St Patrick’s beat Seng Kang 2-0 to enter first ever National B Division football final

Story by Kenneth Tan/Red Sports. Photos by Les Tan/Red Sports

CCAB, Monday, July 19, 2010 — In an exciting semi-final clash, East Zone champions St Patrick’s School beat Seng Kang Secondary 2-0 to secure themselves a spot in the final of the B Division Football Championship for the first time in their history.

Two first-half goals by forward Dharvin Hiranand Mirpuri ensured St Patrick’s enjoyed the luxury of sitting back and defending their lead. Despite late pressure from Seng Kang in the second half, they managed to repel all their efforts.

Seng Kang started the brighter side as they dominated the possession for the first 10 minutes. Captain Mohd Syafiq fired the first shot of the game over the bar from a short free kick just two minutes into the game.

However it was St Patrick’s who managed to score the opening goal of the game on 12 minutes. A looping through ball from midfield caught out the whole Seng Kang defence but looked to be covered by the onrushing Seng Kang goalie Joey Ho. However he was hesitant in collecting the ball and that gave St Patrick’s lanky forward Dharvin the chance to nip in and coolly lob the ball over into the empty goal.

The goal inspired St Patrick’s as they went on to dominate the rest of the half. A mistake in the nervous Seng Kang defence on 14 minutes saw St Patrick’s captain Basil Teo steal in but his effort from outside the box went just wide of the right-hand post.

Three minutes later, a raking cross-field pass from midfielder Santa Maria Ryan John created an open opportunity for forward Erfan B Subadi but the latter volleyed his effort against the bar.

On 25 minutes, they hit the bar again as Basil Gerard’s Teo 20m free kick rocked the woodwork.

Their efforts paid off four minutes later as a static Seng Kang defense and goalkeeper allowed Dharvin to loop a header just under the crossbar to give St Patrick’s a two-goal lead and a mountain to climb for Seng Kang.

Seng Kang forward Mohd Shameer Aziq had a chance on 47 minutes after a right-wing cross into the box but his shot was easily saved by St Patrick’s goalie Ashwyn Seth.

St Patrick’s could have extended their lead on two occasions thereafter. Firstly, Dharvin headed wide from a corner on 52 minutes. Then on 57 minutes Basil Gerard Teo hit a thumping 20m volley against the bar before another looping effort from all of 35m was just caught under the crossbar by Joey Ho.

Seng Kang finished the game the stronger of the two teams as they piled on the pressure on the St Patrick’s goal. On 62 minutes, Chen Peng shot from inside the box was blocked before Hwang Kok Chang fired wide of the right-hand post.

They created their best move of the game a minute later when full back Mohd Nabil worked out a one-two before crossing into the box but Hwang Kok Chang curled his shot over.

Despite trying their utmost best, Seng Kang could not break down the St Patrick’s defence to force the game into extra time.

“This is the first time in St Patrick’s history that we’ve reached the final. Our previous best achievement was finishing third last year, so to be part of this squad, I am very happy,” a victorious St Patrick’s captain Basil Teo shared his feelings with Red Sports after the match.

“We played them in the qualifiers and beat them 2-1 at their home ground, so we knew their strengths and weaknesses,” said Basil when quizzed about his team’s strategy for the game. “We went out looking for an early goal which we did and then sat back on our lead. We worked hard on our defensive shape in the second half.”

“We actually had a better squad last year in terms of individual ability,” he commented. “This year we actually have a much younger team with six Secondary 3s, but the attitude is better and we just gelled together.”

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