Victoria JC enter A Division Boys’ floorball final after win over Yishun JC

By REDintern Chin Chi Hua

Choa Chu Kang Indoor Sports Hall, Thursday, May 14, 2009 – Victoria Junior College (VJC) entered the final of the A Division Boys Floorball Championship after winning their semi-final match with Yishun Junior College (YJC) 3-1.

VJC adopted a strong attacking stance from the first whistle. Scoring attempts by Augustine Foo (VJC, #72) and Lim Kai Liang (VJC, #4) were successfully cleared by YJC defenders but barely three minutes into the first period, John Cheah (VJC, #21) scored with a powerful wrist shot which caught the YJC goalkeeper off guard.

The goal sparked YJC into action. Nikhil Prakash Nair (YJC, #17) tried a shot from the half line, but failed and the ball was passed on to his teammate, Vicknesh Ramesh Nair (YJC, #25) who tried another shot from the left corner but the attempt came to nothing as well. The remaining minutes of the first period were characterised by brilliant saves from the keepers and defenders to leave VJC leading 1-0 at the break.

The second period started off with a small accident when John Cheah (VJC #21) failed to see Nicholas Tai (YJC, #14) behind him and collided hard into him.

Eager to equalise, Muhd Fadly (YJC, #4) found a scoring opportunity as he was unmarked and standing in front of the goalpost. However, his shot was slightly to the left and missed the goalpost.

YJC vice-captain, R. Saravanan (YJC, #15) also had several scoring opportunities but he did not manage to find the equaliser either and in his frustration, he smacked his stick hard on the ground. VJC replied through Muhd Soffian (VJC, #47) who saw his powerful shot hit the head of YJC captain, Muhd Farhan’s (YJC, #8).

After a relatively uneventful second period, the third period saw a surge in emotions and adrenaline. VJC scored their second through John Cheah (VJC, #21) with a shot that caught the YJC goalkeeper totally unaware. John almost scored another soon after but the shot was too high.

YJC came back through Marcus Chia (YJC #13) but his shot just missed the goal. Despite constant YJC pressure, vigilant VJC defending and alert goalkeeping by the VJC captain and goalkeeper, Amos Nadan (VJC #1) kept YJC scoreless.

With 10 minutes left in the game, Derrick Tay (VJC #22) scored a third VJC goal with an impressive long-range shot after dribbling past some YJC defenders.

R. Saravanan (YJC, #15) almost scored in reply but his shot was well-saved by VJ keeper Amos to the applause of spectators. Amos then followed that up with another brilliant save, this time with his legs, to deny Eugene Ho (YJC #7) and Muhd Fadly (YJC #4).

As the game started to drift, Nikhil Prakash Nair (YJC #17) finally scored with six minutes remaining to pull one back for YJC at 1-3.

A tussle broke out when two VJC players tried to snatch possession of the ball from Marcus Chia (YJC, #13). It seemed that one of the VJC player had hit him in the stomach and Marcus was seen in excruciating pain, holding his stomach. The YJC coach, Ngasit Wanto Zakaria, was agitated that the referee did nothing about the incident and questioned his decision. The referee insisted that it was not an elbow from the VJC player and no penalty was given.

The decision did not sit well either with the YJC captain, Muhd Farhan (YJC #8) and a short timeout was called as Farhan confronted the referee. With both sides not backing down, the referee had the last say and sent Farhan off for protesting.

With this win, YJC will now face Temasek Junior College on May 19th for the 3rd/ 4th placing match, while VJC will proceed to the final on 20th May to play Meridian Junior College.