High-flying Serangoon JC fall to 1-2 defeat against Nanyang JC in A Division football

By Kenneth Tan/Red Sports

Serangoon Junior College, Monday, April 5, 2010 – High-flying Serangoon Junior College (SRJC) were brought down to earth after a lacklustre display against Nanyang Junior College (NYJC) that saw them crash 1-2. This was their first Group C loss in the A Division Football Championship.

SRJC had achieved a good start to this year’s campaign, with a 3-0 win over NUS High in their first game and a resounding 2-0 victory over traditional powerhouse Anglo-Chinese Junior College that made many stand up and notice.

However it was NYJC who upstaged them in this encounter as they put in a gritty performance to gain all three points which kept their qualifying hopes for the quarter-finals alive.

SRJC started well in the opening stages of the match with midfielder Syed Muhd Kamal firing the first shot of the match over the bar from outside the box.

However NYJC began to settle into the game and earned a corner on 14 minutes after a cross from the right was cleared by SRJC captain Cheah Wenbin.

Full back Chris Gan De Hao’s inswinging ball nearly crept into the far post before a SRJC defender managed to sweep it off the line. However the ball was only cleared to Daniel Chan who produced a looping header that went over SRJC goalie Khairulanwar B Abdul Rahim and into the goal.

That was the first goal that SRJC had conceded in this year’s tournament so far and it certainly galvanised NYJC as they continued to pile on the pressure and further threatened the SRJC goal on a few occasions.

Right winger Muhammad Farid tried an audacious volley from 30 metres that thundered off the bar before setting up midfielder Yap Chuen Chin two minutes later with a looping cross that saw the latter leap over Cheah Wen Bin and produce a header that went just wide of the right-hand post.

SRJC tried to conjure some attacks of their own towards the end of the first half but could not break down the resolute NYJC defend.

Lanky forward Viszhnu Mohan tried to do it on his own on an occasion when he dribbled past two NYJC defenders on the left flank before firing a shot from an acute angle which was well saved by NYJC custodian Lim Yu En.

Things soon turned for the worse for SRJC in the second half as they conceded yet another goal just five minutes after the restart.

NYJC midfielder Yap Chuen Chin got down the right flank well before whipping in a curling cross into the SRJC box. The accurate delivery reached an unmarked Peng Shen Song who proceeded to flick his header into the bottom left corner of the goal.

That goal left a mountain to climb for SRJC in the remaining 35 minutes of play.

They finally got their game together together midway through the second half and tried to launch an unlikely comeback. On 59 minutes, a cross-field ball from Syed Muhd Kamal released substitute Joel Yee Zheng Jie (#17) running down the right flank and he produced a teasing cross into the box for the unmarked Viszhnu Mohan. However, Viszhnu just missed contact with the ball at the far post.

Four minutes later, a long ball out of defence from SRJC caught the NYJC defence cold as NYJC goalie Lim Yu En came rushing out of his goal and left it empty after a clash with Cheah Wen Bin. However Joel Yee’s follow-up volley went just wide of the bottom left post.

Sensing that time was running out, SRJC threw on forward Muhd Hafeez Shahni (#39) for the closing moments and that substitution paid instant dividends on 79 minutes.

After a knock-down from long ball from Cheah Wen Bin, Hafeez swiveled past his marker outside the box before shooting accurately into the bottom left corner of the goal.

However that goal only provided temporary respite for SRJC as the final whistle was soon sounded to signal a first defeat for them in this year’s tournament while NYJC remained in the hunt for a quarter-final spot.

“It was all down to our never-say-die team spirit,” commented a victorious NYJC captain Muhammad Farid whose team managed to bounce back from their 0-1 loss to Jurong Junior College (JJC) last Friday. “The coach has been drilling us that this was a do-or-die match if we want to qualify. Against JJC, we dominated but ended up losing the match, thus that was a very big wake-up call for us.”

“Our strategy was to kill off the supply from his wingers,” he explained when quizzed about how his team tried to stop SRJC’s 1.9 metre tall forward Viszhnu Mohan. “Besides that, the coach also highlighted some of the key players to mark and each of us put in extra effort today.”

The result meant three teams are currently locked at six points at the top of Group C, albeit separated by goal difference. Raffles Institution (RI) holds pole position with a goal difference of +6, SRJC remain in second with a goal difference of +4, while NYJC moved up to third with a goal difference of +3.

SRJC will next take on Raffles Institution in a top-of-the-table clash on Thursday, April 8th, at 4.45pm while NYJC take on third-placed Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC) the following week in a rescheduled game.

Both games will be played at SRJC.

Scorers
SRJC
Muhd Hafeez Shahni 79′
NYJC
Daniel Chan 14′
Peng Shen Song 50′

SRJC lineup
Khairulanwar B Abdul Rahim (#1, GK), Lee Yu Feng (#6), Syed Muhd Kamal (#8), Mohd Imran Marican (#10), Muhd Nawas b Mohd Sharief (#11), Viszhnu Mohan Krishnan (#15), Cheah Wen Bin (#16, captain), Zhou Yunjie (#23), Pau Mun Kai (#29), Ebenezer Lim (#34), Mohd Farhan B Rohani (#38)

NYJC lineup
Lim Yu En (#13, GK), Lee Lin Wei (#6), Daniel Chan Li Yang (#8), Lee Tze Yong (#9), Joseph Gan Ke Hao (#14), Chris Gan De Hao (#15), Yap Chuen Chin (#17), Peng Shen Song (#20), Goh Say Cheong (#21), Muhammad Farid bin Mokhatr (#23, captain), Rudy Swandi (#24)

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