Sports School clinch first national B Division football title since 2018

SINGAPORE – After scoring his fourth goal of the National School Games (NSG) season in a 5-0 win over Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) in early March, Singapore Sports School’s (SSP) Harith Danish Irwan found himself hit by a goal drought.

The Secondary 3 student’s confidence dipped as he was unable to reproduce his earlier form in the subsequent four matches.

But the attacker finally found his scoring boots on Friday as he bagged the opener in SSP’s 2-0 win over Tanjong Katong Secondary School (TKSS) in the B Division boys’ League One championship final at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

The 14-year-old said: “After I scored the goal, I was full of excitement and wanted to celebrate with my teammates.

“I felt the joy of playing football again and playing in these kinds of tournaments.

“In training, every drill that we did, whenever I had the ball I was always overthinking about where to pass, when to shoot. My coaches and parents tried to motivate me and slowly I started to gain confidence again.”

It took just four minutes for SSP to go ahead as Harith latched on to teammate Muhammad Haziq Mohammad Yazid’s pass and placed the ball into the net.

Overjoyed with his first goal in over a month, Harith replicated Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe’s trademark salute celebration.

Substitute Ryan Hakim Rickitt then doubled SSP’s lead. As Azeem Hassan’s deflected pass fell to him in the 52nd minute, Ryan smashed the ball home, sealing SSP’s first B Division national title since 2018. Jurongville Secondary School won in 2019, with the 2020 to 2022 editions not held due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ryan, who had not been a regular starter, was grateful for the faith his coaches placed in him.

The 15-year-old striker said: “I was very nervy, but my teammates cheered me on and I have trust in every single one of my teammates and I knew that we would win.”

SSP coach Isa Halim was pleased with how his charges performed, noting that the lead-up to the final had not been easy with a packed schedule.

The former national player said: “I know they can do better, but given the circumstances... the boys did very well.

“It’s special because the boys have come out of the Covid period and they had back-to-back games (in other competitions) prior to this NSG so it was very tough on them, but they showed hard work and determination.”

Despite the loss, TKSS coach Azahari Aziz was proud of his team’s run to the final, which was the school’s first since they won their maiden title in 2016.

He said: “We are playing against the favourites. We punched above our weight and beat a lot of good teams along the way like St Patrick’s and St Gabriel’s, so to be in the final is an achievement.”