Report from Singapore Hockey Federation

Singapore eek out narrow win against Hong Kong SAR

Singapore edged out rivals Hong Kong SAR 1-0 in a narrow game on 11 April (Monday) in which both sides were evenly matched from start to finish.

HK SAR initially started by defending deep and attacking on the counter, allowing Singapore to build on their attack in the BOD to run through channels and create spaces for their attackers to get into the D.

The Hongkongers' counterattacking prowess earned them a penalty corner in 21st minute but their shot was expertly cleared away by a well-organised Singapore defence.

Singapore got the breakthrough in the 23rd minute with a goal by Eunice Teng after a deflection from a penalty corner, sending the home crowd wild with excitement.

Hong Kong brought on more attackers towards end of first half as they looked to press Singapore within their own half, but they were unable to make the breakthrough before the break.

Both sides came out fighting in order to find the next goal, with Singapore looking to establish a more comfortable lead while HK looked to come back from being a goal down to grab a draw.

It was Singapore who had some of the best attacking chances in the second half. A long pass from Cheryll Chia to Nicole Quek in the 51st minute was helped on to Syasya Ritqah who fired home in the D, forcing Hong Kong's defence to concede a penalty corner.

Singapore, however, failed to convert as the Hong Kong's custodian Yip Ting Wai made a crucial save to keep her side in the game.

Hong Kong continued to threaten in bursts throughout the second half with both their forwards pressing the Singapore defence to win back the ball, although their efforts in the D were mostly well-handled by the Singapore defence.

In particular, Hong Kong had a good opportunity to equalise in the 49th minute from a penalty corner but the Singapore defence stood resolute to prevent their opponents from getting their first goal of the game.

The crowd at the Sengkang stadium were roused by the back-and-forth action of the game, and as the game inched towards full-time, the host nation continued to build on their attack in the BOD to peg back Hong Kong in their own half.

At the end of the day, Singapore will be proud of their 1-0 win that was earned through a triumph in tactics against their higher ranked opponents. As for Hong Kong SAR, they will look to improve tactically in order to win against Kazakhstan on Thursday after their two rest days.

Coaches and Player Comments:

Singapore Coach David Viner: “We are happy with the performance today – the girls were strong with the ball although they were not efficient in the first half, but in the second half when we lost players to yellow cards we were still strong and committed.”

“The fact that we held it together in the last hour of the game is particularly impressive. I just hope we can be a little bit more efficient with the ball in the circle against Thailand and get a few more goalscoring opportunities.”

Singapore goalscorer Eunice Teng: “I was really excited to have scored, but I think it was all down to a good team effort to score – we got the ball out together and managed to get the ball to Tiffany Ong in order to score from the penalty corner.”

“We have to be game ready against Thailand and we will study the video analysis in order to know which players to mark. We have to be mentally prepared - we have played Thailand a few times and the senior players in our team will step up to help the younger players to be more prepared as well.”

HK SAR Coach Arifali: “It was definitely not easy for our girls after three games in a row, especially after yesterday's tough game [against Sri Lanka]. Our opponents had a rest day and we didn't, and I know things would be difficult, but I think we did well with whatever energy we had. We had our chances too but we didn't take them, and they [Singapore] had their chance and they took it.”

“We desperately needed a rest day, and now we earned two rest days. We just need to regroup and recover as soon as possible, and we look forward to winning the next game [against Kazakhstan]. We definitely need to win the next game.”