Junior Bullets book quarter-final place with win over Sembawang Sec

24 Feb 2015

The junior Bullets maintained their unbeaten run in the Inter-Schools C Div Boys Competition this afternoon after brushing off the challenge of their host, Sembawang Sec with a 3-1 victory.

The Bullets warming up

Coming off a one-week Chinese New Year break, the Bullets fought off initial lethargy to race into a 3-0 lead before halftime. Skipper Muhd Zamani was having a field day on the outskirts of the penalty area as he repeatedly exploited the open spaces in front of a stagnant Sembawang defence. During one of his forays in the 4th min, Zamani cut inside from the left to unleash an unstoppable curling shot into the bottom far corner of Sembawang's goalmouth for the first goal.

Bullets midfielder R Sharveen clearing the ball out of the danger area

Off a corner in the 9th min, Muhd Tahalif side-footed the ball into an empty goal from close range as Sembawang failed to clear the ball in the penalty box.

Five minutes before the half-time whistle, Bullets Zamani was again left with too much room on the left and from 30 metres out, he fired the ball into the far corner of Sembawang's goalmouth, leaving the goalkeeper still rooted to the ground.

The Bullets bench, all raring to go

Twice bitten, thrice shy as Sembawang chose to put more defenders on Zamani's tail in the second half. Once Bowen's key player was shackled, Sembawang began their fightback. They started to string some decent passes around the Bullets midfield but were left frustrated by sound defensive work from Bullets centre-half pairing of Muhd Tahalif and Harith Aniq, as well as leftback Mohd Shakir.

Bullets substitute Muhd Yusri, taking control of midfield

An unlucky handball in the penalty box from Bullets substitute Muhd Yusri who was rushing back towards his own goal saw the Bullets give away a penalty. Sembawang coolly converted the spot kick in the 48th minute to break Bullets goalkeeper, Desmond Ong's run of 3 consecutive clean sheets.

Bullets captain, Muhd Zamani finding space on the left flank

Urged on by home support, Sembawang proceeded to boss the game in midfield and forced the Bullets defence into some panicky defending. However, the Bullets held on to secure passage into the next round.

Bowen starting line-up

Sembawang	1 - 3	Bowen
Goals Scored (Bowen only)
Muhd Zamani 4’, 25’ Muhd Tahalif 9’
Substitutions
Elhan Akmal for Noor Rifat  26’ Muhd Yusri for Jeremy Chin 40’ Muhd Aniq for Muhd Shafiq 51’