By Khairulnizam/Red Sports
Zeng Hua Xuan (IJC #13, left) chases down the ball against Marcus (#9) of TPJC. (Photo 1 © Joseph Lee/Red Sports)
Millennia Institute, Thursday, April 4, 2013 — Tampines Junior College (TPJC) bounced back from an earlier loss to Millennia Institute a few days ago to beat Innova Junior College (IJC) 1–0 for their first Round 1 win of the National A Division Football Championship.
The first half started with a slow and steady pace with neither team posing any real threat. One of the TPJC players was brought down just outside the penalty box but Raihan (#3) only managed to rock the crossbar.
IJC were unable to break down TPJC’s tough defense while TPJC had more chances and were much more aggressive in their attack. IJC’s defenders were constantly put under pressure, especially with the likes of Nabil (TPJC #10) who stood out. He was able to weave in and out of the IJC defense and set up attacks for his teammates. IJC seemed to do more defending than attacking and were probably the happier team that the first half ended 0–0.
TPJC managed to draw first blood in the early minutes of the second half with a goal from a corner kick. One of the TPJC players managed to head the ball towards the IJC net, but the goalie pushed it away. However, Marcus (#9) of TPJC managed to latch on to the rebound and headed home for a 1–0 lead.
As the match progressed, Ravinpal Singh (#17) of IJC had a clear shot on goal from a cross but he skied the volley. IJC started to attack more to get the equaliser. However, Max (#5) and Fu Jie (#6) ran a tight TPJC defence, not allowing most of the long balls directed at their penalty box to reach the IJC targets.
Minutes later, the play was halted momentarily when the referee awarded a yellow card to Munir (#8) of TPJC who went in for a late challenge.
IJC were still unable to make most of their chances despite switching to an offensive play. The long shots taken from outside the box lacked either power or accuracy. On one of the crosses, the TPJC keeper fumbled and dropped the ball, but the IJC strikers were still unable to capitalise on the golden opportunity presented to them.
“It was a good game for both the teams today. TPJC gave us a good challenge plus we were not on form as we were during our friendlies a few weeks earlier,” said the IJC captain Shiva (#9).
“The highlight of the game to me is the (performance of the) defenders. Despite the height disadvantage, they worked hard to win headers and to challenge for the ball.”
When asked on how he thinks the rest of the season would pan out, Shiva said: “It’s only the first game and it was not a deciding one. If we keep up our hard work and try our best I believe we can go far.”
Final Result
TPJC 1 IJC 0
1st Half: 0–0
2nd Half: 1–0 (1–0)
Scorers
TPJC
Marcus (#9) – 1 goal
TPJC Roster
Edwin (#1), Syakir (#2), Raihan (#3), Santhosh (#4), Max (#5), Fu Jie (#6), Syahrul (#7), Munir (#8), Marcus (#9), Nabil (#10), Chee Kiat (#11), Premjit (#12), Rashidi (#13), Nicholas (#14), Akhyar (#15), Nico (#16), Derrick (#17, capt), Izzuddin (#18), Nigel (#19), Joel (#20)
IJC Roster
Toh Xu Jie (#1), Muhammad Khairul (#2), Nooriman Bin Riduan (#3), Teo Jun Kai (#4), J. Danraj (#7), Martin Louis (#8), Shivavaruman Durairaj (#9), Raphael Luke (#10), Jonathan Ryan (#11), Isaac Wong (#12), Zheng Hua Xuan (#13), Srenivasan S/O Ravi (#14), Joshua Cheong (#15), Ravinpal Singh (#17), Kareti Arjun (#18), Ahmad Shaqil (#19), Muhammad Durrani (#20), Tan Shi Ying (#21), Rashvin Singh (#23), Mohamed Yazid (#25)
2013 National A Division Football Championship – fixtures and results
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