Raffles Institution qualify for A Division football quarter-finals after 2-0 win over Jurong JC

Story by Kenneth Tan/Red Sports. Photos by Tan Jon Han/Red Sports

Serangoon Junior College, Monday, April 11, 2010 - Raffles Institution (RI) edged past Jurong Junior College (JJC) 2-0 in a top-of-the-table clash in Group C to book their place in the A Division Football Championships quarter-finals.

The victory was hard fought as they recovered from a poor first half to dominate and score two goals in the second that clinched them their fourth successive victory.

JJC appeared determined to stop the RI attack right from the start as they adopted an aggressive approach to win the aerial challenges. Centre back Sifat Ullah Khan also was deployed to man mark RI's national youth midfielder Ong Zhi Hao in order to stop the latter's supply to the RI forwards.

That culminated in a frustrating half for both Zhi Hao and his team as they could not get their fluid passing movement together which was seen in previous matches.

The duel between Ong and Sifat soon came to the attention of the referee who had to stop the game to speak to both of them midway through the first half.

The cagey game only opened up after 18 minutes when the first real opening fell to RI.

Ong Zhi Hao's attempt from outside the box was blocked by a JJC defender, before captain Muhammad Nuri headed the ball back into the danger area. The header created confusion in the JJC box as the ball fell to a lurking Kwa Jie Hao at the far post who only had JJC goalie Heng Bang Hao to beat.

Jie Hao managed to beat Beng Hao with his shot but not his centre back Huang Ziting who somehow managed to get back in time to clear it off the line.

On 29 minutes, JJC went close when forward Ong Yu Zheng fizzed his volley wide of the left-hand post after a cross from the right.

Four minutes later, JJC managed to get the ball into the net.

A free-kick just inside the RI half taken by captain Mohd Iylia was only parried by RI custodian Andrew Chua after he was pressured by a few JJC players. A goalmouth scramble soon ensued after the ball fell straight into the path of three lurking JJC players. Amid the melee, midfielder Goh Joon How got the crucial final touch to poke the ball past Andrew before wheeling off in celebrations.

However his celebrations were cut short by the referee who disallowed the goal for a foul on Andrew.

After surviving the scare and a poor first half, RI finally got their game together in the second half with full back Hoang The Huan playing a starring role.

Five minutes into the half, RI scored the opening goal.

After being awarded a corner, Hoang The Huan produced an inswinging corner went straight through the sea of players including JJC goalie Heng Bang Hao before landing into the right hand corner of the goal.

The goal galvanised RI into creating numerous goalscoring opportunities in the next 15 minutes that could have extended their lead.

Firstly on 52 minutes, forward Nguyen Nhat Quang cut inside from the left flank before shooting from inside the box. His effort was saved by Bang Hao at his near post before it rebounded back straight into his path just in front of goal. However he managed to fire it over the bar when it looked easier to score.

One minute later, Ong Zhi Hao's 30-yard effort was tipped wide by Bang Hao. From the resulting corner, Muhammad Nuri headed just over the bar.

On 60 minutes, they came the closest to extending their lead. From a long throw on the left, Nguyen Nhat Quang's effort from inside the box was blocked before falling to centre back Yi Hao. Yi Hao's snapshot from 20 yards beat the goalkeeper but not the left-hand post as it cannoned off the upright before being cleared to safety.

RI could have rued those squandered opportunities two minutes later as JJC managed to conjure up their first opportunity of the half which nearly brought them the equalizer.

Full back Teo Woon Min's pass from midfield picked out substitute Zhuang Zi Chang (#18) just outside the box. However Zi Chang's effort went just wide of the left-hand post.

With 10 minutes left in the second half, Hoang The Huan scored again to seal the victory for RI.

After a cross from the left was half-cleared by the JJC defence, the ball fell kindly to an oncoming Hoang who produced a half-volley from just outside the penalty area which took a deflection off an RI defender. The deflection completely wrong-footed Heng Bang Hao as the ball fizzed into the bottom left corner of the goal while he dived towards another.

JJC tried to hit back within a minute but once again Hoang The Huan was in the thick of the action.

Mohd Iylia's freekick from 40 yards was tipped wide by RI custodian Andrew Chua. From the resulting corner, a JJC player got his head to the ball and guided the ball towards the bottom left corner of the goal. The ball looked destined to go in before Hoang managed to hack it off the line.

JJC then created one last opportunity on 78 minutes. Ng Zhi Yi's free-kick from the left picked out substitute Zhuang Zi Chang in the box. However Zhuang's effort from an acute angle was easily saved by Andrew Chua.

That sealed the final result of 2-0 to RI who cemented their top spot in Group C with a 100% record of four successive wins to ensure their progress to the quarter-finals with a game left to play.

RI now join St Andrew's Junior College, Meridian Junior College, Victoria Junior College and Catholic Junior College in the quarter-finals of the A Division Football Championship, while three other slots are still up for grabs.

A visibly delighted RI captain Muhammad Nuri shared his thoughts with Red Sports along with goalscorer Hoang The Huan after the match.

"We are relieved to win this game," Nuri commented. "JJC were stubborn opponents and made it really hard for us in the first half."

"For our set pieces, the coach had asked us to aim at the far post," Hoang said when quizzed about how he scored his first goal. "I guess I got lucky for the first goal."

Nuri also paid tribute to his coach Kevin Low for the turnaround in the second half.

"Coach gave us many words of encouragement at half-time," he said. "He reminded us of all our hard work we have put in and the games we have been through, so it will be a waste if we throw it all away in this game. "

"All in all, we benefited from our own hard work and we are happy to achieve our target of qualifying (for the quarter-finals)," he added.

On a final note, Nuri was quizzed about what he felt about his team's strengths this year and his aspirations.

"I felt we are better this year as compared to last year, in terms of our physical levels and experience," he said. "Of course just like other qualified teams, we have aspirations of going all the way to the final, but for now we will take one game at a time.”

JJC remained in second position after suffering their first loss in the tournament in this match. With seven points from four games, they hold the slight edge over Nanyang Junior College (NYJC) and Serangoon Junior College (SRJC) who lurk just behind with six points. The top two teams from each group qualify for the quarter-final stage.

Meanwhile the clash between Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC) and Nanyang Junior College (NYJC) rescheduled for today has been postponed again to a later date after lightning called a halt 34 minutes into the match.

The next Group C fixtures rescheduled for April 15th see ACJC take on already-qualified RI at 3pm while Serangoon Junior College (SRJC) will take on JJC at 4.45pm in a must-win clash to keep their qualification hopes for the quarter-finals alive.

Both matches will be played at SRJC.

Scorers
Hoang The Huan 45', 70'

RI lineup
Andrew Chua Ruiming (#1, GK), Muhammad Nuri Bin Mohamed Shafei (#5, captain), Ngo Hoang Gia (#6), Kwa Jie Hao (#7), Nguyen Nhat Quang (#10), Varun Vijayraghavan (#11), Pranav Malhotra (#13), Hoang The Huan (#14), James Kwong Kam Yin (#16), Yi Hao (#17), Ong Zhi Hao (#18)
JJC lineup
Heng Beng Hao (#1, GK), Huang Ziting (#5), Ng Zhi Yi (#6), Jagan Somaiah (#7), Seow Yong Jie (#8), Goh Joon How (#10), Mohd Iylia Haziq B Othman (#11, captain), Andrew Chang Zhi' An (#12), Ong Yu Zheng (#13), Teo Woon Min (#16), Sifat Ullah Khan (#17)

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

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