Raffles Institution hit six goals past NUS High in A Division football

By Kenneth Tan/Red Sports. Photos by REDintern Chua Yueda

Raffles Institution, Monday, March 29, 2010 - Hosts Raffles Institution (RI) converted their dominance into goals as they struck six in a morale-boosting 6-1 win over NUS High to achieve their second successive Group C victory in the A Division Football Championship.

RI's match against Jurong Junior College last Thursday was postponed due to rain and lightning and that rest certainly worked wonders for them with NUS High having played against Nanyang Junior College on the same day.

RI captain Muhammad Nuri Bin Mohamed Shafei was an influential figure in attack as he struck an impressive hat-trick, although he missed a penalty early in the first half.

RI stated their attacking intent early in the match as they constantly played the ball into the NUS High box for their strikers to pounce on.

Varun Vuayraghavan screwed the first shot of the game wide of the right-hand post after a cross from Nguyen Nhat Quang from the left on four minutes.

Two minutes later, a great ball played down the middle saw Nguyen create some space initially for himself, but he soon found himself crowded out by the NUS High defence and failed to get his shot away.

The RI pressure was soon rewarded with a penalty awarded in their favour. After a great ball in from midfield, Ong Zhi Hao found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper. He looked to have took the ball too far before NUS High keeper Emmanuel Yien Goh came rushing out and brought him down in the process.

However RI captain Muhummad Nuri's penalty effort hit the bottom right post and went out of play, much to the delight of the visiting NUS High supporters.

However their joy lasted barely two minutes as Ong Zhi Hao eventually scored the opener for RI.

The NUS High defence could not clear a corner whipped in from the right. The ball fell to Zhi Hao who swivelled past a defender with a neat sidestep before slamming the ball past Emmanuel into the top right corner.

RI continue to dominate after the opening goal, however Emmanuel did well to deny them on a few occasions.

Firstly on 15 minutes, a pull-back from Nguyen from the left put Nuri in a perfect shooting position within the 6-yard box. However he took too long to come up with the shot, and Emmanuel was on hand to palm it away from the right-hand post.

Six minutes later, Nguyen tried a curling shot just outside the box but was once again denied by Emmanuel who tipped it superbly around the post.

However he was soon beaten again, albeit by his own defender. RI midfielder Nguyen Duy Anh's teasing cross from the left into the box, saw NUS High defender Nathan Ezekiel Chai misjudge the flight of the ball and he ended up whacking it into his own goal instead.

Try as they could, NUS High struggled to stamp their authority on the game and conjure up threatening shots on goal.

RI came up with a superb move a minute before half-time. Pranav Malhotra's long throw was flicked on by Nuri into the box for Yi Hao. Yi Hao cut in back for the lurking Ong Zhi Hao outside the box who came up with a superb curling shot. However Emmanuel was at his best again to incredibly tip it over his right-hand bar.

However he could not stop NUS High from going down 3-0 at half time as a long searching ball through the middle saw RI captain Nuri rampage his way through the NUS High defence and fire a fierce shot into the right corner of the goal which left Emmanuel rooted to the spot.

RI started the second half in the same mood as the first half as they continued to create opportunities in front of goal.

Nuri had a snapshot in the box saved down low by Emmanuel, while centre back James Kwong's header from a corner rattled the NUS crossbar.

Just as RI thought they were running away with the game, the NUS High players suddenly got themselves together 12 minutes into the second half.

Centre back Ahmed Saddique Bin Abdul Jabbar brought the ball out of defence with a great run and spread it to Jeremiah Ho who was running down the right flank. Jeremiah's accurate cross picked out captain Lian Kay Wee, who brought the ball down and shot with his second touch. However his shot was palmed away by RI keeper Benjamin Ng.

Forward Mitchell Keh's rebound attempt was then blocked, before midfielder Andre Tan's attempt from outside the box sailed over the bar.

That was a sign of things to come as NUS High finally scored their first goal of the tournament 15 minutes into the second half.

RI centre back Yi Hao failed to deal with a long punt from defence by NUS High and the ball fell kindly for NUS High forward Mitchell Keh who calmly slotted a lobbed finish past the onrushing Benjamin Ng. That goal brought much-awaited cheers from both the NUS bench and the visiting supporters.

It was the perfect return for Mitchell who missed their previous game against Nanyang JC through injury.

NUS High nearly got another one back as Ahmed Saddique's long-range free kick was nearly spilled by Benjamin but the latter recovered quickly to deny Jones Panicker any chance of capitalising on the rebound.

However all hopes of an NUS High comeback were dashed on 65 minutes as RI were awarded their second penalty of the match. Ahmed Saddique was adjudged to have fouled an RI forward.

Muhammad Nuri made amends for his early penalty miss by slotting his effort into the bottom right corner of goal. Despite guessing the right way, Emmanuel was unable to prevent the ball from going in.

RI increased their lead to 5-1 three minutes later.

The goal came via a well-rehearsed training ground routine by RI. They had two players standing in front of Muhammad Nuri before the free kick was taken.

Once Muhammad Nuri stepped up to take the set piece, the two players ran away to allow the shot to go through. That distracted both the NUS High wall and the goalkeeper. As a result, the effort went straight into the bottom right corner of the goal, completing Muhammad Nuri's hat-trick in the process.

Ong Zhi Hao added the icing on the cake five minutes later as he scored his second goal for the game for RI.