmouth from a scrappy forward lob, but Deng called upon all his international experience to poke that around the post. With precious little other than that going for them, the hosts' Haji Jamal Nasir bin Saleh tried to eke out a penalty by falling over as he went past
Han Lik-Tsun, but that was a bit too crass for the referee, who punished the simulation with a yellow card.
It appeared cut and dried after Rotteveel snuck in to crash home another driving Edmond pass at speed, with Iskandar Zulkernain making a valiant effort to keep up but not being able to do so. Haji Jamal Nasir bin Saleh's 86th minute header appeared to be just a consolation as he flipped it past Valdir from close range, but the very next minute Hiekka raced between both Grilled centrebacks to play a cultured left-footed grounder that beat Valdir at his near post.
Hearts were in mouths as what looked like an insurmountable lead with five minutes left looked decidely vulnerable, but there was still time for Rotteveel to surprise all. It was Rollin' turn to lose concentration as their defence overextended themselves looking for the equaliser, and Rotteveel made no mistake when put through on a one-on-one meeting with Deng for his hat-trick. He even had time to knock a fifth in to make very sure, off a good layoff from Han Kok.
