Story by REDintern Carissa Tan. Photos by Clara Yuan/ Red Sports.
Players contesting for the ball. (Photo 1 © Clara Yuan/Red Sports)
Nanyang Junior College, Monday, March 30, 2015 — Nanyang Junior College (NYJC) displayed fluid teamwork and skilful play to triumph 6–0 over Serangoon Junior College (SRJC) in their first match of the National A Division Football Championship.
Both teams appeared equally matched in the first five minutes but NYJC clearly had the upper hand in terms of skill as the match progressed.
Accurate short passing between NYJC players allowed them to navigate easily past SRJC’s midfielders. NYJC displayed better teamwork, executing wall passes fluidly while SRJC’s long forward lobs proved to be ineffective.
Within 13 minutes, NYJC’s Christian Hugh Rodrigues (#6) dribbled past SRJC’s centreback to fire in an upper-corner goal.
Eager to narrow the deficit, SRJC pressed for every ball. This caused NYJC’s defence to stumble slightly.
However, NYJC recovered and continued dominating the midfield. Jonathan Lim (#10) trapped an overhead pass from his midfielder for another top corner goal for NYJC. His teammate, Chiang Ken Ji (#17), gave the team a third goal when he pressed ahead for a grounder.
With such a wide score deficit, SRJC were visibly frustrated. This prompted more messy forward lobs in a bid for a goal.
In the second half, NYJC continued with their relentless attack. Play was kept mostly in SRJC’s half, only crossing over when their keeper launched balls forward.
Brilliant teamwork from NYJC gave them yet another goal from Nguyen Hoang Dong (#7) midway into the final half.
Stellar goalkeeping from John Peter Howe (SRJC #15) disrupted NYJC’s attack momentarily. However, NYJC proved to be unstoppable with two more goals in the final 20 minutes.
Darryl Ong (NYJC #3) scored off a corner from Gareth Keigan Lee (#1) for the fifth goal. The final goal was scored when a shot from Kiefer Tay Si Yi (#8) slipped from Howe’s (SRJC #15) grasp.
When asked about his team’s performance, NYJC captain, Muhammad Hakim (#11), said, “I think we had a comfortable win today. We were composed. We were focused on what our targets were and we worked together as a team. Luckily, things turned out fine because we were communicating and we were quite hungry for the goals so it came one by one.”
He added, “I think they (SRJC) didn’t give us a good time. It wasn’t easy because they were putting in the effort and giving us a bit of trouble but I think my teammates were very focused. We communicated and shifted together to make sure that everything was smooth sailing and easy for each other.”
NYJC will next play Temasek Junior College (TJC) while SRJC will be up against Catholic Junior College (CJC).
Scoring by half
NYJC vs SRJC
1st half: 3–0
2nd half: 3–0 (6–0)
Scorers
NYJC
Christian Hugh Rodrigues (#6) – 1 goal
Jonathan Lim (#10) – 1 goal
Chiang Ken Ji (#17) – 1 goal
Nguyen Hoang Dong (#7) – 1 goal
Darryl Ong Wei Xiang (#3) – 1 goal
Kiefer Tay Si Yi (#8) – 1 goal
NYJC Roster
Gareth Keigan Lee Zong De (#1), Ferdinand Lim Jun Long (#2), Darryl Ong Wei Xiang (#3), Tang Guang Yan (#4), Muhammad Danish B Sallehuddin (#5), Christian Hugh Rodrigues (#6), Nguyen Hoang Dong (#7), Kiefer Tay Si Yi (#8), Thong Giggs (#9), Lim Ngee Liang Jonathan (#10), Muhammad Hakim Bin Idris (#11), Loh Wei Zhi (#12), Mohammad Ilyasa B Ismmail (#13), Aavan Lee Kuan Ing (#14), Muhammad Danish Bin Arifin (#15), Lee Jun Jie (#16), Chiang Ken Ji (#17), Raimie Khuzami Bin Ibrahim (#18), Jalvin Nai Guang Jun (#19), Larry Lee Ken Ann (#20)
SRJC Roster
Teng Kian En (#2), Muhammad Irfan B Mohd Taha (#4), Clarence Ng Kai Lun (#5), Bharath Supramaniam (#6), R Haresh (#7), Daniel Low Boon Howe (#8), Abdul Qadir Jailani B D (#9), Mohamed Hanis B Hisham (#10), Daniel Khoo Hsien Liang (#11), Cheong Han Wei Samuel (#12), Lee Yu Chen (#13), Tan Si Han (#14), John Peter Howe Song Heng (#15), Ashwath Chauhan (#16), Muhammad Akid Durrani B Imran (#17), Astenn Mun Yit Cheng (#18), Leng Xian Hui, Matthew (#19), Jove Liew Chong Yi (#21), Lim Teck Hwee (#22), Park Jung Hoon (#24)
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