A teasing cross by substitute Li Jing Hui from the right flank created some confusion in the SRJC box before Muhummad Nuri rose the highest at the far post to head the ball home into the bottom left corner of the goal.
The goal brought raucous celebrations from the whole RI team as well as the bench in contrast to the stands where the SRJC supporters were stunned into silence.
RI then had two other opportunities to pull further ahead in the last five minutes of the match but failed to capitalise.
Midfielder Pranav Malhotra's header from a corner nearly went into the top right corner of the goal before being cleared by a SRJC defender before substitute Kwa Jie Hao (#7) fired his shot inside the box into the side netting.
Those misses worked out to plot an enthralling finish to the game deep into injury time.
A foul by RI defender Li Jing Hui on SRJC midfielder Zhou Yunjie meant SRJC were awarded a free-kick about 30 metres from goal.
Justin Chua stepped up to take the dead ball and his free-kick seemed to have caught RI goalie Andrew Chua out of position as it floated over the head. The ball seem destined to go into the top right corner of the goal before Andrew managed to recover and get a touch to deflect the ball onto the angle of post and bar.
There was still time for a final twist in the tale in the last minute of injury time.
A long throw from the left created havoc in the RI penalty area. The ball fell to Viszhnu Mohan who swivelled past his marker before firing his shot. His effort was deflected towards Cheah Wen Bin who pulled it across for substitute Muhd Hafeez Shahni to slot the ball home.
The whole SRJC crowd was up on its feet as Muhd Hafeez wheeled off in celebrations with his teammates at what seemed like the equaliser at 2-2. However the referee ruled the goal out due to Cheah Wen Bin straying offside.
The decision did not go down well with a small group of SRJC supporters who began to curse at the official.
That proved to be the last piece of action in the match as RI held off the valiant efforts of SRJC to earn their third successive Group C victory.
Two-goal hero Muhammad Nuri paid tribute to his team when interviewed after the match.
“Although i scored both goals, but it’s all down to my team’s effort,” he said. “I was riding on my determination in the game as I saw everyone pushing and fighting hard for me. Thus I was inspired to fight for them too even if the odds was against us.
“We had been observing him play in the previous matches thus we decided to play with two tall centre-backs to counter his threat,” he responded to how his team dealt with the 1.9m tall SRJC forward Viszhnu Mohan. “The first goal was a lapse of concentration by my defence, but they woke up after that and stood firm throughout.
“It was traditional SRJC,” he added in response to the tough task of breaking down the SRJC’s defence. “It was the same case when we faced them last year and fortunately we managed to do it this year.”
The result meant RI opened up a two-point gap at the top of the table, with Jurong Junior College (JJC) just behind on seven points while SRJC, having lost their second successive game, dropped to joint-third position with Nanyang Junior College (NYJC) with both teams level on six points.
The next Group C fixtures rescheduled for Monday, April 12th, see RI take on JJC in a top-of-the-table-clash at 3pm while Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC) take on NYJC in a crucial clash to keep their qualification hopes for the quarter-finals alive.
Both matches will be played at SRJC.
Scorers
RI
Muhammad Nuri Bin Mohamed Shafei 66', 71'
SRJC
Viszhnu Mohan Krishnan 38'
RI lineup
Andrew Chua Ruiming (#1, GK), Muhammad Nuri Bin Mohamed Shafei (#5, captain), Nguyen Nhat Quang (#10), Varun Vijayraghavan (#11), Nguyen Duy Anh (#12), Pranav Malhotra (#13), Hoang The Huan (#14), James Kwong Kam Yin (#16), Yi Hao (#17), Ong Zhi Hao (#18), Tran Trung Nguyen (#21)
SRJC lineup
Khairulanwar B Abdul Rahim (#1, GK), Lee Yu Feng (#6), Justin Chua Jia Jin (#7), Syed Muhd Kamal (#8), Mohd Imran Marican (#10), Cheah Wen Bin (#16, captain), Joel Yee Zheng Jie (#17), Chew Ke Jin (#20), Zhou Yunjie (#23), Ebenezer Lim (#34), Mohd Farhan B Rohani (#38)
An RI player makes an attempt on goal. (Photo 2 courtesy of Lim Weixiang)
SRJC celebrate their goal scored by Viszhnu (centre). (Photo 3 courtesy of Lim Weixiang)
Let us know the names of the players in the photos and we’ll update the captions. Thanks.
Go to the SCHOOLS FIXTURES & RESULTS page for more information.
“A teasing cross by substitute Li Jing Hui from the right flank created some confusion in the RI box before”
the cross was into the SR box, not the RI box
Hi anonymous, thanks for rectifying the mistake, changes are made.