The first half commenced with Johor displaying signs of dominance right from the first whistle. Singapore’s midfield was caught on the front foot by the Johor wingers, as they sent in a dangerous cross leaving a man unmarked at the far corner who easily tapped it home.
It was not long later when Johor was awarded their first penalty corner but Baljit took an unlucky slip before his run up, which caused him to play an easy option to Jasweer, who kept himself open on the left and confidently brought the ball nearer for a clear shot to let Johor lead 2-0.
As all hopes seemed lost for Singapore early in the game, Singapore’s Jasmeet Singh injected a line ball which was calmly collected by Ishwarinder. With utmost composure, Ishwarinder flicked the ball over his opponent’s stick and smashed a screamer into the top right of the net. Singapore was then down by a goal.
Only 15 minutes were left to the end of the first half, when Johor increased their lead through Amarpreet’s positioning, fooling the entire Singapore’s backline, as he got into a good attacking position, leaving him unmarked and tapping in a beautiful cross from his teammate, thus allowing Johor to increase their lead by two goals.
Right before the half ended, Singapore managed to earn their first penalty corner of the match, and it was none other than U-21 national Balraj Singh to clinch his moment of the game. As cool as you like, Balraj converted his short corner. Singapore was then trailing by a goal at half time.
Coach Bakri regrouped his players and urged them to be much more hungrier than they were in the first half, following with a few attacking tactics to introduce in the second half. The second half commenced with both sides playing a very tight game to no outcome.
It did not take Singapore long to earn their second penalty corner, when Jaspreet Singh brought the ball on his own to successfully dribble past two players before finding Ishwarinder down the line. Ishwarinder’s movement was tricky this time around as he produced the unexpected of not flicking, but immediately releasing a hard ball into the opponents legs in the D. Balraj stepped up once again and equalised for Singapore.
The morale of the lions increased and Singapore went on the attack. Ishwarpal was proficient in his penetrative passes, but most of the time his forwards could not do much due to the experience of the Johor backline. Before the referee sounded the final whistle, luck completely deserted the lions when Johor earned themselves a late penalty corner, which was converted by Baljit. Singapore lost the opening fixture of the tournament with a scoreline of 4-3.
Ishwarinder’s brilliant display caught the eyes of the supporters and was later interviewed by Vavel Singapore.
His preparations before the game:
“Preparing for any game is something that I start the day before the game by reflecting on past games. Trying to focus on one or two things that I want to accomplish, for example completing my passes with 100% accuracy”
On his goal:
“That was a great goal wasn’t it? For me it was a team goal and I felt that the team was in need of that moment. Thankfully we were able to manage our game better moving forward. My mentality was to continue giving my 100% for the team and the presence of senior players motivated me along the way”
On conceding the late goal:
“We weren’t discipline and focused towards the end of the game which lead to us conceding a short corner that proved vital for Johor to take back the lead. The boys are still positive and we have good vibes in our camp. We are raring to go for our next game against Penang. The spectators had a nail-biting game experience and we hope to continue impressing the crowd with our style of hockey. The team knows where we want to be and how to achieve it. All I got to say is, let’s get this boys!”