Victoria School beat Seng Kang on penalties to set up National C Div football final date with Sports School

By Kenneth Tan/Red Sports

Victoria Junior College, Monday, August 2, 2010 — Victoria School will get a chance to avenge last year’s National C Division Football Championship final defeat against Sports School after beating Seng Kang Secondary 4-1 on penalties in the semi-finals.

Both teams were locked at 1-1 at the end of extra time. After a goalless first half, Seng Kang opened the scoring five minutes into the second half. However, Victoria School hit back seven minutes before the end to ensure the match went into extra time. Eventually the match had to be settled by a penalty shootout where Seng Kang lost out in the game of lottery.

Victoria School settled in the better of the two sides as they created several goalscoring opportunities in the first half.

Sufiyan Bin Emran was the first to test Seng Kang goalie Sunny Wang two minutes into the game as his 30m shot was easily smothered by Wang.

Nine minutes later, midfielder Matthew Yeoh’s curling free kick from the right shaved the angle of bar and post and bounced out of play.

Sufiyan had another opportunity on 14 minutes but his angled shot from the right went just wide of the left-hand post.

Seng Kang had to wait till the 20th-minute mark before they had their first shot on goal as midfielder Erwannurrakim looping 30m shot was dropped by Victoria School goalie Abrisam Durrani before it was collected at the second attempt.

Their strategy of playing on the break nearly paid off on the stroke of half time when the ball was played into the box for forward Benedict Ang in a one-on-one opportunity but Abrisam came out to cover his angles well as he managed to deflect Ang’s effort wide.

It was Seng Kang who managed to strike first in this encounter five minutes into the second half. A long ball from midfield resulted in miscommmunication between Abrisam and his defenders which led to the ball falling to the far post where Benedict Ang was lurking. He had the easy task of slotting into the empty goal to give his team the lead.

However Victoria School did not take it lying down as they piled on the pressure on the Seng Kang goal thereafter in search of the equaliser.

Muhd Irfan Izeran failed to get a clean touch in front of goal on Matthew Yeoh’s long range free kick on 41 minutes before substitute Anderton Goh fired just wide of the right-hand post five minutes later.

That pressure paid off on 53 minutes as they managed to equalise matters through a free kick awarded outside the box. Centre back Koh Jin Kai’s excellent delivery into the box saw Muhd Irfan Izeman nip just ahead of Sunny Wang to sidefoot volley the ball into the right-hand corner of the goal. The goal meant the match has to go into extra time.

Seng Kang came the closest to breaking Victorian hearts in the final minute of the period as Erwannurrakim curled just wide of the right-hand post from inside the box.

Eventually the match went down to the penalty shootout.

Sufiyan Bin Emran was the first to step up for Victoria School and duly slammed his effort into the top left corner to give his team the lead.

Muhd Haiqal stepped up next for Seng Kang but his shot was well palmed over the bar by Abrisam Durrani.

Dominic Ho and Erwannurrakim then converted respectively for Victoria School and Seng Kang, shaping the score of 2-1 to Victoria School.

Goalscorer Muhd Irfan Izeran extended Victoria School’s lead to 3-1 with his perfectly-placed shot into the bottom left corner before Seng Kang missed another as the spot kick was palmed wide by Abrisam again.

It all came down to Matthew Yeoh Lai Hsin to score the winner for Victoria School and he did just that by sending Sunny Wang the wrong way to ensure his team went into the final.

Victoria School teacher-in-charge Mr Leo Hock Leng was in a reflective mood after the match.

“I would say that for today’s game, we did most of the things right,” he said. “We didn’t allow them (Seng Kang) to play and we knew who their danger man was. We managed to keep him quiet for the most of the match except for that momentary lapse which led to the goal.”

“What really won us the game was the self-belief and the spirit of the boys,” he elaborated. “In the beginning of the qualifiers, we didn’t do that well but in the important games, they managed to come back. They always score goals in the dying minutes to save themselves.”

“Against Hong Kah where the game was heading towards a 1-1 draw, we managed to score with the last kick of the game. Against Dunearn, we were trailing 3-1 before we managed to score two in the last five minutes. In our last match against Fuchun where we need to win by a huge margin, we managed to beat them 8-0.”

Victoria School lost to Sports School 1-2 in the earlier rounds but he remained confident of the task ahead for his boys in the upcoming final.

“All I want to see from the boys is to keep their cool, do the right things and play a good game. Hopefully they can enjoy the game and the moments,” he said.

The final will be a replica of last year where Victoria School lost out to Sports School. The Victorians will certainly hope for better luck this time round if they wants to break Sports School two-year stranglehold on the trophy.

Final Result

End of Extra Time
Victoria School 1
Muhd Irfan Izeran 53′
Seng Kang 1
Benedict Ang 35′

Penalty Shootout
Victoria School 4
Sufiyan Bin Emran (scored)
Dominic Ho (scored)
Muhd Irfan Izeran (scored)
Matthew Yeoh (scored)

Seng Kang 1
Muhd Haiqal (saved)
Erwannurrakim (scored)
? (saved)

Victoria School lineup
Abrisam Durrani Bin Mahatir (#1, GK), Dominic Ho Wee Keong (#28), Koh Jin Kai (#45), Bradley Gan (#38, captain), Danesha Subramaniam (#41), Antony Makoto Gomez (#27), Sufiyan Bin Emran (#37), Matthew Yeoh Lai Hsin (#46), Mohd Firdaus Bin Asri (#36), Gareth Low Jun Kit (#30), Muhd Irfan Izeran Bin Mohd Azrin (#44).

Substitutes:
Muhd Rifqi (#25), Mohd Hasif Bin Abdul Hakim (#26), Brendan U-Wen Bartlett (#29), , Christopher D’Cruz Tambua (#31), Benedict Loh Ye-Yang (#32), Shawn Choo Qi Hao (#34), Anderton Goh Zhi Yao (#39), Kang Seong Soo (#40), Nicholas Wong Jun Jie (#43).

Seng Kang lineup
Sunny Wang (#1, GK), Zakaria (#4), Muhd Aidil (#2, captain), Muhd Haiqal (#3), Muhd Khalili (#16), Muhd Haiqal Ashidiq (#14), Mohd Rashe (#8) Erwannurrakim (#6), Benedict Sim (#5), Hafidz (#7), Benedict Ang (#11).

Substitutes:
Muhd Ariyan (#9), Mohd Syukrie (#10), Muhd Ridhuan (#12), Muhd Zulhelmy (#13), Muhd Zuhairi (#15), Muhd Sahril (#17), Muhd Shahiran (#18), Feddie Farhan (#19), Kenny Loh (#20).