Story by REDintern Darren Ho. Photos by Chua Kai Yun/Red Sports.
Philip Koshy (SPS #9) celebrates after scoring the team’s second goal. (Photo 1 © Chua Kai Yun/Red Sports)
St. Patrick’s School, Wednesday, April 20, 2016 – St. Patrick’s School (SPS) revived hopes of advancing to Round 2 after a convincing 2-0 win over Bendemeer Secondary (BDM) in Round 1 of the National B Division Football Championship.
After a dream start for Bendemeer when they hammered Regent Secondary 4-0 in their opening match, the team was brought back down to earth as two goals from Jordan Efa (SPS #18) and Joshua Richian (SPS #13) blew the race for Round 2 places wide open.
Coming off the back of eight victories, two draws and a loss in their last 11 matches, Bendemeer, who finished second in the North Zone, looked set to extend their great run of form.
Their opponents, St. Patrick’s, who finished fourth in the East Zone, had suffered an early setback in the Nationals, after losing 2-1 to Singapore Sports School in their opening match.
Both teams have three points but Bendemeer are second in their group with St. Patrick’s third on just a one-goal difference. Sports School are currently top of the group after a 1-0 win over Regent who are without a win and or a point.
Jordan Efa (SPS #18) handed St. Patrick’s a 1-0 lead before a quarter of an hour had passed when he picked up an inviting cross from Amir Hafiz (SP#12) on the right.
Jordan (SP #18) angled his body for a volley at goal which beat the diving goalkeeper Martyn Mun (BDM #1) from long-range.
It was an unexpected lead for St. Patrick’s, considering that it was Bendemeer who dominated in the early stages of the game and had a host of early chances.
Bendemeer continued to dominate possession, attacking with eight players in their opponent’s half at times.
They nearly scrambled an equaliser before the hour when a swift exchange of passing between Raziq (BDM #11) and Aarish Kumar (BDM #10), gave Iqbal (BDM #14) the chance to pull one back.
Instead, Muhammad Iqbal (BDM #14) pinged a high shot that flew inches over the bar, squandering a glorious opportunity to get back into the game.
St. Patrick’s made it 2-0 68 minutes into the game. A long goal kick and a mis-timed Bendemeer header gave Joshua (SPS #13) the chance to race into the penalty box to lob the ball over Martyn (BDM #1).
St. Patrick’s then sat back with a 5-man defence while Bendemeer were forced to press on the attack.
Bendemeer had two clear cut chances in the final 15 minutes, but near misses from Daniel Fernando‘s (BS #17) powerful shot and Iqbal‘s (BS #14) right-footed effort left St. Patrick’s as 2-0 victors.
Score by Half
Bendemeer Sec vs St. Patrick’s School
1st Half: 0-1
2nd Half: 0-1
Full-time: 0-2
Scorers
St. Patrick’s School
Jordan Efa Okwudili Emaviwe (#18) – 1 goal (33rd min)
Richian Joshua O Sapitan (#13) – 1 goal (68th min)
Bendemeer Roster
Mun Yi Jie, Martyn (#1), Satish Raj S/O Manickam (#2), Ahmad Syazwan Bin Azman (#3), Muhammad Syahadat Bin Masnawi (#4), Simon Pun (#5), Pipatsawettanan Kankavee (#6), Goh Yang Zu Denny (#7), Mohamad Elfianto B MD Y (#8), Mohamed Naeem Hifsur Rahman (#9), C Aarish Kumar (#10), Muhammad Raziq B Ishak (#11), Muhammad Shahib Bin Masnawi (#13), Muhammad Iqbal Shah B Z (#14), Mohamed Al Hakis Khan (#15), Zaidi B Sabarudin (#16), Daniel Juan Fernando (#17), Nabil B Mohamed (#18), Muhammad Nazi B Doalim (#19), Muhammad Anas B Abdul Gafoor (#20), Shaik Abdul Hamid (#21)
St. Patrick’s School Roster
Tiong Jun Mian Lionel (#1), Aloysius Tung Jun Keat (#2), Keshav Kumar S/O Kishore Kumar (#3), Ng Winchell (#4), Wong Koi Kiat, Marc (#5), Akmal Musyarraf B Rostam (#6), Curtis Tan Zhenliang (#7), Philip Koshy (#9), Shervin Poh Yee Xiang (#10), Teo Wei Yang (#11), Amir Hafiz B Rohaimi (#12), Richian Joshua O Sapitan (#13), Micole Johm Evangelio Dela C (#14), Chu Xuan Yong (#16), Muhammad Nabil Farish A M (#17), Jordan Efa Okwudili Emaviwe (#18), Park Joo Hyuk (#19), Mohamad Shahin Lubis B M S (#21), Russell Vincent Ng (#24), David Ethan Mathews (#25)
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