The first half began with Singapore trying to work the ball out of defense and Perak adopting to zonal mark. However, the first chance of the game fell to Perak, as they intercepted the ball from their defense and launched a 2 on 1 counter attack. Singapore’s goalkeeper Sukhbir Singh was alert and managed to intercept the ball before it reached Perak’s forward, who was waiting at the far post.
Sukhbir was called into action again ten minutes later, managing to clear the ball using his glove. It was only until the 14th minute of the game when Singapore earned their first penalty corner through Ishwarinder Singh. The chance was then converted by Ishwarpal Singh, with a flick into the top righthand corner, which saw Singapore drawing first blood. Singapore ended the 1st half leading by a solitary goal.
The second half began at a high tempo with Perak managing to win three short corners in less than three minutes. Singapore managed to defend the first two short corners but were unable to deny Perak from equalizing. Just as the fans thought Perak was starting to gain momentum, Singapore scored again through Melvinder Singh with a diving deflection into the top left hand corner making it 2-1. Singapore maintained their structure with Thamir Singh making a sprint down the right flank, beating the left back with pace and extending our lead by finding Ishwarinder at the far post.
Down 3-1, Perak began to send more players up the field and they managed to create several opportunities and penalty corners. The Singapore team was called into action on multiple occasions for the rest of the game and they managed to deal with the situation well by keeping their shape and working hard. The deadlock was ultimately broken in the 49th minute with a lapse in defense as Perak managed to intercept the ball and slot it past our keeper to make the last few minutes of the game interesting. However, time ran out for Perak and Singapore eventually managed to book their place in the finals.
Manminder Singh, the oldest player in the squad was approached by Vavel Singapore.
Thoughts on the team’s performance:
“The team played very well throughout the semi-finals and the whole tournament. We had actually gone through a lot of video analysis to prepare for today’s game and this preparation gave us an upper hand in today’s semi-finals, that’s why the team performed at their highest peak and I think we can do one better in the final”
Preparation against Johor:
“This will be the third time we will be playing against Johor, having played them in the Causeway Cup, opening game of the tournament and now in the finals. I think we have done enough preparations and we should be able to win. We are prepared and we have no doubt on what we are suppose to do to bring the cup home”
On his contributions to the team:
“Being the oldest player in the team, I feel that the younger players have really brought their ‘A’ game to this tournament. They have performed at a level which has made them elite. I will continue to motivate and instill the younger players with the right mentality, so they can benefit in the future"
Words of encouragement to the team:
“Keep the team spirit alive with the young players believing in themselves, as we try to get new blood into the team moving forward. This cycle will ensure continuality for Khalsa’s future. With team spirit, they can keep on winning this tournament or get into the finals. Maybe after winning this cup, we can start to have a winning mentality and move forward in the coming years”