With a key defender suspended and their captain struggling with an injury, St Gabriel's Secondary School's football teacher-in-charge Laura Huang was hardly confident ahead of the Schools National B Division boys' League Three final against Spectra Secondary School yesterday.
To make things worse, St Gabriel's winger Joshua Joseph suffered a cut to his face in the 21st minute and his replacement Aryan Menon was sent off nine minutes later for arguing with the referee.
However, Spectra were also reduced to 10 men in the 37th minutes when Muhammad Ryan Tsaqif received his second yellow card.
St Gabriel's regained the initiative to score through centre-back Gideon Tai (40th minute) and striker Aiman Yazid (76th) for a 2-0 win at Our Tampines Hub.
Said Huang: "The result was definitely better than what I had expected.
"Our main defender was serving a suspension and our captain sustained an injury during the semi-finals so he was limping throughout this match.
"We didn't expect to come so far, but we just kept telling ourselves to try our best.
1
St Gabriel's Secondary centre-back Gideon Tai's goal in the final was his first for the school in four years.
"Even when the situation was not advantageous to us, we did not let it get to us.
"We fought on, we never thought about giving up."
The two red cards dominated the early proceedings before Gideon curled in a superb free kick to give his team the lead on the stroke of half-time.
Spectra went in search of an equaliser in the second half, but Aiman dashed their hopes of a comeback with the second goal.
Man of the match Gideon said: "I was so excited and happy after I scored because it was almost half-time and it was my first goal for the school in four years.
"Before the game, I told my teammates that I will work as hard as I can to get the goal so I'm very happy that I scored."
Despite the loss, Spectra coach Ashraf Ariffin was proud of his team's performance.
"We started off very well, but we didn't finish our chances and then when we lost a man, the boys lost a bit of focus," he said.
"After we conceded the goal late in the first half, it was quite hard to get back into the game in the second half.
"They did all that they could and gave their best and that is all that we can ask."
Yesterday's League Three final was the first of five finals in the boys' football tournament this year.
In the preliminary rounds, all schools are split into 16 groups with five to six schools per group.
The teams are then placed in five leagues - from League One to Five - based on the positions they finished in their groups.
Hundreds of people bid farewell to Emiliano Sala (Gustavo Garello/Getty Images) His body was pulled from the wreckage on February 7 but the British pilot, David Ibbotson, 59, from Lincolnshire
MANCHESTER: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer celebrated his first game as permanent Manchester United manager with a 2-1 Premier League win over Watford at Old Trafford on Saturday. It was a far from impressive performance from United but goals from Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial earned the victory which moved them up to fourth in the table, level on
Man Utd 2-1 Watford | Rashford & Martial Goals Give Ole Win
CARDIFF, Wales (REUTERS) - Bottom club Huddersfield Town ended their eight-match losing streak in the Premier League with a goalless draw at fellow strugglers Cardiff City on Saturday (Jan 12) but
Huddersfield end losing run with draw at Cardiff - Footballghana
Paris Saint-Germain's Brazilian captain Thiago Silva has been granted French citizenship, he announced on Twitter on Friday. Thiago SIlva and wife The 34-year-old's decision means PSG have an extra space in their squad for a non-EU player.
PSG captain Thiago Silva receives French citizenship - Nija
Search for missing Cardiff City's Emiliano Sala resumes in
Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri admitted it will be hard to deny Eden Hazard a move to Real Madrid this summer, even if a reported £100 million move is "too cheap" for the Belgian captain. Hazard was in stunning form as the Blues moved up to third in the Premier League, scoring both goals in a 2-0 win over West Ham on Monday.
New Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers watched on from the stands as the Foxes beat Brighton 2-1, while Newcastle pulled further clear of the relegation battle by defeating Burnley on Tuesday.
Leicester welcome Rodgers with win, Newcastle end Burnley run
England soccer captain Harry Kane received the MBE award on Thursday for services to football after leading the national team to the World Cup semi-final in Russia last Summer. Prince William, the
England soccer captain Kane honoured at Buckingham Palace
Treble winners Manchester City enjoy parade Manchester City celebrated their domestic treble with an open-top bus parade on Monday, drawing an estimated 100,000 fans to the streets of the city centre.
Treble winners Man City enjoy parade - Pulse Nigeria
Leaders Liverpool stumble, Chelsea collapse. Martyn Herman. 4 Min Read. Soccer Football - Premier League - Liverpool v Leicester City - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - January 30, 2019 Liverpool
Leaders Liverpool stumble, Chelsea collapse | The Zimbabwe Daily
Andre Gray came off the bench to fire Watford into the FA Cup semi-finals with the late winner in their 2-1 victory over Crystal Football ; Super-sub Andre Gray sends Watford into FA Cup semis .
Super-sub Gray sends Watford into FA Cup semis -football- my
Football: Shellshocked Real Madrid knocked out of Champions
Pep Guardiola wants the pain of Manchester City's gut-wrenching Champions League elimination at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur to inspire a charge for an unprecedented domestic treble. Guardiola's
Guardiola hopes Champions League pain spurs on Manchester
Egyptian football star Mohamed "Mo" Salah has called for change in the way women are treated in the Muslim world, in an interview with Time magazine published Wednesday. The 26-year-old Liverpool forward was named one of the US magazine's 100 most influential figures of the year, alongside other athletes including Tiger Woods, LeBron
Mo Salah calls for better treatment of women in Muslim world
0 comments:
Post a Comment