Tempers flare as Nanyang Poly fall to Ngee Ann Poly in NUS-GE Water Polo Challenge

Story by Koh Yizhe/Red Sports. Photos by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports

National University of Singapore Sports and Recreation Complex, Tuesday, January 12, 2010 - Ngee Ann Polytechnic finished top of Group A after beating Nanyang Polytechnic 13-5 in physical encounter in the NUS-Great Eastern Water Polo Challenge.

2009 first runners-up NP came into the match as clear favourites and did not fail to deliver, drawing first blood when Joseph Tan opened the scoring within the first minute after Thaddeus Tok's shot found the bar. NYP, who were confident coming into this match, quickly equalised through Zachary Matthews, capitalising on an extra man advantage following a foul by NP. These two quick goals within the first two minutes set the pace for the match.

The scores were level for less than 30 seconds before NP snatched the lead back. Leon Tay scored his only goal of the match, finishing off a series of slick passes among his teammates. There was no looking back for NP from then on as they dominated the quarter and scored another three more goals through counter attacks. Poor ball handling clearly cost NYP as they committed turnovers in the final third, failing to threaten NP's defense.

However, NYP managed to pull one back through current top scorer Andy Ou just before the end of the quarter to go into the break trailing 2-5.

NYP put up a better performance in the next quarter, limiting their highly-rated opponents to just two goals. Both teams were able to match each other in the second quarter with only three goals scored.

Captain Jason Tan scored the sixth NYP goal just before the three-minute mark while Marcus Teoh of NYP and NP's Foo Chuan Yu completed the scoring in the second quarter.

Leading 7-3 after half-time, NP stretched their lead in the third quarter. Plenty of exclusion fouls were committed by both sides, but it was NP who were able to take advantage of their numbers to score three extra man goals while NYP could only muster one.

Ang Zi Yuan, Joseph Tan, Jason Tan and Foo Chuan Yu all got their names on the score sheet for NP as they extended their lead to seven goals at 11-4 heading into the final quarter.

NYP, in contrast, struggled to break down NP's water-tight defense. On top of that, their shooting lacked the needed accuracy as their shots constantly flew past NP's goal.

Tempers flared in the fourth quarter as NYP tried to chase the game. NP definitely didn't make it easy for them with both sides of players committing many exclusion fouls. The match soon turned ugly with Thadeus Tock from NP earning a suspension.

Eventually, NP's seven-goal lead was too much to overcome and NYP fell 5-13.

“I think we played well but the referees weren’t very attentive. It was a very rough game,” said NP captain Jason Tan. "It’s a man’s sport and I guess the other team couldn’t take it and just flared up most of the time. We capitalised (on that) and just kept our cool and played it towards the end. Even though we played rough, played hard, overall, we hope to be better.”

However, he did have nicer words for NYP: "They put up a good fight also and I must say, they are a good team. They didn’t give up till the end and fought all the way. Not many teams can do that. Even though we won by quite a big margin but they still showed what they can do."

N.B. If you know the names of the players featured, let us know in the comments section and we’ll update the captions. Thanks.