Story and pictures by Les Tan
Jalan Besar Stadium, Friday, May 16, 2008 – Victoria Junior College showed again they were favourites for the National A Division Championship title when they thrashed Anglo-Chinese Junior College 4-1 this afternoon in the second semi-final match at the Jalan Besar Stadium. VJC, who had averaged almost four goals a game in the preliminary rounds, showed the could do the job at the business end of the championship with this comprehensive win and now should start as favourites in the final against Meridian Junior College.
VJC’s Anders Aplin scored two beautiful goals, his second a screamer from the edge of the box that left ACJC goalkeeper Pierson Ang clutching at nothing but air. Before Anders’ second and VJC’s third, ACJC had scored a headed goal from a corner by Adam Yuu Douglas to make it 1-2, changing the complexion of the game that had been mostly going VJC’s way. But the ACJC revival proved brief.
From the whistle, VJC were the first to show their attacking instincts with Anders showing good ball control to pull down a pass at height. However, his volley from 30m out flew way over the bar. However, it didn’t take long for VJC to score their first goal inside the 10-minute mark. A free-kick swung in from the right was half-cleared by ACJC. The ball was volleyed back from just inside the box. The last AC defender mistimed his jump and the ball flew over his head. AC keeper Pierson Ang then did not come forward and allowed the ball to bounce, a costly mistake. Chester Lum had all the time in the world to direct his free header over Pierson for the first goal.
Unnerved by how quick the first VJC goal came, the AC keeper made another mistake when he rushed out to meet an oncoming ball. Having the choice to either clear it to safety or catching it, Pierson opted for the latter, and slid just outside the penalty box with the ball. The assistant referee’s flag went straight up without hesitation and VJC were presented a golden opportunity to make it 2-0. However, VJC’s Gavin Lee (#13) wasted it, the ball skimming just over the top of the bar.
Up to this point, it was hard to recall if the VJC keeper had even touched the ball yet as ACJC had not made any significant forays into the VJC penalty area. An ACJC ball swung into the VJC box saw the keeper concede a corner unnecessarily. ACJC got two corners in a row but nothing came of it. Another dead ball opportunity came ACJC’s way but the free-kick was also wasted.
VJC then created another chance. The attack started with Anders who found Wei Liang (#20) on the left. The cross was swung in and found Nicholas Kang (#17) completely unmarked in the box. However, the first-time volley was mishit and the ball spun wide.
The next VJC move proved deadlier. A foray down the left saw Anders bursting into space on the left as he chased down a through ball. AC keeper Pierson Ang started moving out and then stopped. Again another costly mistake. Anders got to the ball first, but a goal was still not a given. But with a calmness that belies his 17 years, he found space between Pierson and the right upright to direct the ball into the net. It was not a powerful shot – the ball actually bounced once before crossing the line – but it was deadly accurate.
Down 0-2, ACJC threatened with a good cross from the left from Cheong Bao Ren (#15) after he had turned his marker nicely. However, there was no one to challenge for the ball and the VJ keeper gathered confidently.
VJC then had another incisive attack, this time down the left flank, with Gavin Lee (#13) swinging in a cross from the right. The ball flew over the entire ACJC defence to find Nicholas Kang (#17) again completely unmarked inside the box. However, Nicholas did not connect cleanly with the first-time volley again and the ball went wide. This was now the second time that Nicholas had been left unmarked in the box with time to shoot.
A VJC corner then presented Chester Lum (#16) with not one but two opportunities to shoot at goal inside the ACJC penalty box but the mass of defenders shut him down. Just before half-time, a simple ball slipped through the VJC keeper’s fingers to gift ACJC a corner but nothing came of it. The keeper’s failure to handle the ball cleanly would prove costly in the second half.
In the second half, a cross from Malcolm (#10) of ACJC turned into a speculative shot when the ball hit the VJC crossbar with the VJ keeper giving the impression that it was going out. The ball bounced back into play but nothing came of it.
Then Alex (#10) of VJC showed why he has to be continually watched when he made himself some space on the edge of the ACJC box to swivel and volley a bullet of a shot towards the top left corner of the AC goal. Pierson Ang leapt up and pulled off a brilliant save to ensure that ACJC were still in the game at 0-2 down. The strong VJC pressure on the AC backline was hurrying the AC players into making mistakes and half-clearances, giving VJC opportunities they would otherwise not have gotten.
ACJC, without the quality of players to string passes together on the ground throughout the game, then resorted to the long-ball tactic which yielded opportunities. One long ball over the top of the VJ defence gave Daniel Kao (#14) of ACJC a one-on-one opportunity against the VJC keeper but the keeper showed steady nerves and courage to face him down and save his team. This was one of two one-on-one situations that the VJC keeper would come out tops in during the game.
Again VJC attacked and this time an opportunity fell to Yap Heng (#7) of VJC at the edge of the box. He lined up his shot and fired but at the last second Adam Yuu Douglas (#26) flew in to deflect the ball just over for a corner.
Then a nice AC move started with Daniel Kao (#14) on the right. Daniel held up the ball well and passed it into the middle to Tan Yong Geng (#5), who swung it out nicely to Cedric Goh (#8) on the right. However, this nice passing move fizzled out and came to nothing as VJ clamped down on them.
A flash point between the players occurred when Adam Yuu Douglas (#26) went down after VJC’s Yap Heng (#7) tried to prevent him from clearing the ball. Although Yap Heng didn’t touch him, Adam went down in pain, and Yap Heng could be seen talking to the referee, probably to say that he didn’t touch the guy. Anders turned back at Adam to yell at him, again probably to tell him to get up. In all likelihood, Adam, who later suffered from cramps, may have had an attack of the cramps in a game played in the hot afternoon sun.
Then another speculative cross from Daniel Kao (#14) again hit the crossbar and bounced in to no ill-effects for VJC. But their luck ran out when the ball again slipped through the fingers of the VJ keeper to gift AC another corner. From the corner, Adam Yuu (#26) rose to head home to score and AC were now only trailing by one goal at 1-2.
But just when AC hopes were going up, Anders Aplin (#9) showed why VJC are such prolific scorers in the championship. Receiving the ball from a throw-in on the right with his back to the goal, Anders turned and with no one closing him down, he had time to send a rocket of a shot from the edge of the box into the far left corner of the net for his 11th goal of the season. If his first goal was less about power than accuracy, his second had both.
The game was now up for AC and they showed it in the way they gave VJC the fourth goal. The referee blew for a foul against VJC but the AC player who gave away the foul went down. As he was taken off for treatment, it seemed that the AC team forgot the free-kick was not theirs and moved upfield. Yap Heng (#7) of VJC reacted faster by taking the free-kick and squaring across to substitute Kenneth Gomez (#8). With no defenders to harass him, Kenneth slotted it home past the substitute AC keeper (#12).
Said Anders after the game about his second goal: “It was a bit of luck. I didn’t really look at the goal. We were hit by that AC goal.”
ACJC will now meet SAJC in the 3rd/4th place game on Tuesday, May 20, at Jalan Besar Stadium, while VJC will meet MJC in the final at the same location on Wednesday, May 21. Both games start at 3 p.m..
it was Muhd Faris #16 of ACJC in the first picture
I don’t know man. i just felt that the game was more even than it seemed to be. Except from a few individual errors, both sides had more or less equal chances with vjc a little more dominating in certain periods of the game.
hi facts, just reporting what I saw, that’s all. 😉 Couldn’t hear what Anders yelled.
“Anders turned back at Adam to yell at him”.. hahahah. uncle les! dont take it so seriously. they are like real good friends. they were joking with each other the whole time. dont think u should give ppl the wrong idea. he juz turned back to tease him. not scold! hahhaa. made me laugh the moment i saw it. LOL!!!!
thanks joanne
even though i’m not always there you guys know im always cheering 🙂 go veejaycee!!
I thought it was respectful of VJ that the whole team and their schoolmates stood in silence when the ACJC team and supporters were singing their school anthem.
After watching so many school games, that’s the first instance of this kind I have witnessed.
Based on the game I watched, I could only count one sequence of passing on the ground by ACJC. Perhaps they can do it against other opposition, but on the day, against VJC, they couldn’t.
VJC does play the long ball too. I think the difference was the forwards could hold it up a lot better and bring in their teammates.
All assessments of the quality of players are relative on the day depending on the opposition the players face. I’m sure if ACJC played against a weaker team, they would be the ones passing the ball around and the other team will be hoofing it upfield all the time.
As mentioned before, if anyone would like to send in their story of the game, I will gladly post your point of view.
I await.
they lack the quality to pass the ball on the ground with simple one touch pass and move thats all. their style of play is hit and hope with some individual flair thats that. vjc played more long balls but did u see that they could also catch teams off guard when they suddenly string a one-two and play a player into space? thats the quality acjc lack whereby they have one style of play whereas vjc is diverse.
ACJC, without the quality of players to string passes together on the ground throughout the game, then resorted to the long-ball tactic which yielded opportunities….i have to disagree with this statement les. in fact, i felt vjc played more long balls? I even felt that this statement is very strong when u mention the quality of players..pls clarify
go vj!
suprisingly pierson and anders were in the same primary school team which won many titles at their age at that time.
Thanks for all the name updates and corrections. Apologies for getting the names mixed up.
And to the fellow who said the story I wrote above needs to be objective, you are welcome to send in your own version.
YOU SEND IT, I”LL POST IT.
But don’t come in here and say I’m biased. If I wrote a story and didn’t allow you to post your version, sure, accuse red sports of bias. But if you don’t want to take up the offer, please, there is no need to make such an unnecessary comment.
photo 3 should be nicholas kang not chester lum
for the last picture the vjc player is nicholas kang.
it was chester who scored the header not nicholas. chester #16 nicholas #17
it was yap heng(#7) who took the freekick for the 4th goal and the names in the last picture should be swapped