By REDintern Gladys Wee

CCAB, Tuesday, August 3, 2010 — St. Andrew’s Secondary claimed third place with a narrow 15-14 win over Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road).

ACS(BR) drew first blood with Muhammad Rafi (#15) scoring a try and teammate Ahmad Zuhri (#9) converting. However, the Saints came back when their Akida (#19) finally found a loophole in the defence of ACS(BR) before passing the ball to Khidir (Saints #17) who went over for five points for the team. Kelvin successfully converted the try to ensure both teams were tied 7-7 at half-time.

St Andrew’s continued their assault in the second half with Kelvin Yau (Saints #7) scoring a penalty in the first five minutes, giving them a quick 10-7 lead.

However, ACS(BR) pushed on and replied with another try and a successful conversion from Muhammad Rafi (#15) and Ahmad Zuhri (#9) respectively to take a 14-10 lead.

After 10 minutes, things took a turn for the worse when Muhammad Alif of St Andrew’s was the recipient of a high tackle in the neck. Though he was fine, only a warning was issued to the attacker despite shouts from the stands for a red card.

To ACS’ dismay, the Saints came back again through John Chan who took the spotlight with a try for a 15-14 lead.

Both teams pushed on for another try and Lady Luck was definitely not on the side of ACS(BR). The final whistle was blown just as ACS(BR) were just 20m away from the try line, leaving both their supporters and players upset.

ACS(BR) head coach, Lincoln Tan, said a few errors cost them the game.

“They were too caught up in the match, and if they had taken the kick, this game would already be ours,” said coach Lincoln.

ACS(BR) captain, Ahmad Zuhri, agreed with his coach, but reflected: “We tried our best and it was very unfortunate that we lost. We will improve on what we can, and we will come back better than ever.”

While ACS (BR) were filled with remorse, St. Andrew’s captain, Wilson Chan, expressed the exact opposite sentiment when he said: “We played our hearts out, and we deserved this win.”

“I believe ACS (Barker) were worthy opponents. They threw everything at us, but we resisted,” reflected Kelvin Yau of the Saints.

Teachers from both schools had the same feelings about next year’s B Division. Ms Alice Wang and Mr Ng Chee Kheong both said that it is not about the results, but the process of getting the team ready.

“We’re still aiming for top 4,” commented Ms Wang about the target for ACS(BR) in ACS (BR) for the 2011 B Division championship.