Sunday, November 27, 2011

Tough fight between Raffles and Maria Niketan



               Raffles Institution with Fair Play Trophy


It was the most fondly awaited match for the organizers: Maria Niketan(MN) v Raffles Institution(RI), Singapore.


 The coaches of Jude Felix Hockey Academy have coached Maria Niketan School – the orphanage where the academy is based. RI, Singapore is coached by Jude Felix himself. Jude is also the technical advisor to the coaching panel at JFHA.


The match lived up to the expectations. It was a close contest between the teams. It must have been a difficult choice for Jude Felix, the Raffles coach, to whom to support.


The final score was in favor of RI, 1-0, with Faris scoring in the 14th min of the Penalty Corner.


It was skill v stamina at its peak display with RI playing around quick and intelligent passes. Maria Niketan players never seemed too tired in the 30m game.


It took both the teams to settle down in the game, as initial 10m hardly produced any concrete move. RI was poor with its trapping; the midfielders were struggling connecting to the forwards. MN was not able to pull off any concrete moves either.


When MN earned their 1st penalty corner in the 12th min, the Raffles goalkeeper, Ram, blocked the MN player and the umpire was quick to award a Penalty Stroke to the Niketan boys. It looked almost certain score opener for MN but the brilliant save by GK Ram denied them any jubilation.

Maria Niketan Boys with one of their coaches, Khalid Modi
In the 14th min, Faris for RI, executing a penalty corner, dodged a falling goalkeeper and had plenty of time to take the ball to the cage uninterrupted. The benches cheered and few moments later, half time hooter set in.


In the 2nd half, MN boys gave their heart out, attempted a number of attacks. But, primarily because of MN’s poor midfielder and forward communication and effective defense of RI, they could never get that wild swing at the goal.


A run down from the right flank by MN, followed by a hit-in towards the RI circle was rendered ineffective, only because of elegant man-to-man marking by Raffles’ defenders.


The left flank of Raffles always looked strong and that is where they generated most of their attacks. MN, mistakenly, concentrated all the strength in getting the ball possession from this flank and thereby assured poor usage of flanks and the other portions of the field.


But had it not been poor finishes by otherwise lone goal-scorer Faris, the score would have read differently. At least a couple of times, he failed at the last hit at the board.


In the 2nd half, RI midfielders and forwards pushed the MN defenders to the brink and piled attacks at a maddening frequency. Ashraf earned a penalty corner by his superb run down the MN circle. Benjamin, RI captain, came forward to execute it but failed after a desperate attempt.


In the last moments, another superb attempt by Raffles headed by Hawjia, went begging as there were no takers for the final deflection.


It seemed just a matter of time when MN defenders will open up their defense gates but, creditably, they stood their ground, with a lot of support from midfielders, and managed to restrict the loss margin by 0-1.


This was the last match of the tournament. Raffles made it to the 3rd spot in the tournament and Maria Niketan found the 5th spot for themselves. 
St. Joseph Indian High School, winner of JFHA Inter School Tournament, Bangalore
St. Joseph Indian High School won the tournament and Vinay High School, Ananthpur had to console with the runners-up trophy as they lost to St. Joseph’s only on an inferior goal difference.