Grilled Birds 4 - 1
akodo 
Akodo Attacked
Maikel Goes Top
The Birds survived their first match without Subri, as their budding wingers provided sufficient verve to overwhelm a winless akodo side. Zulkiflee started at leftback once again as Grilled opted for the extra man in defence, which certainly helped against the counterattacking 4-3-3 that the visitors attempted.
Grilled enjoyed a confident start with Penati a livewire down the right, tormenting akodo's teenaged defender Qin Xinyong. The lack of width in the akodo formation played right into Grilled's hands, and only some less-than-assured finishing by Penati prevented them from taking a third-minute lead, as he met Árva's cross with his weak foot.
The visiting akodo team defended grimly, and were on course for a half-time reprieve when Rotteveel pounced. Unsurprisingly, Penati was heavily involved in the buildup, feinting this way and that before switching the ball with Branbilla, who wasted no time in finding Grilled's lone striker. Rotteveel appeared to have wasted the chance when he took the kick off-balance, but it was still enough to get it by the badly-positioned Lian Deng-Geng.
akodo came back from that with a Deng Baode goal, as Qin Xinyong proved himself more useful in attack that defence. Whether Talib should have conceded the corner under little pressure remains an open question, but we can be sure that it cost Grilled, with Qin flicking on Teng's outswinging corner for Deng to ram straight in.
They were level for less than a minute, as
Ciro Penati hit back instantly. None of the akodo defenders were able to stop the Italian when he got into full flight, and it almost seemed too easy as he blew past the last man and lifted the ball over Lian for 2-1. A frantic finish ensued, with Li Choon-Heng and Teng Weiping booked and Branbilla putting a ball clear across goal that none of the Grilled players noticed.
Experience made all the difference in the second half, with
Han Lik-Tsun arrowing in a classy third goal, a nice change after failing to find the net for the entire of last season. At the other end, Qin will not have the fondest of memories as he tried to block Penati from the ball but ended up lunging at air as the clever winger surged forward. Lian bailed him out that time with a superb stop from the Italian.
Rotteveel would bang another in to go top of the goalscorers' charts, though Grilled were not able to add any more as their midfield began to take things easy. Branbilla for one was getting breathless towards the end, and committed a bookable offence due to being well off the pace.
