By Kenneth Tan/Red Sports

St’ Andrew’s Junior College, Tuesday, March 30, 2010 – St Andrew’s Junior College (SAJC) showed their dominance in a 4-0 victory over National Junior College (NJC) to achieve their second successive Group D victory in the A Division Football Championship.

NJC had a poor first half as they were pinned back in their own half and starved of goalscoring opportunities. They recovered well in the second and created a few good openings, but were denied by some good defending from SAJC.

SAJC started the game well, winning four corners in the first 10 minutes.

Midfield playmaker Gregory Noah’s delivery from the left caused a few problems for the NJC defence. Firstly Muhmmad Asyraf’s header bounced off the right hand post before captain Neville Chia’s header was cleared off the line by NJC defender Josias Goh.

They made their fifth corner count one minute later as Gregory’s ball resulted in some confusion in the NJC defence before centre-back Darren Hedger touched the ball home from three yards out.

SAJC soon doubled their lead on 23 minutes. Winger Foo Ming Yi got down the right flank well and put in an hanging cross into the box. Neville Chia connected well with a firm header which NJC goalkeeper Daniel Zheng got a hand to but could not prevent from ending up in the back of the net.

SAJC scored again 12 minutes later to increase their lead to three goals. Forward Pradeep cut in well from the left flank and released an accurate shot into the bottom right corner of the goal.

NJC had a golden opportunity to pull one back four minutes into the second half when Terry Nguyen released a through ball down the left flank for Cao Luu Quang to latch on to.

Cao made a good run into the box and crossed the ball into the six-yard box for the lurking Nguyen but SAJC custodian Lee Shi Tong got a crucial touch to the ball before the substitute could make the killer shot.

SAJC made a few substitutions to refresh up their team midway in the second half and the decision paid off on 66 minutes.

After Goh Jin Rui’s cross from the right was blocked, full-back Cheng Guang Fu put in a teasing cross back into the penalty area for Pradeep to slot in a neat finish into the bottom right corner of the goal for a 4-0 lead.

NJC appeared strong in the closing stages and threatened the SAJC goal a few times.

A great pass from defence picked out Nguyen who latched on the ball superbly and outwitted the whole SAJC defence including the goalkeeper. The ball looked to be rolling towards the goal before Darren Hedger ran back to hack it off the line.

The resulting corner saw a goalmouth scramble in front of the SAJC box but somehow SAJC got the ball cleared in the end to keep a clean sheet for the match.

That sealed a 4-0 win for SAJC which put them in pole position in Group D with six points from two games played, just above Innova Junior College on goal difference. Meanwhile NJC stay rooted to the bottom with no points to show for their three games played so far.

In the next Group D fixtures scheduled on Tuesday, April 6th, NJC will take on Hwa Chong Institution in a bottom-of-the-table clash at 3pm while SAJC will take on third-placed Anderson Junior College at 4.45pm.

Both games will be played at SAJC.

Scorers
Darren Hedger 11′
Neville Chia 23′
Pradeep 35′, 66′

SAJC lineup
Lee Shi Tong (#19, GK), Tan Wei Zhen (#2), Neo Jun He (#5), Cheng Guang Fu (#6), Chow Jiachuan (#7), Muhmmad Asyraf (#8), Pradeep (#11), Darren Hedger (#13), Gregory Noah (#14), Neville Chia (#21, captain), Foo Ming Yi (#22)

NJC lineup
Daniel Zheng Zhaohui (#1, GK), Warren Tay Deng-An (#2), Josias Goh Jian Kai (#3), Joel Ng Wen Xuan (#5, captain), Rocco Hu Juan Lei (#6), Cao Luu Quang (#10), John Tan Yi Jie (#11), Keith Chnioh Sing Yuan (#17), Tran Binh Minh (#18), Terry Nguyen Anh Tuong (#19), Edmund Tan Siow Siang (#22)

Go to the SCHOOLS FIXTURES & RESULTS page for more information.