SEASAC FOOTBALL

U19 Varsity Boys Won A Spot On The Podium

We arrived at Australian International School early in the morning with grey clouds looming over the Singaporean sky We took our seats on the bleachers and put our boots on while watching the games before ours, nerves but also excitement were building as a sense of the reality of what we had been working towards all season set in We warmed up and had an inspiring pre-game team talk from Coach Jack Th e game started in a cagey fashion, the confidence we had prior to kick-off was lacking in the first few minutes of our opening game against Ruamrudee. A ball came into our box and in the process of trying to defend the cross we conceded a penalty, the RIS striker stepped up and calmly put it away. It wasn’t the ideal start for the Harrow boys. As the minutes went on the confidence in our own ability beg an to outweigh the nerves of the occasion, a long shot from Felix snuck into the top corner and put us back in the game. Harrow kept knocking on the door but could not find the next goal no matter how hard we tried, shots from LP, Saint, and Andy were all close but not quite enough Against the run of the play in the last few minutes, the RIS central midfielder got through the Harrow midfield and snuck a ball into the striker A clever faint from the striker sent Pac one way and he placed the ball into the near corner, ultimately sealing an unlucky defeat for Harrow in our SEASAC opener The second game against British School Jakarta kicked off just a few hours later, from the first whistle it was clear Harrow wasn’t at the races Within fifteen minutes of the first half, BSJ had sco red four goals and left Harrow players in disarray with the scoreline affecting the player's motivation greatly Coach Jack spoke to us in a realistic way that provided us with something to fight for in the second half, even if there was not much to play for anymore we were now determined to at least fight for it. Attack after attack eventually resulted in the first goal of a potential comeback from Tristan, the second followed soon after from Saint. With an increased spring in the step of all of the Harrow players, there was attempt after attempt on goal but the BSJ goalkeeper stayed resolute and prevented a second-half comeback that we had fought so hard for. The game ended in a 4-2 loss. We went into the next game against UWCE East with the knowledge that we had to win this game. We stayed org anized and motivated throughout the first half and we went into the half-time break in the lead. An own-goal as well as goals from Andy and Saint had made the score 3-2 at the break. The game was approaching the end and it was now 4-4, UWCE East had scored 2 and Andy had got his second of the day. The UWCE striker had been played through and looked destined to score but a last-ditch tackle from Felix k ept the score at 4-4. A few minutes after that, in the dying embers of the game, Harrow got a corner. The ball came in and was cleared by a defender but it fell right to Kan who was waiting on the halfway line, despite being told to take a touch he hit it on the half-volley and it flew into the bottomright corner. He sprinted off arms in the air shouting in celebration, players on the bench and th e pitch sprinted over to him to celebrate the win his volley had just secured.