By REDintern Maryam Nasihah

The 2009 Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic (IVP) Football Championship (SR Nathan Challenge Cup) kicked off on January 6th 2009 and with the semi-finals at the end of this week, here’s a summary of the group stage action.

January 6, 2009 - Many drawn games on the first day of group games saw almost every team in both groups getting their fair share of points.

In Group B, hosts Republic Polytechnic had a goalless and boring draw against SMU after both teams drew 2-2 in the same fixture last year.

Another goalless draw in the other Group B fixture saw last year's runners-up ITE share a point with Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) in the opening game at the newly built synthetic field at NP.

In group A, there was another 0-0 draw ensued in the clash between Nanyang Technological University and last year's semi finalists Singapore.

The trend was broken when Temasek Polytechnic lost to defending champions Nanyang Polytechnic 1-3.

January 9, 2009 – On Day 2 of the fixtures, things got more spiced up with the Singapore Institute of Management scoring the one and only goal of the second half against hosts RP to win 1-0.

The Singapore Management University, on the other hand, managed to hold NP to a 1-1 draw at NP’s home ground. That put SIM on top of group B with 3 points followed by NP and SMU on 2.5 points after day 2.

NYP then beat SP 2-0 for their second straight win while in a concurrent game, NUS beat rivals NTU 1-0 to seal their first 3 points to trail NYP in group A.

January 12, 2009 – On Day 3 in group A, NYP maintained their winning campaign with a 2-0 win over NUS to top the group and qualify for the semi-finals. SP had their first home match and beat 10-man visitors Temasek Polytechnic 1-0.

NUS and SP were both equal on points and trailed NYP in Group A.

In group B, hosts Republic Polytechnic scored a wonderful 5-2 win over NP after half-time saw the teams deadlocked at 2-2.

In the other Group B game, ITE hosted SIM and beat them by a comfortable 2-0 margin.

These results put Republic Polytechnic at the top of Group B while ITE had to wait for their game against RP on home ground at ITE Simei the next game day.

January 15 2009 – On Day 4, NUS shocked TP with a 2-1 win to earn themselves a well-deserved 3 points to increase their chances of qualifying for the semi-finals. In last year’s championship, NUS beat SP 1-0 to win third place.

NYP faced a tough challenge from NTU before they managed to break down the NTU defence to get back into the game and win 4-2. The win gave NYP a perfect 4-wins-0-losses record and top of the group with 12 clean points.

NTU bowed out with three losses and it was now between NUS and SP for a place in the semi-finals.

Visitors Republic Polytechnic summoned their biggest crowd of supporters as they travelled to ITE Simei to face last year’s runners-up ITE.

After going down 0-1 to a 1st minute shocker by RP, ITE woke up and replied after 40 minutes to make it 1-1.

RP then sealed an emotional 2-1 win to enter the semi-finals for the first time in the polytechnic’s history.

SMU finished SIM off 2-0 at Republic Polytechnic's ground at the same time, which allowed RP to qualify for the semi-finals while SIM’s IVP adventure came to an end with only one win.

January 19, 2009 - On Day 5, in Group A, SP and NUS met to decide who would play in the semi-finals against NYP.

NUS eventually beat home side SP 1-0 to ensure a meeting against defending champions NYP on January 29th, 2009.

ITE thrashed semi-final contenders SMU 5-0 to secure for themselves top spot in Group B. Although they were tied with RP on 7 points, a superior goal difference of 6 gave them top spot.

With the group stages complete, all eyes are now focused on the semi-finals.

Defending champions NYP will host newcomers RP at their home ground on Friday January 23th, while ITE will host last year's semi-finalists NUS at ITE Simei for a nice cup of tea to decide who will get their hands on the IVP Football Championship title.

The date for the final has not been confirmed yet but it will be held at Republic Polytechnic with the president of Singapore S R Nathan expected to grace the event.

Standings and Results
Team wins-draws-losses
Group A
NYP 4-0-0 (Qualified for semi-finals)
NUS 3-0-1 (Qualified for semi-finals)
SP 1-1-2
NTU 0-1-2 (not yet updated)
TP 0-0-3 (note yet updated)

Group B
ITE 2-1-1 (Qualified for semi-finals)
RP 2-1-1 (Qualified for semi-finals)
SMU 1-2-1
NP 0-2-1 (check results)
SIM 1-0-2 (check results)

Group A
NYP 3 TP 1
SP 0 NTU 0
NYP 2 SP 0
NUS 1 NTU 0
SP 1 TP 0
NYP 2 NUS 0
NYP 4 NTU 2
NUS 2 TP 1
NUS 1 SP 0
NTU ? TP ?

Group B
RP 0 SMU 0
ITE 0 NP 0
SIM 1 RP 0
NP 1 SMU 1
ITE 2 SIM 0
RP 5 NP 2
RP 2 ITE 1
SMU 2 SIM 0
SMU 0 ITE 5
NP 3 SIM 2