By Les Tan/Red Sports
Rashid Jalaluddin (RP #19) gets past Abdul Rahim (TP #24) but his subsequent effort on goal is put out for a corner. It was RP’s only significant chance of the first half. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Nanyang Polytechnic, Friday, February 10, 2012 — Temasek Polytechnic (TP) successfully defended their Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic (IVP) Football Championship title with a 6-5 penalty shootout win over Republic Polytechnic (RP) in front of former president, S R Nathan.
The teams were tied 0-0 after 90 minutes and the game went straight to penalty kicks.
With all five takers from each team putting their penalty kicks past the goalkeepers, the shootout went into sudden death. Dharvin Mirpuri proved to be the hero of the night for TP when he guessed the right way and stopped Mark Ho’s penalty.
What made it even sweeter for TP was that Dharvin was not the regular goalkeeper.
“Hassan Sunny is our regular goalie but he has an S.League match tonight,” said a smiling TP coach, ‘Super Sub’ Steven Tan who made his name wearing the Lions jersey. “Dharvin had one training session.”
“I told them not to waste their chances, must finish,” said Steven. “However, RP missed two chances in the second half. Maybe luck was on our side.”
Dharvin made a stupendous save in the second half from RP’s Rashid Jalaluddin who was put through all alone on goal. Dharvin’s parried save fell at the feet of RP substitute Jamilul Jamil who blasted the ball way over the cross bar when it seemed easier to score. It was RP’s best chance of the game and they blew it.
Yet, TP could have easily wrapped up the match by half time if they weren’t so wasteful in front of goal. Neil Vanu, who played for the Singapore U-23s in the 2011 South-east Asian (SEA) Games, had the best chance of the first half but his shot on goal from inside the penalty box was brilliantly stopped by RP’s goalkeeper Syazwan Buhari.
TP created three other clear-cut chances in the first half but their finishing was poor.
And so the match went down to the dreaded penalty kicks and Dharvin’s save proved to be the difference.
“It felt good playing as a keeper,” said Dharvin. “I haven’t played in that position in two years. I was St Patrick’s keeper for four years and in my fifth year I was a striker.”
I was disappointed I was letting in so many in the penalty shootout,” added Dharvin.
However, that one stop proved enough to secure TP their second IVP football championship in a row.
Singapore Polytechnic finished third when they beat the Institute of Technical Education 1-0 in the 3rd/4th placing game.
Leave A Comment