Ngee Ann Poly thrash Republic Poly 23-3 for second win in water polo challenge

Story by Yvonne Yap/Red Sports. Pictures by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports.

National University of Singapore Sports and Recreation Complex, Saturday, January 9, 2010 – Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) stormed to their second victory of the NUS-Great Eastern Water Polo Challenge with a 23-3 victory over Republic Polytechnic (RP). Their two wins places them in a joint lead with Nanyang Polytechnic in Group A.

NP scored seven times in the first quarter to prove that they are a worthy contender for the title. Displaying fine tactical skills, the players broke down the RP defence, scoring through a series of bounced shots. Jason Tan and Thaddeus Tock led the charge with two goals each while Joseph Tan, Timothy Cheng and Tobias Zhang scored one apiece.

RP’s vice-captain Low Wei En had a chance towards the end of the quarter to put his team on the scoreboard with a one-on-one encounter with the goalkeeper but his lob shot went high over the post, allowing NP to wrap up the first quarter 7-0.

RP seemed to have re-organised themselves at the start of the second quarter, with co-vice captain Pradeep T attempting a lob shot from the left wing, but it only connected with the corner of the post.

NP’s Shaun Lim scored across into goal in a 4-on-3 situation while his teammate Rahul Shankar Pandey managed to shake off 3 defenders to put NP 9-0 up.

RP’s Dharshaka Tennekoon scored the first goal for his side by capitalising on a mistake by the NP keeper. His teammate Pradeep tried to lob a shot in but it landed just in front of goal. The keeper could not get to it in time and Dharshaka, waiting patiently just right at the goal, scooped up the ball and finishing the job.

In response, NP took their scoring into double digits, with Foo Chuan Yu, Jason and Tobias putting five more shots in before half time to take NP 14-1 up.

The second half saw relatively lower scoring from both sides as both sides tried to man mark the other, shutting out the forwards who could not get to goal as easily. NP’s Ang Zi Yan scored his first goal of the game despite the attention of two RP defenders.

NP’s Cedric Ng then scored from a 5m penalty and set up another goal for Jason to score, catching the defenders off guard.

RP captain Wei En gave his side another lone goal in the quarter, performing well under pressure as he was closely marked by NP defender Joseph in front of goal.

Zi Yuan and Chuan Yu placed score two more goals before the end of the third quarter to maintain a comfortable 19-2 lead for NP.

Timothy made it a great start to the final quarter for NP by passing the ball to Thaddeus, who made his way deep into the RP half and scored with yet another bounce shot. Timothy scored his second goal of the game two minutes later, making it 21-2 to NP.

Then, Tobias and Rahul played a 1-2, leaving Rahul to score the goal. However, the keeper managed to block it and Tobias finished the job this time.

NP scored their last goal of the game in an easy 3-on-2 situation with Zi Yuan, Royce Tang and Jason making quick work of the two RP defenders before Jason hit the back of the net.

Dharsharka made a lob shot 30 seconds from time to give RP another consolation goal but it was NP’s game 23-3 at the final whistle.

Having lost 2 games in a row, RP captain Vibrant Lee mused about their ability to qualify for playoffs, “It will be a tough fight, but we will do our best.”

“Our chances are slim, but at least we played hard,” agreed vice-captain Low Wei En.

RP will next meet Temasek Polytechnic on Thursday, 14 January 2010 while NP will face co-leaders Nanyang Polytechnic on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.