IVP Semi-final on Monday 10 March: Nanyang Poly vs. NUS

so the big day arrived. "hyped up" is not even close to describing how we were feeling. 'tis been a season of upsets. it's the year of the underdog. the currents were flowing in our favour. Kimi Raikkonen vs Lewis Hamilton. Roger Federer vs. Novak Djokovic. Chelsea and Liverpool vs Barnsley. Portsmouth vs Manchester United. Cardiff vs Middlesborough. Barcelona vs Seville. Real Madrid vs. Getafe... the list goes on. Russell said he had trouble sleeping at night, and concentrating in class. i suspect that's a usual occurence.

trooping up the bus, spirits were high. sudi was listening to his pre-game music. we have yet to lose this season when he's done that. the light drizzle felt like fingers on the ivories. all in all, conditions primed for success. touch down. we were there first. perhaps a sigh of greater hunger. suiting up, warming up, pre-game pep talk by coach. the battle cry has never sounded louder. line-up: harpreet, mark, chris, gerald, andy, vincent, junhao, umar, raihan, fabien, fong. kick-off.

NUS on the attack right from the start. vincent's teasing cross from the left. keeping possession in the opponent's half. no desperate defending. yet. 5th minute, long punt from mark, keeper comes out to claim the ball, it slips from his hands and falls behind him to a waiting fabien, who lashes it into goal emphatically. 1-0 to the dogs. it's tight. NYP's corners threaten every single time with fantastic delivery from star player Shadhan. 9 corners in the first half. on the brink of half-time, NUS escapes by the skin of their teeth, a one-on-one with harpreet blazed over. the whistle goes. hi-fives all round. strategy for the second half - stop giving away corners.

2nd half kick-off. there are almost 20 players in the NUS half at times. too bad we couldn't stick to the strategy. 55th minute, NYP equalizes from a corner. 1-1. some desperate defending as the clock counts down. zeyan on for fong, sudi on for umar. right at the death, zeyan heads a screamer just wide. harpreet sprawls to his left in a sure-goal attack. the whistle goes. silent celebrations in the NUS camp. penalties. no extra-time. NUS to take the first kick.

Gerald. scores.
NYP. scores.
Junhao. kisses the keeper's left post.
NYP. head-on impact with the bar.
Zeyan. scores.
NYP. scores.
Fabien. scores.
NYP. scores.
Sudi. scores.
NYP. scores.

4-4. sudden death penalty shootout.
chris. misses the keeper's right post by an inch.
NYP. enters the final.

heartbreak all round. but we were warriors, no doubt about that. a run for their money. hearts in their mouths. we were no pushovers. cheers NUS. we showed them that heart and spirit can overcome all odds indeed. special salute to the ever encouraging bench, without whom we could not have trained the way we did, and make it thus far.

till IVP 08/09.