FOOTBALL WEEKLY

by Paul Green
Saints garner memorable victory
Chong's opportunistic stike steers SAJC to win over VJC in the A div(girls) finals

SAJC girls defeated VJC girls 1-0 at JBS on Friday aftn to secure the FAS Inter JC Championships trophy 2007.
Going into the final, Victoria were probably the favourites, having easily shrugged aside Temasek JC in the semi final, but they failed to show enough real spark to pull off the victory here.
They did, however, enjoy plenty of possession and forced enough corners to give them the chances they needed to encourage mistakes from their opponents. But it was St Andrews who went closest to scoring in a goal-less first half.
4 Saints' players came at the Victorian defence in the 30th minute and when the ball arrived at the feet of Cheah Ai Lin it was unfortunately lifted over the bar from right in front, sparing the Victorians an early deficit.
There was also a very close call for the Victorians moments before the break when a St Andrews' corner saw the ball bobbing around the goalmouth before it was hastily scrambled clear.
Over at the other end, Pham Thu Thu Hien was a great presence at the heart of the St Andrew's defence, as were midfielders Cheah Ai Lin and Sherlyn Koh Xiaotian and half time replacement, Rynette Tan.
But the victorian side worked hard and could have won the game with better fortune. As Victoria pushed forward in search of the opening goal, St Andrews struck in the 54th minute.
Collecting the ball in the middle of the park, St Andrews' star Maria Rowe threaded a ball through for striker Beatrice Chong to chase.
Victoria's keeper, Farah Bte Mohd Faudzi, raced off her line in an attempt at reaching the ball before her opponent, but she failed to connect and it then sat up niecly for Chong to slot away into a now empty net.
Victoria had pressed hard to that point, too.
Two very near misses in the early stages of the second half were largely due to the good work of Saints keeper, Melanie Tan, who recovered well when the ball fell into danger areas of her six yard box.
Another great chance for the Victorians came in the 65th minute when Ang Kuan ren fired off a strong shot that the keeper saved well. Later, Ang Kuan Ren was named as the match's Most Outstanding player and deservedly so.

This award was given for the entire series, not just for the match.
St Andrews' Maria Rowe carried off the Top Goal-scorer award with 11 strikes in the series.

Earlier the Third-place play-off game brought together Temasek JC and Raffles JC, with the latter prevailing 1-0. This was, as the score suggests, another close game with Temasek coming out of their shell in the second period to make a real game of it.
In the last kick of the game they hit the woodwork, when Wong Shi Hui found the right hand post of Raffles' otherswise impeccable keeper, Eng Pingni, looking well beaten.
Raffles made much of the early running in the game and when Germaine Yap Syn Yee lobbed her shot over the bar in the 16th minute it seemed a matter of time before her side would take the lead.
There was very little for the Raffles' keeper to do in the first half and her opposite number, Lee Huimin, was definitely the busier of the two.
Through on goal in the 27th minute Li Wei En Joanna was forced wide by a Temasek defence determined to keep their goal intact.
Then two minutes after the break a free kick was awarded to the Raffles JC girls.
Raffles captain, Yap Xiu Huan, was on the right and managed to pick her spot with a high lob, finding the top right hand corner of Lee Huimin's goal.


It was an awkward one for the keeper to reach and any goalie would have been troubled by it.
Temasek showed tenacity to work their way back into the game, after that setback and only a foul on the Raffles' keeper denied them a chance to score with the ball on its way towards goal.
The Raffles keeper was at her best to save when the ball ran free in the box in the 62nd minute, as Temasek made their late and almost profitable charge.
In the end time ran out for Temasek and the girls from Raffles JC claimed third spot with a sound all-round performance.


-painstakingly typed by claudia wong with photos added
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