Sentosa Outbowled
Marcus Makes It
Three seasons after their Holland brethen drowned 0-9 against the Greens, Sentosa Corsairs suffered the same fate as Martinsson shook off lethargy to bag the fifteenth hat-trick of his professional career, with a fourth in the second half.
Ola had the calculative Borup to thank for his opener, as the 18 year-old exhibited the kind of guile often reserved for grizzled veterans to outwit the hard-edged Corsairs defence. Corsairs' back four were all the wrong side of thirty, and right-back Zhi Yuan-ju had even hit the big four-zero.
Not expected to be fast, they instead tried to ruffle Grilled's relative babies but made no impression on the ice-cool Borup. Wee-Keng thought he had Borup well under his control with a hand on his sleeve, but Borup spun about to slide through a great ball that might have went in by itself. As it was, Martinsson lent a helping toe.
Han Kok almost made it two of two for the new Cup campaign when he had the ball at his feet after Liehner had knocked it down from a corner. He vacillated unfortunately and the chance went a-begging. Martinsson had to show him how to do it with a first-time volley off Stanton's charge down the left.
Three more came in the next five minutes, with Borup's weak shot creeping under a distracted Li San-Gui, Martinsson unashamedly picking apart Yuan-ju's lack of pace to steal a treble, and finally Langeland joining in the fray through a similar elementary defensive mistake.
Winger Ni Jia-Nian, who had an otherwise blameless game, lost his cool briefly then as he hacked down
Nui Pakpao when the latter was always going to reach a loose ball before him. He regretted it immediately, and took the booking with good grace.
Although there was not much to prove in the second period, Martinsson continued honing his scoring skills by challenging Corsairs' defenders with a series of one-on-ones. Being in his prime, Martinsson still barely got past the third man but chipped San-Gui marvelously just before he would lose control.
Stanton's solid if uninspiring performance on the left would not go unmissed as he racked up a second assist, this time for
Dani Spirig as the Swiss attacking midfielder got himself lost in the crowd. No-one picked him up as he ran directly for Stanton's pass down the line, and he had enough of a lead to cut in and score.
Defender
Marcus Liehner took only two matches to break his duck for his new club, a record many strikers would envy. His contribution was a canny interception followed by a surprisingly strong shot off his right boot. It could have entered double digits as Grilled threw everyone forward, but only
Jan Langeland found the net in the end.
