By Kenneth Tan/Red Sports. Photos by REDintern Chua Yueda

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Yap Chuen Chin of NYJC (yellow) heading in his second goal of the game. (Photo 1 © Chua Yueda/Red Sports)

Raffles Institution, Thursday, March 25, 2010 - Nanyang Junior College (NYJC) put on a superb first-half performance to stroll to an easy 4-0 win over NUS High in the group stage of the A Division Football Championship.

This was Nanyang JC’s first win after they lost their opening game 0-1 to Raffles Institution just three days ago. For NUS High, this was their second defeat after a 3-0 loss by Serangoon Junior College.

NUS High got off to a very nervous start as they were unable to string together passes in the first 10 minutes. Instead Nanyang JC looked more comfortable when they had possession of the ball.

It was no surprise that Nanyang JC took the lead soon after on 13 minutes. Forward Lee Tze Yong's (#19) header from a cross by right winger Muhammad Farid bin Mokhatr (#23) was initially pushed away by NUS goalie Emmanuel Yien Goh (#1).

However the ball fell back into the path of Farid who wasted no time in pumping another cross into the box. Tze Yong's connection with his head was tipped away once again, but this time round Daniel Chan was on hand to slot in the rebound.

Six minutes later, Nanyang JC doubled their lead.

Farid stood up to take a free kick awarded just outside the box. His accurate delivery was met by Tze Yong who showed his heading prowess once again by directing the ball into the bottom left corner.

NUS High were rattled and conceded yet another goal just one minute later.

Farid produced yet another brilliant cross from the right flank which was met by the head of Yap Chuen Chin (#17). The ball crept just inside Emmanuel's near post and into the bottom right corner of the goal.

Farid was the outstanding performer in the first half as he constantly threatened with his runs down the right flank and accurate crossing ability.

He nearly capped his performance with a goal on 36 minutes as his volley from outside the box smacked the crossbar and went over.

One minute later, the scoring was completed as Nanyang JC scored their fourth goal of the game.

NUS High's defense failed to clear their lines after a corner and the ball fell to Daniel Chan who sent a looping header over Emmanuel in goal. The ball looked to be going over the bar before it came back down into the goal, stunning the Emmanuel.

NUS High woke up from their slumber in the first half and put in a much more resilient performance in the second as they restricted Nanyang JC to a few ambitious shots from range which did not threaten their goal much.

They could have pulled one back 13 minutes into the second half when Nanyang's goalie Ngo Vu Hieu (#1) made an uncharacteristic error by punching a cross straight into the path of Jeremiah Ho (#10). However, Jeremiah produced a feeble shot in response which was blocked easily by the back-tracking Nanyang defenders.

NUS High continued to battle hard and managed to create a few more opportunities of their own.

Firstly forward Ahmed Saddique Bin Abdul Jabbar (#12) slalomed through the Nanyang defence on the way to an one-on-one opportunity, but Ngo was alert and rushed out to narrow the shooting angle for Ahmed who could not get his shot away.

Then Roy Yeo's (#5) header from a Jeremiah cross went just wide of the right-hand post.

NUS High then came the closest on 72 minutes as midfielder Pan Chuen (#17) produced a superb left-footed drive which came right off the angle of bar and post. That shot drew rare loud cheers from the NUS High supporters who had little else to celebrate about during the match.

That marked the last significant action of the match as Nanyang JC closed out their first victory of this year's campaign.

Final Result
Nanyang JC 4 NUS High 0

Scorers
Nanyang JC
Daniel Chan Li Yang 13', 37'
Lee Tze Yong 19'
Yap Chuen Chin 20'

NUS High lineup
Emmanuel Yien Goh (#1, GK), Nathan Ezekiel Chai (#2), Paul Yuen Wen Loong (#3), Roy Yeo Eng Shing (#5), Lian Kay Wee (#7, captain), Ahmed Saddique Bin Abdul Jabbar (#12), Vijay Ramadoss (#14), Donovan Loh Yuan Jie (#15), Sundeep Subramani (#16), Goh Chong Wei (#17), Pan Chuen (#18)

Nanyang JC lineup
Ngo Vu Hieu (#1, GK), Lee Lin Wei (#6), Daniel Chan Li Yang (#8), Lee Tze Yong (#9), Joseph Gan Ke Hao (#14), Chris Gan De Hao (#15), Yap Chuen Chin (#17), Brian Ng Cheow Koon (#19, captain), Goh Say Cheong (#21), Muhummad Farid bin Mokhatr (#23), Rudy Swandi (#24)

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Paul Yuen (black) of NUS High contests for the ball with an NYJC opponent. (Photo 2 © Chua Yueda/Red Sports)

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Joseph Gan of NYJC attempts a pass. (Photo 3 © Chua Yueda/Red Sports)

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Players contest for the ball. (Photo 4 © Chua Yueda/Red Sports)

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Muhammad Farid bin Mokhatr of NYJC sends a cross into the penalty box. (Photo 5 © Chua Yueda/Red Sports)

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An NYJC player gets squeezed on the flanks by the NUS High defence. (Photo 6 © Chua Yueda/Red Sports)

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Muhammad Farid bin Mokhatr of NYJC tries to prevent an NUS High opponent from releasing the ball. (Photo 7 © Chua Yueda/Red Sports)

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An NUS High player gets a pass away. (Photo 8 © Chua Yueda/Red Sports)

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Chew Hui Yang tries to turn Lian Kay Wee of NUS High. (Photo 9 © Chua Yueda/Red Sports)

N.B. If you recognise the players featured, please let us know their names and we’ll update the captions. Thanks.

Go to the SCHOOLS FIXTURES & RESULTS page for more information.