Written by: Zack Rahim

It was one-way traffic for Brunei DPMM as they mauled Harimau Muda 5-0 on Friday night.

The match result displaced defending champions Tampines Rovers from the top of the Great Eastern Yeo’s S.League table.

The Bruneians have now scored 11 goals in their last two games. They beat Young Lions 6-1 last week – and have netted a league-leading 19 goals in seven games.

The Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Brunei saw its biggest turnout for the year, with the home fans probably knowing that a comfortable win was on the cards.

Harimau Muda which has yet to pick up a single point – remain rock bottom of the 12-team competition.

They ended the match with 10 men after Azrun Nizam Muhammad was shown a straight red for clashing with Roy O’ Donovan inside the box.

O’Donovan almost got the hosts ahead after just 30 seconds but his attempt from an Azwan Ali Rahman cross hit the side netting, setting the tone for the rest of the night.

So once Azwan put DPMM ahead in the third minute after beating Ilham Amirullah at his near post, there was no turning back after that.

Sairol Hj Sahari doubled DPMM’s lead 20 minutes later after Harimau Muda cleared a corner kick to his feet.

The left-back did not need another invite to unleash a shot which rippled the back of the net.

It was 3-0 in the 36th minute when O’ Donovan ran onto a free-kick from captain Rosmin Hj Mohd Kamis and lobbed over Ilham.

Harimau Muda’s only notable chance came in the 40th minute when Syafwan Syahlan forced Wardun Yussof into a save.

To their credit the Malaysians came out the stronger side after the break and pressured DPMM into conceding several free-kicks in a row.

Nor Azam Azih had the best chance to pull one back with a 48th minute free-kick but Wardun dived well to his left to save the shot.

Rodrigo Tosi made it 4-0 in the 57th minute after a thunderous free-kick struck the top left corner to cap off a perfectly executed training ground routine for his seventh goal of the campaign.

O’ Donovan bagged his sixth goal of the season after lobbing a fine ball over the top from Rosmin. The Irishman’s delicate finishing provided the icing on the cake for the evening.