Svay Rieng secured three points away from home against Kiriwong Sok Sen Chey in the opening round of the Ci-Liga. The visitors opened the scoring early and never looked back, claiming a comfortable 3-0 victory on Saturday.
and here's the thing, van der Water didn't wait long to make his presence felt. Six minutes in and he'd found the net, putting Svay Rieng ahead before the home side had truly settled into the match.
by then the visitors had their rhythm. Sieng doubled the lead just before the half-hour mark, showing the kind of movement that comes from playing together regularly. The home team struggled to respond.
three yellow cards for the hosts by the final whistle told their own story. They didn't have much to do all evening, but those bookings accumulated when they needed to react to Svay Rieng's pressure. The away end never stopped.
to be fair, the table positions made sense before kickoff. Svay Rieng sit second with three points from one game, while Kiriwong Sok Sen Chey are already down in tenth place after their first defeat of the campaign.