By Kenneth Tan/Red Sports

Serangoon Junior College, Thursday, April 1, 2010 – Jurong Junior College (JJC) achieved their first Group C victory in the A Division Football Championship. A 76th minute winner by midfielder Goh Joon How helped them edge out Nanyang Junior College (NYJC) by a single goal.

The victory was achieved despite NYJC dominating the majority of the match and having most of the chances in front of goal.

The first half was a cagey one, with very few openings created by both teams which contributed to a lack of goalmouth action.

The first real opportunity was created on 20 minutes when NYJC left-back Chris Gan De Hao’s inswinging corner from the right picked out Rudy Swandi at the far post. However the centre-back could not get the decisive touch to poke the ball home.

JJC had an opportunity nine minutes later but forward Muhd Shaheer’s shot inside the box was blocked well by Rudy.

On the stroke of half-time, NJYC’s right winger Muhummad Farid saw his header flicked off the angle of bar and post after a corner from the right was not cleared by the JJC defence.

Injury seemed to have dealt a blow to NYJC just before half time as their captain Brian Ng had to be carried off by his teammates after a collision with a JJC player.

However, Peng Shen Song (#20) was an able replacement as he proved to be quite a handful for the JJC defence.

Within five minutes of the second half, he fired two efforts over after two outstanding crosses from right winger Yap Chuen Chin.

He turned provider on the 66th minute when his superb through ball down the middle picked out Yap who strode forward into the box. With just the goalkeeper to beat, he somehow managed to shoot wide of the left-hand post.

Three minutes later, Shen Song nearly got the goal he deserved as he connected well with a powerful header from an inswinging corner from Chris Gan. However his effort was denied by a JJC defender on the line.

JJC, who were under the cosh for much of the game, finally got their game together in the last 10 minutes as they launched a few attacks of their own.

The first warning sign happened on the 70th minute when substitute Andrew Chang Zhi’ An’s (#13) cross was dropped by NYJC goalie Ngo Vu Hieu. Ong Yu Zheng tried to follow up but ended up fouling Ngo in the process.

Six minutes later, the sucker punch arrived for NYJC. After a series of passes, the ball fall at the feet of JJC midfielder Goh Joon How who was about 30 yards away from goal.

With no immediate attention from the NYJC defenders, he proceeded to let fly from that distance. The shot looped over Ngo and into the goal to stun the NYJC supporters.

With just four minutes to rescue a point in the closing moments, NYJC ran out of ideas as they handed JJC their first three points in the competition.

“Our team did not have much attacks in the game and we defended almost all the way,” goalscorer Goh Joon How elaborated when asked about his thoughts on the game. “Towards the end, all I could think was that if I take a shot, I have a chance (to score).”

On how he managed his match-winning goal, he said, “I saw no one marking me so I just decided to take the chance.”

“All I can say is that this victory is a team effort,” he added.

The result meant NYJC dropped to the second last position in Group C, with three points achieved from their one win and two losses. Meanwhile JJC leapfrogged them into the fourth position with one win and one draw so far.

NYJC will next take on high-flying Serangoon Junior College (SRJC) on Monday, April 5th, at 3pm whle JJC take on bottom-placed NUS High on Thursday, March 8th, at 4.45pm.

Both matches will be played at SRJC.

NYJC lineup
Ngo Vu Hieu (#1, GK), Lee Lin Wei (#6), Daniel Chan Li Yang (#8), Lee Tze Yong (#9), Saravanan s/o Alagappan (#11), Chris Gan De Hao (#15), Yap Chuen Chin (#17), Brian Ng Cheow Koon (#19, captain), Goh Say Cheong (#21), Muhummad Farid bin Mokhatr (#23), Rudy Swandi (#24)

JJC lineup
Heng Bang Hao (#1, GK), Huang Ziting (#5), Ng Zhi Yi (#6), Jagan Somaiah (#7), Seow Yong Jie (#8), Muhd Shaheer B Abdul Rahma (#9), Goh Joon How (#10), Mohd Iylia Haziq B Othman (#11, captain), Ong Yu Zheng (#13), Teo Woon Min (#16), Sifat Ullah Khan (#17)

Go to the SCHOOLS FIXTURES & RESULTS page for more information.