Ngee Ann Poly edge out Republic Poly 7-6 in men’s POL-ITE floorball

By Yvonne Yap/Red Sports. Pictures by Wong Hong Yong/Red Sports.

Republic Polytechnic Sports Complex, Friday, October 30, 2009 – Republic Polytechnic lost 6-7 to Ngee Ann Polytechnic on home ground in a game which was only decided in the dying minutes.

RP needed to win their remaining matches in the Polytechnic-Institute of Technical Education (POL-ITE) Floorball Championship and hoped that ITE would falter in order for them to have a shot at the title. RP found themselves in this position after they went down 2-3 to ITE earlier in the week.

RP hopes were high after they scored twice in the first two minutes of the game. The first goal came from Ahmad Afzal (RP #77), with an assist from Sean Huang (RP #17)

from the right flank. Muhammad Miryanto B Amir (RP #7) then received a pass on the left from Lavanesh (RP #18) from a free hit, and tapped it in to make it 2-0 to RP.

However, just three minutes later, Jovyn Low (NP #11) opened the scoring for his side after weaving past the defenders on the right flank, placing the ball into the lower left corner of the net, to reduce the deficit to one goal at 1-2.

Ahmad Afzal then re-established a two-goal cushion for RP at the 6:42 mark, the largest lead either team had in the 45 minutes of play, when he took a shot from the centre of the court straight into the net.

NP then reduced the deficit again when Joey Loh (NP #91) took a free hit for his team three minutes from the end of the first period, chipping the ball over the wall of defenders to make it 2- to keep his team in contention for the win.

NP finally equalised for the first time in the game at 3-3 when Jovyn scored ust two minutes into the second period, after Hector Tan (NP #10) passed him the ball from a free hit.

Muhd Nasli Bin Rosli (NP #63) then propelled NP into the lead for the first time at 19:41. Chin Wen Khien (NP #19) had tried to score but his shot was deflected off the body of the keeper and Nasli pounced on the opportunity to make put it back into the net and made it 4-3 to NP.

At 21:10 minutes, RP came back with an answer through Abdul Hadi B Abdul Harris (RP #9). The unmarked forward received a pass from Muhammed Jumaeon B Amat Kamai (RP #5) on the right side of the goal and scored, making it 4-4.

Lim Jin Quan (RP #12) then received a 2-minute penalty for aggressive play, leaving his team one man down. Even so, RP managed to conjure up a power play goal and regain their lead 5-4. With an assist from Sean, Ahmad Afzal scored easily as the NP defenders were too high up in their opponent’s half to make it back in time.

Chen Guan Ting (NP #23) then got an equalising goal after receiving a pass from Hector, and was unstoppable with only one defender on his heels, making it 5-5.

The period finally ended 6-5 in RP’s favour when Abdul Hadi B Abdul Harris scored just five seconds later after winning the face-off at the restart.

It continued to rain goals in the game when NP started the final period by levelling the score once again at 6-6. Just 53 seconds in, Jovyn completed his hat-trick after receiving the pass from Guan Ting.

Tensions rose in this half as the RP players tried to contest calls made by the referees and the play got more physical as both sides wanted the win.

The winning goal eventually came from Muhd Nasli Bin Rosli, seconds after NP called for a timeout at 39:31 minutes to make some last-minute tactical changes. He dispossessed RP’s Jin Quan in his own half and shot straight into goal, giving NP the hard-fought 7-6 win.

“The boys managed to show their determination to win,” NP Coach Saravanan reflected elatedly. Going up against powerhouse RP was certainly a challenge to NP, he said, but the players rose to the occasion and fought on, despite trailing in the first period. He also revealed that 5 of his players were down with injuries, which resulted in a small team of 17 today.

RP will next face Nanyang Polytechnic on Wednesday, 4 November while this was NP’s last game of the competition.