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Goal Scorer:
NTU: Runar Evensen 53min, Syaqir Sulaiman 59min, Gavin Joshua Lee 69min (Penalty)
SIM: Sulaiman Latiff 15min, Tan Yong Geng 20min (OG)
Starting Line-up:
1. Ignatius Lim (GK)
3. Zulfadli Zainal Abidin
4. Nicholas Khoo
5. Shiam Jerome
7. Faizal Taher
11. Raymond Kwa
13. Eason Chen
17. Sulaiman Latiff
18. Muhd Rusydi
20. Vincent Lee (Captain)
23. Sim Li Ming
Reserve Players:
2. Phua Yih Kiat
6. Chirag
12. Lim Zi Xiang
19. Jason Wong
21. Melvin Tan
22. Ahmad Abdillah
Nanyang Technological University (NTU) won their fourth successive Singapore University Games (SUniG) Championship after prevailing 3-2 over this season title challenger, Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) at home ground on Tuesday (17 September 2013) evening.
After going down 2 goals at the half time, a fast 16 minutes goal blitz after the break saw NTU scored 3 goals in a crucial turnaround to clinch 3 big points over their more established opponents. Touted as the potential championship decider pre-tournament, this was a match SIM could ill-afford a defeat even though they still have 2 games in hand over NTU.
NTU nearly got off to a deam start when striker, Brandon Liang, rocked the crossbar from outside the box after 6 minutes, but they were soon trailing after 20 minutes. The first SIM goal came in the quarter hour when an innocuous cross from the left by winger Nicholas Khoo that was not properly dealt with by host keeper Petter Aashiem Boger. The latter fumbled his grasp to allow Sulaiman Latiff to steal in and tap home his fourth goal of the competition. Things went from bad to worse for NTU when centre-back, Tan Yong Geng, inexplicably clearing Nicholas Khoo's left-wing cross past Boger into his own net.
Hougang United FC midfielder, Syaqir Sulaiman, was involved in an all S-League centre midfield battle with Warriors FC player, Zulfadli Zainal Abidin, who had gained clearance from his club to feature and was influential in putting his team in front.
The defending champion took a while to get back into the groove and managed to end the half well, with forward Runar Evensen heading just wide from a corner and Syaqir saw his volley tipped wide by SIM keeper, Ignatius Lim. That lifted their psychological shape a little going into the break, and they emerged a different side in the second half. The deficit was halved 8 minutes in when a superb cross from the right by winger Anders Aplin eluded everyone in the SIM box, except for an alert Evensen who got just ahead of Ignatius Lim to nod home into an empty net. And it took just another 6 minutes for them to draw level.
After some neat passing play on 59 minutes, Aplin teed up Syaqir who unleashed a stunning half-volley from just outside the box to leave Ignatius Lim rooted to the spot. Buoyed from the leveller, NTU threw everything they could in pursuit of the all-important championship-winning goal.
Centre-back Odin Kirkbey headed over from a corner, Evensen saw his shot from outside the box tipped wide by Ignatius Lim, while a goalmouth melee was somehow cleared by an SIM defend. NTU did not have to wait too long to see their title hopes reach to the point of fruition.
Anders was involved in the build-up once again as he pounced onto a poor clearance by an SIM defender and strode into the box before being brought down by the back tracking Raymond Kwa.
Gavin Joshua Lee duly stepped up for the resulting penalty and sent Ignatius Lim the wrong way, bringing the handful of NTU fans in the stands up in raptures. That proved to be the decider with SIM failing to muster a response. Goalscorer Sulaiman had their final 2 opportunities but was unable to convert both - a 30 yard freekick which flicked off the crossbar before going over and a snapshot from just outside the box which was parried by Boger.
The final whistle soon sounded to the despair of the SIM players.
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