Contributed by reader Lim Weixiang
Defending champions NYP go on the attack but their efforts ultimately prove fruitless. (Photo 1 courtesy of Lim Weixiang)
Republic Polytechnic, Monday, April 6, 2009 – The National University of Singapore beat Nanyang Polytechnic 1-0 to capture the Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic (IVP) Football Championship title for the first time.
In an encounter watched by President S.R Nathan and a packed stand of supporters, NUS and NYP fought out a keenly-contested to see who would walk home with the SR Nathan Challenge Cup and it was NUS who finally prevailed with a Vincent Wong goal in the first half.
NYP started the game as favourites after their 2-0 win over NUS in the group stages. However it was NUS, led by captain Gerald Pang, who took the game to their opponents. Farhan Faruk of NYP, who also turns out for Home United in the S.League, was ineffective, marked out of the game by the tenacious NUS defenders.
Instead it was ex-Young Lion Fabian Tan of NUS who bossed the centre of midfield, spraying excellent passes around as NUS pinned NYP back.
Vincent Wong gave NUS a deserved lead in the 30th minute, receiving a short corner from Fong Xiongkun and looping the ball over the keeper into the right corner of the goal.
Stunned, NYP came out of their shells in the second half and regained the initiative, launching wave after wave of attacks but to no avail, as the NUS team defended resolutely in numbers, seeing out 4 minutes of extra time to make history as the first university to clinch the SR Nathan Challenge Trophy.
NUS celebrate their win in front of their supporters… (Photo 2 courtesy of Lim Weixiang)
… and Lim Wei Quan take the walk of fame to collect his prize. (Photo 3 courtesy of Lim Weixiang)
ang song kiu is the best lah.no competition
NUS trained 2-3 times a week
Wow. You deserved the victory then.
Someone just told me that NYP trained twice together since the semi-finals.
So what was the NUS training schedule like since the semi-finals?
Ang Song Kiu Is The Best!
The President wasn’t free. That’s why there was a long delay between the semis & the final. No joke.
Hi Uncle Les!
So sorry I didn’t reply.
The problem is, I didn’t get the e-mail you sent. It must have been lost somewhere in cyberspace.
My sincere apologies.
Concerning the time lag, I believe it was because the president could only make it yesterday.
The game was actually supposed to be played in the 3rd week of March, but president Nathan could not make it. Therefore it was shifted to the 6th of April.
Yep, thats all. Keep up the good work with redsports!
Best Regards,
Wei Quan
Oh I see.
As for the timing, we looked up the NUS website and it didn’t state the time either.
What a waste. I went all the way up there.
That guy in the last picture is Lim Wei Quan… He’s a football genius!
I replied to Wei Quan’s email asking us to cover the final to ask for the kick off time but didn’t get a reply.
I went down to the game thinking it would start at 7pm only to hear the final whistle.
I tried to support the game but unfortunately no clear details of the game could be found.
So no pics and story from us. Good thing a reader sent this story in.
Congrats to NUS.
By the way, why such a long delay between the semi-finals and the final?
The semi-final was played on January 25th, more than two months ago. Puzzling.
http://redsports.sg/2009/01/25/rp-nyp-football/