Ernst and Young overcame a determined National Juniors 5-2 in Group A while Olympic Village chalked up a 3-0 victory over Uzbekistan’s Nadijon in Group B. The other teams in the fray are Singapore Recreation Club and Thai Royal Air Force.
Ernst and Young were up against familiar opponents but they started off nervously. Still, they managed to carve out a 2-0 lead after 23 minutes of play. Defender Zulkifli Rejab scored a penalty corner goal in the 17th minute and Azlan Mizron followed up with a field attempt.
The Juniors kept plugging away and in the 35th minute managed to score off their third penalty corner through skipper Ahmad Kazamirul Nasaruddin.
From the start of the second half, the Juniors had Ernst and Young pegged in defence and found the equaliser in the 42nd minute with Kavin Kartik slotting home a penalty corner setpiece.
Chua Boon Huat regained the lead for Ernst and Young in the 52nd minute before Zulkifli fired home another penalty corner (54th) and Baljit Singh converted a penalty stroke (55th).
Ernst and Young coach K. Dharmaraj said that there had been overall improvement in the team’s performance and he hopes to see more polished displays in the coming matches.
“The players were under a bit of pressure as they needed to win the match.
“They gave the Juniors so much space to move in the early stages. I am glad that they stormed back to win the match after letting in two goals. In the past, they would have crumbled under such pressure,” he said.
Ernst and Young will play against Thai Royal Air Force tomorrow and a win will put them in the final.
In the other match, Olympic Village dominated play against Nadijon and scored the goals through Mahmood Ali (28th, 61st) and Mohamed Tousiq (38th).
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