Asia

Saturday, 2nd July, 2005

A second-half brace from Mohd Hafidz Jaafer was enough to send Singapore Recreation Club into raptures and secure their third consecutive Premier League title with a 2-1 triumph over Padang rivals Singapore Cricket Club today.

The Delta Sports Complex battle for Premiership supremacy was as exciting as can be, considering SCC preferred the tactical game rather than their usual attacking flair and their planned outing nearly paid off handsome dividends against a side that has yet to drop a game in two seasons of play.

SRC missed out on a club double when their women’s side had to settle for second best when they lost out to defending holders Theresians, 4-1.

It was also good to see the crowds come out and support their favourite teams, with SCC’s fans the more boisterous of the two.

Hopefully, we will see more of this kind of attendance in future competition, be it in the league or at international fixtures as Singapore hockey dearly needs all the support it can muster.

Close down: SRC's Sunil Prasad (right) tries to clear the ball away from SCC's Wei Guoxiang. Pic by: Eddie dos Passos/SHF
The hockey played at Delta did not disappoint the many legions of fans willing to watch their team in action and they were treated to a seesaw game of possession as neither side dominated in the opening half, entering the break goalless.


Eventually it was left to SRC to open the account through Jaafer when he latched onto a loose ball inside the dee and slipped it past SCC’s custodian and captain, Christopher de Souza, and the youngster celebrated in style, running to the fans while attempting a half somersault and then sitting down on the pitch with his hands outstretched.

But SRC celebrations began too early as they saw their lead last all of two minutes as SCC’s Ng Chu scored the vital equalizer to deny SRC easy pickings and keep them in the title race.

Always the more balanced side, SRC maintained their composure and pressured SCC into making mistakes but again was thwarted by a staunch SCC defense, marshaled excellently by Angus Lochead and Wei Guoxiang. Lochead especially, whose diving clearances broke down SRC where it mattered most – in the midfield.


Great escape: SRC's Arif Ali manages to evade his chasers despite SCC's Angus Lochead's diving clearance while Alpesh Puna looks on. Pic by: Eddie dos Passos/SHF



Nine minutes from the opening goal, Jaafer rose again and was in the thick of the action, pouncing onto another loose ball, this time off a penalty corner, to put SCC out of their misery.

All in all, hockey had its day at Delta, as SRC captain Edwin Tan conceded they were pressed by a good side and that there was more room for similar exciting encounters.

“We made it difficult for ourselves, it was one of those days when our players had an off day, but we pulled it off and credit to SCC, they gave us a good fight,” Tan said.

“For two years we haven’t lost a single game, so basically we have been dominating the domestic game and it was good to see SCC give us a good game of entertaining hockey and that can only be good for the local game especially for the fans,” he said.

While aware that SCC would pull out all the stops to conquer SRC, Tan was in no doubt they held the upper hand and he was especially grateful to see the return of his ‘keeper, Lawrence Lee, who missed last week’s semi-finals following the death of his father, Paul.

“I knew we were in with a solid chance. We have the depth in quality in players like Arif (Ali), Sunil (Prasad), Dexter (Kang) and Harjeet (Singh) and more or less, we played for Lawrence (Lee), whose presence spoke volumes about him as he made himself available for the team,” he said. “This is how dedicated the players are to the club.”

The encounter was slightly marred by the sin-binning of three players – SCC’s Pravin Logarather in the 28th minute and entering the umpires books were SRC’s Rajan Segaran (30th) and captain Tan four minutes from the break.
Go for it: SRC's Harjeet Singh (left) and SCC's Angus Lochead chasing down a loose ball. Pic by: Eddie dos Passos/SHF

But Tan brushed aside the bookings, saying that
while the game was ‘physical’ there was no
deliberate intentions on the part of the players,
praising umpires – home grown
K. Ramamoorthy and invited Ravinderpal Singh
of Malaysia.

“I don’t think there was any malice in any of the three yellow cards, after all it is a competitive game and being hockey, it is bound to be physical,” he said. “Credit goes to the two umpires who did a fantastic job in officiating the final.”


SCC will have to wonder what they need to do to break SRC’s dominance at the senior level. Having made a clean sweep of the junior trophies in the Under-21 and U-18s level, they were hoping to add the Premier title to their trophy case but it turned out not to be.

SCC skipper de Souza was proud of his side despite the defeat and heaped praise on his talented squad, comprising a mixture of youth and experienced.

“Today we showed that a bunch of young boys and older players can unite, and fight as one group, as one team, and that is worth more than a gold medal,” said de Souza.

“The boys will look back at today’s final at different times of their lives and they will realize that it was sheer determination and hard work,” he said.

The ‘keeper felt his side would grow as a team from the experience and become a formidable force in the near future.

“We learned so much from each other and we helped each other in training and off the pitch and helped each other believe in ourselves. The way we play hockey reflected all these attributes,” he said.

He felt they were extremely unlucky not to have been on the winner’s podium after coming away with an outstandingly performance against Chenab Hockey Club in last week’s semis – a feisty 2-2 draw before emerging victorious in the penalty shootout.

“We had raised our game for the final, we closed the gap with SRC,” he said. “We were here to win in regulation time but it turns out SRC won 2-1.”

Now it was time for a break from the game and de Souza was highly confident SCC would emerge stronger next season to again challenge for the Premier crown.

“We will see what happens next year,” he said.

Final results at Delta Sports Complex:

Singapore Recreation Club 2 (h/t 0-0) Singapore Cricket Club 1

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