Story By REDintern Koh Yizhe. Pictures by REDintern Wong Hong Yong.

Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Wednesday, October 22, 2008 – Republic Polytechnic (RP) maintained their 100% record en route to retaining their men's Polytechnic-Institute of Technical Education (POL-ITE) Floorball Championship title with a 5-1 victory over host Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP).

Despite a shaky start, RP turned up the pressure late into the second period and scored three goals in quick succession. The third period proved goalless but RP maintained good control of the game to retain the title.

From the whistle, NP showed no intention of letting RP run away with the title and started the game with a speculative first shot that was comfortably saved by the goalkeeper. The defending champions immediately responded with a nice drag shot from the left which unfortunately hit the post.

NP, however, dominated the early goings as they were quickly on the attack and solid in defense. For RP, they were content to play a patient passing game to break down the NP defense but they weren’t too successful as their passing was substandard on the night.

This showed when the RP #21 attempted to clear the ball only for it to go straight to an NP attacker who, despite a clear run at goal, could only manage a weak shot at goal. RP did have their chances too, as a spell midway through the period yielded a few cracks at the NP goal. However, both teams were still unable to break the deadlock.

Thanks to quick counter attacking play that it was finally broken during the last 30 seconds of the first period. RP started what seemed to be the last counter attack of the game as an RP player raced down the right. Seeing #12 unmarked at the far post, he sent a strong pass and the resulting tap-in was just a formality for a 1-0 RP lead. Although RP had a slow start the game, they took a psychological advantage heading into the second period.

RP soon threw the advantage away when they didn't have the best of starts for the second period. The defending champions were committing numerous mistakes, giving the ball away extremely cheaply and struggled to get their passing game going. Host NP, however, were unable to capitalize on this and chances were a rarity.

The game was played at an intense pace with both teams fighting for every ball. Midway through the second period, RP started to take control of the game and pumped up the pressure. It paid off when their outstanding captain, #9, took a strong shot at goal and all the keeper could do was deflect the ball into the path of the RP #8. With the ball at his feet, #8 made no mistake putting the rebound past the keeper.

With a comfortable 2-0 lead, RP once again chose to play a patient game and sit back. This gave NP plenty of time on the ball as they began to get their passing game going. Rather than rush at the RP goal, NP decided to keep possession, passing the ball cautiously while looking for holes in the RP backline. NP seemed to be camped in the RP half and it wasn't long before all that possession paid off and NP scored off a brilliant passing move from the right to make it 1-2.

The champions were stunned. With their lead threatened, RP jump-started into action. Suddenly they were playing like the team with a 100% record, banging in three goals in the last five minutes of the second period. Thanks to the immense pressure applied on NP, #8 got his second while #4 and captain #9 added to the tally.

The whistle brought great relief for the NP players as RP finished the period 5-1 up. However, things got ugly when certain players from both sides weren't too happy. The RP #6 ran the full length of the court to get involved and his captain had to drag him back to prevent the situation from escalating further. As a result, the RP #6 had to watch the rest of the match from the stands.

After a long delay, thanks to an extended talk between the two captains, the final period got underway. Both teams had to start with four men as each had one sent to the sin bin. Despite the setback, RP continued where they left off in the second period – dominating the game.

Throughout the final period, RP forced NP on the back foot and prevented them from breaking out of their half. There was a constant sense of tension in the air due to the earlier incident and the NP captain #18 proved this when he was sent to the sin bin for aggressive play midway through the period.

However, the ill-feeling did not distract RP from holding firm and they finished the third period to cheers from the bench and retained the POL-ITE Floorball Championship title with a 100% record with their 5-1 win over NP.