Written by: Zack Rahim

Brunei DPMM stormed back from a goal down to roar past the Young Lions 6-1 in their Great Eastern-Yeo’s S.League match on Sunday, the convincing win being the largest margin of victory this season.

Braces from Rodrigo Tosi and Roy O’Donovan helped DPMM move up two spots to second, trailing three-time defending champions Tampines Rovers by two points.

The hosts were down in the 23rd minute after Young Lions forward Sherif El-Masri shocked the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Brunei after finishing off a one-two with a teammate with a deflected shot off the foot of Abdul Aziz Tamit.

But it was to be the last time the Young Lions would really threaten DPMM goalkeeper Wardun Yussof.

O’Donovan scored his first goal in the match nine minutes later when lashing home a shot from just inside the box after the visitors failed to clear their lines following a Rosmin Kamis corner.

DPMM skipper Rosmin was instrumental in the second goal as well in the 40th minute. His long ball over the top found Tosi who headed home past an onrushing Syazwan Buhari in the Young Lions goal.

It was one-way traffic after the break as the Young Lions found themselves caged in their own half and unable to string any passes together.

The Young Lions’ defence did put a stop to an O’Donovan run from the left of the box, but Roberto Alviz latched onto the ball and dribbled past two players in the box to beat Syazwan at his near post in the 52nd minute.

The fourth goal was identical to the second, with another long ball over the top finding Tosi and the Brazilian shrugged off his marker to score his sixth goal of the season.

DPMM’s top scorer, Tosi had ample chance to seal a memorable hat-trick but poor finishing prevented him from returning with the match ball. The attacker shot over the bar during a one-on-one situation in the 67th minute and saw a header sail wide six minutes later.

The Young Lions had already used up all three substitutes by this point but it would take more than a change in personnel to turn their lifeless performance around.

Shahrazen Said, who came on in place of Tosi, provided a pin-point pass to Alviz on the right, and the Croatian’s cross to O’Donovan  saw the Irishman bag his second with a strong header.

It was 6-1 in the dying minutes when Azwan Ali Rahman scored after a one-on-one, though the game had long ceased to be a contest by then.