ACS(I) and SAJC play out 1-1 draw in A Division boys’ hockey

Contributed by reader Shadiq Al-Hussain

CCAB, Thursday, May 14 2009 – Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) drew 1-1 with St Andrew’s Junior College to ensure they topped their group in the boys’ A Division Hockey Championship.

When ACS(I) centre-back Anthony Tan went to bed last night, all he could think of was how SAJC had, in his own words, "denied us a place in the final last year" by beating his team in the semi-finals and how he wanted to "return the favour" today.

Although he did not get a repeat semi-final against SAJC this year, he got the chance to exact some revenge over SAJC in an important match to decide who would top their second round group.

A draw would have been enough for ACS(I) to top the group, but that did not seem like their desired outcome as they attacked from the start. But it was SAJC who got the first clear chance of the match,
when centre-forward Collin Rodrigues found himself in the ACS(I) ´D', with just goalkeeper Ryan Thomasz to beat in the 13th minute. However, Thomasz made himself big in front of Collin, to deny SAJC an early lead.

Nine minutes later, it was ACS(I) centre-forward Mahendra who found himself in the SAJC ´D' with only SAJC goalkeeper Ram in front of him. Mahendra did well to control a bouncing ball to chip it past Ram and into the goal, giving his team a 1-0 lead at half-time.

Just four minutes into the second half, Collin was presented with another one-on-one opportunity but again, Thomasz thwarted his chance of scoring by quickly coming out from his line. Things did not seem to be going well for the SAJC top scorer.

SAJC continued to dominate possession, keeping ACS(I) pinned in their own half. However, they were not able to put the ball past Thomasz to bring themselves back into contention for top spot in the group. This prompted more of SAJC's players to push forward, leaving themselves slightly vulnerable to a quick counter attack.

And a quick counter attack was exactly what ACS(I) managed to conduct in the 49th minute, when centre-midfielder Prasad s/o Palanisamy's long hit down the line found Mahendra, who then laid it off to centre-forward Esmond Loke in the SAJC ´D'. Esmond was then halted illegally by Ram, resulting in a penalty stroke being awarded to ACS(I).

Prasad stepped up to make the win a certainty, but his penalty was too close to Ram, who pulled off a save to keep SAJC in the hunt.

This hunt seemed to hit a high point when they finally hit a shot into the ACS(I) goal. This shot, however, was not allowed to stand, as the umpire adjudged that Thomasz had been obstructed by the SAJC forwards.

SAJC were not put off by this, and managed to get a goal in the 55th minute, when Collin finally beat Thomasz in another one-on-one situation, with a clever shot into the corner of the goal.

However, it was a case of too little too late as the match ended 1-1, meaning ACS(I) topped the group. SAJC are still in the tournament, as both teams had already qualified for the semi-finals.