Pioneers Lost
Milestones Aplenty
Grilled's season-opening festivities included a host of personal records, foremost among them
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim's century cup goal - also his sixtieth competitive brace. Newly-confirmed Player of the Season
Clément Meyer also had a stellar trip, collecting two goals for himself amidst a bunch of assists.
The semi-pro Pioneers have had a long and storied history in the lower leagues, having garnered eight Division Five titles, but as skipper Diptiman Khare candidly foretold before the kick-off, it was all academic against a full-strength Grilled team. This was not wholly accurate, with
Hilal Bakhtiar and
Remco van der Ban included, though this made no material difference to the ensuing massacre.
It didn't take long to get started, with
Wong Ping Shun converting a seventh minute penalty due to a Roshadi bin Saad handball - on a move that
Tian Yonghang had actually already scored from - before Wong flighted a corner kick that Mohd Safri looped in, if considerably less athletically than in his prime.
The goals would keep on pouring in, as Bakhtiar, Meyer and Ang came up the left in succession, to make it 5-0 in 27 minutes. Meyer would then smash in the pick of the lot in the 37th, a real bazooka from thirty-five feet that Pioneer goalkeeper-taxi driver Ling Kok Kum had no need to be ashamed of being beaten by.
The forwards then came into their own for the second half, with
Rinor Isufi and
Tian Yonghang finally getting off the mark, with a couple of fine exchanges.
Low Aik Jia meanwhile earned grudging appreciation from the gallery for his undoubted dazzle, as he continued exposing the hosts' defence with his artistry.
Khare and loyal sidekick Muhamad bin Md Noh bravely remained shielding their stressed defenders, and there were hints of a consolation when Lin Bangxin pushed it past Bakhtiar on a very rare attack, but
Wong Tian Han was in no mood to be generous.
Clark Won would profit from the long kick out, as he inserted himself between Pioneers' centrebacks to score.
Tian then got it into double-digits after baiting Ling out, and Mohd Safri poached his much-anticipated landmark hundredth to a standing ovation from the knowing Birds support.
