Singapore Poly register excellent 6-1 win over NTU in IVP floorball

Story by REDintern Noor Farhan. Pictures by REDintern Tan Jon Han.

Republic Polytechnic Sports Complex, Wednesday, January 20, 2010 - Singapore Polytechnic (SP) beat the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) 6-1 in their final group match but they had no hopes of progressing further in the Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic (IVP) Floorball Championship.

The match had shades of an earlier meeting in the then Invitational Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic (IIVP) from 5 years ago, in which SP's founding members defeated NTU 4-3.

Siraaj (SP #19) started the rout with a slap shot at 5:35 after a good assist by his teammate Zhi Yang (SP #9). This was after a good spell of possession by SP, who brought the game to NTU with their relentless attacks.

A lapse of concentration by the NTU defence left Md Isa (SP #11) with acres of space, which he gladly responded to with a drag shot to put SP 2-0 up against their opponents. Two good shots from Aliff (SP #90) and Md Ammar (SP #22) were well-saved.

The start of the second period saw an NTU player arriving late for the match, but even he could not stop the third goal. A well-struck shot by Suria (SP #23) was palmed initially by the goalie but the momentum of the ball saw it trickle into goal at 1:50 to give SP a 3-0 lead.

NTU were slowly gaining some ground in the match, especially with the dangerous overlapping runs of Hairiezzal Hairon (NTU #19) and Wong Jie Hong (NTU #14) from defence which had SP on the back foot.

They were however caught on the counter-attack as SP scored through Md Isa (SP #11) after a penetrating pass by his teammate Aliff (SP #90). 4-0 up, SP continued to turn on the style courtesy of Suria (SP #23) with a slap shot at 11:59 but it sailed over the bar.

Syafiq's (SP #14) stylish free hit from the right then went into the top corner at 12:57 after a foul against SP to make it 5-0. Credit to NTU for playing valiantly, but they simply had no answer to SP's accurate shooting despite closing down their opponents.

NTU did put a shot in on goal with two minutes to go, but the SP goalie was alert enough to palm it away to keep a clean sheet. A free hit by NTU's captain also got parried as the second period ended 5-0.

The final period started with Loo Zhi Yang's (SP #9) goal after an accurate corner ball by the on-form Siraaj (SP #19). Trailing 0-6, NTU went forward in numbers to search for the elusive goal.

NTU's Kevin Leow (NTU #27) had an effort blocked after some good work by the NTU forwards. SP's defence, however was not able to contain Sim How Chong (NTU #15) after his powerful run left the opponent's defence for dead, with he accurately finished with a quick wrist shot into the top left corner of the goal.

SP were barely getting their heads above water as Sim How Chong (NTU #15) took charge of the NTU offense, giving orders to his teammates to pass the ball to him. This after SP were briefly reduced to four men on the court, as Siraaj (SP #19) received a two-minute penalty as he tried to play the ball despite losing a shoe at 7:50.

NTU continued to probe as Wong Jie Hong (NTU #14) saw a shot saved by the SP goalie with three minutes to go. It was NTU’s final attempt as they went down 1-6.

"It was a good match, seeing how strong NTU were in the tournament. When their national player, Sim How Chong (NTU #15), started to play, we got intimidated. But we told ourselves to concentrate on our teamwork and not to be tired in the last period, seeing how we tend to lose matches at the final moment," said SP's Siraaj (#19)

Of their whole IVP campaign so far SP's goalie Md Haekal (#24) said, "After awhile, playing every match in the IVP, you kind of get used to the pace of the game."

NTU Lineup
Low Chong Guan (#3), Tan Yew Kiong (#4), Chow Ho Ming (#5), Tan Kai Yong (#6), Scott Loh (#8), Md Fazly (#9), Jan Fazly (#10), Santa Bahadur (#11), Omar Basri (#12), Zhu Junwei (#13), Wong Jie Hong (#14), Sim How Chong (#15), Low Ting Yi (#17), Hairiezzal Hairon (#19), Ho Jian Yong (#21), Iskandar Ishak (#1), Kevin Leow (#27), Kenneth Leong (#33), Andrew Lim (#35)

SP Lineup
Gerald Koh (#25), Benjamin Tan (#27), Md Syafiq (#14), R. Suria (#23), Alif (#90), Md Yunus (#18), Mikail Seet (#8), Brian Ng (#45), Md Ammar (#22), Loo Zhi Yang (#9), Md Isa (#11), Siraaj (#19), Md Aiman (#7), Md Firhan (#1), Md Haekal (#24), Jeremy Ng (#6), Zuhairi (#32)

N.B. If you know the names of the players featured in the photos, let us know in the comments section and we’ll update the captions. Thanks.