Netball Nations Cup: Singapore triumph 42-35 over Malaysia to book place in final

Story by Grace Sim/Red Sports. Photos by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports

Toa Payoh Sports Hall, Saturday, December 10, 2011 — Singapore outwrestled Malaysia to claim a 42-35 victory in an intense and physical match at the Netball Nations Cup.

The home team had a shaky start when they failed to convert their first centre pass and allowed Malaysia to race off with a four-goal lead minutes into the first quarter. The Republic’s attacking side were given a chance to redeem themselves with a number of interceptions brought about by veteran defender Jean Ng in Goal Defence and the girls gradually found their rhythm to close in on their Causeway rivals.

As the goal difference grew smaller, the match became a highly physical contest with both teams drawing many contacts on the defensive end, leading to injury time-outs at times. The play was neck-and-neck but Malaysia eventually ran out of time to convert their centre pass in the last few seconds and trailed 10-11 by the end of the first quarter.

Singapore gained the upper hand with possession of the ball going into the second quarter and scored four consecutive goals within the first two minutes. The line-up changes in the defensive goal circle proved decisive with Lin Qingyi coming in as Goal Keeper to make a formidable pairing with Ng.

The pair displayed great chemistry and effectively pressured the Malaysian shooters into attempting only long shots. Desperate to get their hands on the ball, the Malaysian defenders reacted by throwing themselves behind every ball and succeeded in affecting the Singapore shooters. The Malaysian girls, in blue, fought hard to level and by half time, the score was drawn at 21 goals apiece.

As the third quarter commenced, a couple of changes in Singapore’s attacking line-up caused the nerves to set in and Goal Shooter Cassandra Soh could not finish off her initial attempted shots. Malaysia took no time in capitalizing on the rebounds and scored four consecutive goals.

However, as the game wore on, the tables were turned when Soh, paired with Chen Huifen, settled into shooting mode. The Malaysians shooters had trouble scoring because of the relentless pressure from Ng and Lin which gave the hosts opportunity to rack up the goals. The girls in red scored a total of 12 against their opponents’ six goals in the third quarter to take a significant lead.

Keen to narrow the gap, the feisty Malaysian girls charged back on court at the start of the final quarter to pot three straight goals to trail by three at 30-33. Fortunately, the Singapore team held their ground as Ng and Lin continued to create turnovers to bring their shooters more attempts at the goal which their shooters obliged.

With the slight advantage, the hosts showed more composure than their frantic counterparts as the clock counted down to the last second. At full time, Malaysia conceded defeat to Singapore, 35-42.

Relieved with the outcome, co-captain Jean Ng exclaimed, “You can always expect tough games with our neighbours, our rivalry goes way back. It was really hard, we knew they would come at us.”

Singapore coach, Kate Carpenter added, “Malaysia was in the match all the way to the end. It was very much a defensive game for Singapore which really kept us in touch and won the match. Our attacking end (was) not so good today. We need to improve significantly for the final tomorrow.”

With the victory, Singapore progresses to play their nemesis from the World Netball Championship, Fiji, in the Netball Nations Cup final on Sunday, December 11th. The match will take place at 5pm at Toa Payoh Sports Hall.

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