By Shadiq Al-Hussain

Sengkang Hockey Stadium, Saturday, January 17, 2010 – A plucky Jansenites team fought its way to a resounding 7-3 win over fellow title contenders Singapore Cricket Club (SCC) to send a strong warning to the rest of the field in the Singapore Hockey Federation Under-21 Tournament.

Jansenites signaled their intentions very early on in the 10-goal thriller, opening the scoring after just three minutes, when Mohammed Sabri (#5) converted a penalty corner with a well-taken drag-flick.

SCC reacted superbly, scoring three goals without reply to take a 3-1 lead. Rodrigues Kelly (#72) first slid the ball past the Jansenites goalkeeper in a one-on-one chance in the 12th minute. Three minutes
later, SCC won their first penalty corner which Chua Zhonghe (#117) dispatched with a low shot. The SCC comeback seemed to be complete in the 22nd minute when Balakumaran (#40) finished off a solo run with a
goal.

Four minutes later, Sabri executed another drag-flick but his shot was well saved by SCC goalkeeper Jamal Siddique. However, there was little Jamal could do to stop Jansenites' Johnson Sivalingam (#16) from tapping into an open net in the 29th minute.

Soon after, Sabri took full advantage of a penalty corner the SCC defence gave away cheaply by failing to retreat the required 5 yards during a Jansenites sideline hit, to tie the score at 3-3 at the end of the first half.

Much like in the first half, Jansenites started the second brightly, creating a penalty corner right after half-time. Jamal was called into action again, as he produced another top-draw save to deny Jansenites' Tan Yiru (#12).

Soon after, both teams were temporarily reduced to 10 players as first Jansenites' Abdul Hafiz (#19), and then SCC's Roshen Jaswantlal (#24) were shown yellow cards in the 46th minute. From then on, Jansenites began to dominate much of the possession.

Jansenites' dominance of possession resulted in them taking the lead in the 49th minute, when Enrico Elifh (#20)'s shot deflected off SCC's Eng Song Yun (#23) into the goal. Eight minutes later, Jansenites were up 5-3 through Johnson following some good work from Enrico.

SCC, though, were handed a lifeline when they were awarded a penalty stroke after Jaspreet Singh (#101) was fouled in the ´D'. Balakumaran, however, failed to make the chance count, as his shot was saved by the Jansenites goalkeeper who kept his team firmly in the lead.

Quickly after SCC's penalty miss, Jansenites pushed forward in numbers and Enrico got his second goal of the afternoon from close range. SCC's miserable outing was compounded in the 69th minute when Jansenites' Muhammad Afiq hit the ball into an unguarded net.

The win means Jansenites need one win in their remaining two matches (against Indian Association (IA) and Police) to qualify for the second round, while SCC need to win their only remaining match (against IA)
to be sure of qualification from Group A.