Raffles Institution launch late comeback to sink Serangoon JC 2-1 in A Division football

By Kenneth Tan/Red Sports. Photos by reader Lim Weixiang

Serangoon Junior College, Thursday, April 8, 2010 - Raffles Institution (RI) made it three successive Group C wins out of three after a heart-thumping 2-1 comeback victory against hosts Serangoon Junior College (SRJC).

Despite dominating the whole of the first half, RI went into the break one goal behind. They continued attacking for much of the second half and reaped the dividends as they managed to break the stubborn SRJC defence twice late in the game to get all three points.

RI stated their ambitions as early as two seconds into the game as captain Muhammad Nuri fired his shot from the halfway line straight from the kickoff.

They created their first real opening in the fifth minute. Ong Zhi Hao's pass from midfield found midfielder Varun Vijayraghavan who fired a shot from outside the box but the effort was blocked. Muhammad Nuri's rebound attempt inside the box was then deflected wide for a corner.

From the resulting corner, Pranav Malhotra headed wide of the right-hand post.

A cagey 20-minute period soon followed when SRJC, being marshalled well by captain Cheah Wen Bin, worked hard to force RI out of their own penalty area before they managed to create another opportunity.

On 26 minutes, a long pass from midfield from Ong Zhi Hao was controlled expertly by Muhammad Nuri inside the box. However he took too much time to pass it back for Varun Vijayraghavan and the ball was duly cleared by the SRJC defence.

Four minutes later, SRJC goalie Khairulanwar B Abdul Rahim was finally tested for the first time as he palmed away a superb snapshot by Varun Vijayraghavan from just outside the box.

The SRJC coach decided to tinker with his tactics and brought on lanky forward Viszhnu Mohan to replace starting forward Chew Ke Jin after the half-hour mark.

That substitution proved to be an inspired one as Viszhnu began to provide an aerial threat to the previously untroubled RI defence.

Viszhnu Mohan's first opportunity came three minutes after he came in when right winger Joel Yee released him down the right flank. However RI custodian Andrew Chua came out well to intercept before Viszhnu managed to get a touch.

However Andrew could not stop the 1.9m tall forward five minutes later. After receiving a pass from midfield, Viszhnu proceeded to get past RI centre back Yi Hao on his blind slide and took huge strides into the RI box. With no immediate attention from the RI defence, he curled his effort beyond the reach of Andrew Chua into the right corner of the goal.

The goal brought cheers of relief from the SRJC supporters in the stands as the goal came totally against the run of play.

Going into the break 0-1 down, RI had to continue their attacking policy in the second half.

Forward Nguyen Nhat Quang wasted their first opportunity on 44 minutes as he fired straight into Khairulanwar's arms after a long ball played in from the right. Then two minutes later, Muhammad Nuri fired over the bar after a cross into the penalty area by right back Hoang The Huan.

Muhammad Nuri had another opportunity on 58 minutes when a free-kick was awarded to RI at the edge of the SRJC penalty area. However he could not repeat his successful attempt against NUS High in their last game and fired the shot wide of the right-hand post.

SRJC gradually grew in confidence after surviving the barrage of RI attacks and managed to create three openings within five minutes.

After receiving the ball in midfield on 60 minutes, goalscorer Viszhnu Mohan outmuscled two defenders before dribbling past another two on his way to goal but his shot from an acute angle was easily saved by Andrew Chua.

Two minutes later, a long throw from the left by Justin Chua created a melee in the box before Joel Yee managed to head the ball over Andrew but RI centre back James Kwong managed to get back in time to clear it off the line.

On 65 minutes, Viszhnu once again trapped a long ball from defence superbly and somehow slaloming past two defenders before attempting to curl past the onrushing Andrew but the latter managed to cover the angle well and saved the effort.

One minute later, SRJC paid the price for their profligate finishing as RI finally got the equaliser, albeit under fortuitous circumstances.

A long ball played into the box from the defence look to have sailed over everyone and into SRJC goalkeeper Khairulanwar's safe hands, before the latter somehow managed to drop the ball under pressure from Muhammad Nuri. Muhammad Nuri gleefully slotted the loose ball home into the empty net from two yards out before proceeding to celebrate with the whole RI bench.

SRJC could have retaken their lead on 70 minutes. A long ball down the left by Joel Yee picked out Vishznu Mohan who held off the challenges from three RI defenders before cutting inside to fire a fierce shot towards goal, but his effort was well blocked by Yi Hao.

That missed opportunity would come back to haunt him as RI managed to score their second goal one minute later.