Nicolas Velez marked his return from a two-match suspension in style as he contributed three assists and a goal to inspire Warriors FC to an emphatic 4-0 win against Albirex Niigata (S) in the Great Eastern Yeo's S.League at the Jurong East Stadium on Monday night.
The defending champions were thumped by the White Swans 6-0 earlier in the season, but there was to be no repeat of that result. Velez assisted Fazrul Nawaz for his brace, before earning a penalty which Miroslav Pejic converted. The 24-year-old ended the night on a perfect note by putting himself on the scoresheet.
The result halted Albirex's nine-game unbeaten streak and it was also their first league game where they have conceded more than one goal.
Things were different in the beginning though. The first opportunity of the night fell to Rion Taki on five minutes and the Albirex forward forced a save from Warriors goalkeeper Daniel Ong, but he was adjudged to have been offside.
Atsushi Kawata then tried his luck from 30 yards, before the Warriors began to dominate proceedings. Pejic's 25-yard free kick looked destined for the bottom left corner before Yosuke Nozawa's intervention.
The Croatian then set up Beattie with a tantalizing left-wing cross, but the latter's close-range header was well tipped over by Nozawa.
The Warriors were then forced into making a substitution just after the half-hour mark when Syaqir Sulaiman had to come on to replace Marin Vidosevic, who was struggling with a thigh strain, at centre-back.
The enforced change ironically had a positive effect for the defending champions as Syaqir got into the thick of things with a number of key defensive interceptions.
At the other end, they continued to flourish with Pejic forcing yet another top-drawer save from Nozawa after being set up by a half-cleared Velez cross.
Beattie then missed the decisive touch from Hafiz Rahim's corner, before Pejic's header from Kevin McCann's cross was smothered by Nozawa.
Their pressure eventually paid off on the stroke of half time as Velez wriggled through on the left side of the penalty area before squaring it for Fazrul, who got just in front of Itsuki Yamada to slide home into an empty net.
Albirex could have levelled matters just three minutes after the restart, but Takahiro Saito's header from Kento Nagasaki's corner crashed off the top of the bar.
That miss proved to be costly for the White Swans as they went on to concede the killer second goal on 56 minutes. Once again, it was Velez who sprinted past his marker on the right before cutting it back for Fazrul to force the ball in at Nozawa's near post.
Tatsuyuki Okuyama reacted to the setback by bringing on Fumiya Kogure but the former J.League man was unable to inspire a comeback as his 67th-minute free kick was a weak attempt.
The hosts continued to struggle in front of goal and things were to get even worse for them in the closing stages as the Warriors scored two in quick succession.
Pejic slotted straight down the middle from 12 yards after Velez was brought down by Saito inside the box, before Velez led and finished a breakaway move himself deep inside injury time.
Warriors FC coach Alex Weaver was clearly unable to hide his delight as he ran onto the field of play to punch the air after that goal.
Speaking after the game, he credited his side for putting up a 'smart' display to dislodge the White Swans at the top of the standings.
"I tried to keep my Englishness in check (before that celebration), but I was just delighted that it was an excellent performance," he said. "The way Nico took that goal was excellent, so I showed how passionate I am.
"We worked so hard, but so smart. We focused on the front four and getting at their defence, which not many teams do against Albirex. Nico's return helped us massively and we knew we had a good chance of scoring with him around."
Meanwhile Albirex counterpart Okuyama was clearly desolate in defeat as he refused to delve deeper in explanation for his side's heavy loss.
"Tonight we lost by four goals because something different happened tonight," he said. "It's very difficult to say and that's something for you to think.
"We have young players, so there's no excuse for tiredness. At this moment, I'm still satisfied with my team's performances over these first 12 games and I think we can improve more."
Albirex Niigata (S): Yosuke Nozawa (GK), Takahiro Saito, Kento Fujihara, Itsuki Yamada, Rui Kumada, Hikaru Mizuno, Shun Inaba, Atsushi Kawata, Rion Taki, Kento Nagasaki (C), Shotaro Ihata (Fumiya Kogure 62')
Warriors FC: Daniel Ong (GK), Kevin McCann, Daniel Bennett (C), Marin Vidosevic (Syaqir Sulaiman 32'), Irwan Shah, Emmeric Ong (Azlan Abdul Razak 85'), Thomas Beattie, Miroslav Pejic, Nicolas Velez, Hafiz Rahim (Hafsyar Farkhan 88'), Fazrul Nawaz