Saileesh Gunasekaran (#7) of ACS(I) chipping the MI goalie (not in photo) to score his team’s go-ahead goal in the second half for a 2-1 lead. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
St Andrew’s Junior College, Friday, May 4, 2012 — Millennia Institute (MI) crashed 1-4 to Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) to bow out of the National A Division Boys’ Football Championship.
MI had started Round 2 with a surprise 1-1 draw with powerhouses Victoria Junior College.
“It was one of those days when we had chances to win in the second half,” said MI coach and ex-international, R. Suriamoorthy about the draw with VJC. “We had chances to win it in the second half.”
A 4-0 defeat by Meridian Junior College in their second Group Y game still left them with a mathematical chance of making the semi-finals if they finished runners-up in the group.
Before their final game against ACS(I), MI were lying third in the table with one point behind VJC with four. However, MI’s goal difference of minus four together with VJC’s goal difference of plus three left them needing to beat ACS(I) by a massive seven goals.
Viknesh (#10) scored the opening of the game to give MI a 1-0 lead but ACS(I) equalised before half time and three more goals after the break sealed their fate.
Saileesh Gunasekaran (#7) scored two goals for ACS(I) while teammates Deiver Theophilus (#11) and Rohan Choudhuri (#10) added one each.
“I wanted to chip the keeper all the way,” said Saileesh about his well-taken first goal from the edge of the box which gave ACS(I) a 2-1 lead in the second half.
The win gave ACS(I) third place in the group but they too did not make the semi-finals.
“Our best game [of the championship] was against AJC,” said ACS(I) captain Jonathan Ong, who missed the game against MI because he had picked up one too many yellow cards. “It was 1-1 and we got a goal with five minutes to go to qualify for Round 2.”
MJC beat VJC 2-1 in the other game to top their group undefeated with a 3-0 win-loss reocrd while VJC (1-1-1) also joined them in the semi-finals by finishing second with four points.
National A Division Football Championship — full fixtures and results
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