Finding Heart
Brian Reddy was despondent after not tracking Mawardi at the death, which led to Ambush F.C.'s final equalizing goal, but he had to agree that a draw did reflect how the game went. "We had our chances in the second half, but they played very well too. You could see how they won three titles in their last four seasons in Division Three."
The stumble cut Grilled Birds' lead to a single point, as Claseek tamed Joker 9 by three clear goals, despite having Slovakian winger Danylo Oschypko sent off late. Next opponents Queenstown MZKs broke War Nation FC 4-2, with Kwek Ho Jie and Hernán Fernández del Cerro sustaining light injuries but likely to be back in time. Singapore Red Dragons' nightmare would be extended, though, as they got held to a 1-1 draw by newbies are newbies at home.
"I can't say that we are in a bad position, but today was not the greatest either." Birds head coach
Tian Yonghang commented. "On the bright side,
Mohd Marzuki Khairul was sharp in his return to the league lineup - shame that it probably gave him too much attention by the defenders!"
Koushan Khatibi continued to head the III.9 Golden Boot table against all expectation, as he drained a 31st minute free-kick against Really McCoys, that turned out to be the winning goal. Martin Labor could have finally spoilt
Gilberto Sorondo's proud clean sheet record after being supplied by Yehuda Katzenelenbogen's creativity six minutes from time, only to watch the ball bounce past him, entranced too.
That made it four of four for the Buns, with kaloons and FC Jurong Rovers staying three points behind, after 7-0 and 5-1 wins over Jerza Singapore and Mangrove Pittas respectively; Danish midfielder Stefan Brogaard hit a second-half hat-trick to power the Rover through in what might otherwise have been a far closer game. At the bottom, Singapore rovers 2 edged Geylang Dolphins 2-1 amidst constant roughhousing, but it is safe to say that this shouldn't save either team from going down.
Grilled International racked up a 31-1 goal difference in their own perfect start, as they crushed Australian hosts Biri Heart 8-0, on
Mohsen Zeynali's maiden career hat-trick. The Iranian winger even got some applause from the sporting home fans when he came off for
Helmy Syamsuzaman in the last minute.
FC Inter Ottnang established themselves as International's primary title rivals as they blew hope and love away by seven goals, four of them from Romanian striker Valentin Hohoi. This has Hohoi and teammate Augusto Amado Gonçalves now equal on five goals with
Leri Bezhanishvili and
Chua Jun Long in the league scoring charts, as Grandes de Extremadura and Athletico Chiapas picked up 2-0 home wins, to stay in touch.