Story by REDintern Melvin Koh

Delta Sports Complex, Saturday, January 31, 2009 – Jansenites beat the Singapore Cricket Club 2-0 in the semi-finals of the 2009 Under-21 Boys Hockey Championship.

The Jansenites had come into the semi-final as heavy favourites after winning every group game by at least a five-goal margin. SCC, on the other hand, made the semi-finals after close wins in the group stages.

Despite the advantage of several dubious umpiring calls, Jansenites still found it difficult breaking through the firm SCC defence.

SCC threatened to score during the first half, testing the Jansenites defence with aerial balls into their 25 yards.But despite having slightly more possession during the first half, SCC were unable to convert the few chances which came by. 

SCC’s inability to break through cost them in the 15th minute, when the Jansenites successfully converted a short corner penalty. Mohd Sabri Bin Yuhari drag flicked into the top right corner a ball that was too quick and deadly for the defence to stop.

SCC came looking for the equaliser in the second half but found themselves having to keep the Jansenites from getting further ahead. SCC forward Jaspreet Singh had to make several crucial interceptions to help out his defense and his goalkeeper did his part to keep the score 0-1.

But the Jansenites broke through again when Sabri scored with a shot that deflected off Tan Yiru with SCC captain Jonathan Chua just failing to clear the deflection.

In the 70th minute, a sliding tackle by SCC’s Sarkthi Ganesh earned him a yellow card and he had to serve a 10-minute penalty together with Johnson Sivalingam and another Jansenite.

As a result, SCC had a one man advantage in the remaining 25 minutes but they were unable to put the ball behind the goal line and eventually lost the game 0-2.

The only downside for the Jansenites is that they lost the services of Johnson Sivalingam for the U-21 final because he had accumulated one too many cards.

In the other semi-final, Singapore Recreation Club beat Old Raffles Association 3-0 and will now face the Jansenites in the U-21 championship final on Monday, February 2, at Delta Complex, 7pm.