Singh Sabha Sports Club (SSSC) collected their fifth trophy this season when their B-team beat Dutch-A 3-2 in the Hong Kong Hockey Association Cup in a titillating second tier knock-out tournament Final at King’s Park on Sunday (May 26). A Vicky Chhina golden goal started the celebrations.
Only seconds earlier, the likelihood of a penalty shoot-out was apparently on the horizon, until Chhina emerged their unlikely hero when he turned in a long-range horizontal pass from older brother Jimmy for the match winner.
The SSSC bench ran out to hug Vicky Chhina with gratitude and the side lifted their hero as they began celebrations for what turned out to be the club’s fifth trophy this 2012-13 season.
Their joy could well be understood, after their A-team collected the Holland Cup, Hong Kong’s top tier knock-out tournament last month, beating Khalsa-A.
Following SSSC-B’s HKHA league 1st Division table topping season, they are in the envious position where they can also consider promotion to the Premier Division and join their A-team brothers.
While the C-team wrapped up the 5th Division championships for a climb up to the 4th Division, there is the prospect of the formation of a veteran’s team for next season in the 6th Division.
The B’s Final against Dutch-A was made all the more exciting as both sides produced some text book hockey. SSSC’s firm defence held up well against the boys in orange, as the Dutch played some trademark dribbling against their rivals.
Marshalling deep in the heart of SSSC’s defence was their Malaysian player/coach Sarjit Singh, a former Olympian, who did a superb job in denying the Dutch much leeway inside their circle. With his experience reading the play time and again blunting their opponent’s attacks. A perfect example of his influence on the game was when he cleared one dangerous penalty shot on goal with a timely deflection off his line as he played the last man role.
Dutch skipper Rutger Van Walfen applauded his rivals.
“Kudos to them, they deserved being the champions,” said Van Walfen.
He then added, he hoped they turned down promotion to the Premier Division, as his side preferred playing them.
“They can go up, but we hope they stay [in the 1st Division]. They are a friendly team and it’s good to play them,” he said.
But Van Walfen might have an ulterior motive for his Dutch team who finished third in the 1st Division. If SSSC-B turns down the promotion to the Premier Division, Dutch-A stands to benefit in their stead. Perhaps Van Walfen did not realise that regardless of the SSSC-B decision they will not meet next season.
An ecstatic SSSC convener, Johnny Singh was humbled by the moment as he realised they had made club history after adding the HKHA Cup to their trophy cabinet, but admitted the prospect of joining their A-team in the Premier Division was still a daunting task that needed to be studied carefully.
“The B-team has the right [as division champions] to gain promotion, but we are under-strength, and honestly, we will have to make a decision as we have to consider the finances as many of the players [playing in the Premier Division] are imported players,” he said.
He was grateful to his many supporters as he thanked them all for the encouragement they invested in them all this season.
“Of course we will try out best next season, as this season has been really outstanding for us to win five trophies and we hope we can continue and earn better results,” he said.
The game started off at a blistering pace with SSSC drawing first blood from a 21st minute Deepee Gill goal, followed by an own-goal off Happy Dhillon to level the score two minutes from the break.
The Dutch, however, netted an own-goal too, this time off Neil Weller before team-mate Ferko Spits put the Dutch back on level terms.
Then Chhina broke their hearts with his match winner.
Meanwhile, Aquila-A won the HKHA Plate title after their match ended in a 3-3 stalemate, with Aquila winning in a penalty shoot-out 4-2; while KNS-B lifted the Bowl with their 3-0 win over Punjab-B; and in the Youth Cup, KCC emerged 1-0 victors over Shaheen.
