Last season’s beaten finalists Akademi Bolasepak MBPJ ended their campaign in Group B in style with two wins and one draw in the New Straits Times Junior Football League to emerge group winners.
With the top eight places in Group B already decided after Week 13 of League play, the final round of matches for played on Sunday 4th July at the Institute Kraf Negara pitch was a combination of football and mathematics as teams jostled for their final league positions and at the same time avoid a potential date with one of the big boys from Group A in the knockout round of 16.
In their first match, MBPJ faced an under-strength Junior Soccer School Malaysia (JSSM) but what should have been an easy three points for MBPJ boys turned out to be hard work instead as the JSSM boys put up a tenacious display to deny the their opponents time and space.
The match ended 0-0 and it was back to the drawing board for MBPJ coach Ahmad Jasa as he plotted for a win in their next match against traditional rivals Royal Selangor Club (RSC).
If their first match was frustrating, MBPJ’s match against RSC turned out to be thriller. On a rain-soaked pitch, both teams went into attack mode from the first whistle and it took only three minutes for the first goal to arrive, courtesy of MBPJ’s Izat Amir Nasir.
Shocked by the early goal, RSC went in search of the equaliser but their forays upfront were easily snuffed out by the MBPJ defence marshalled by skipper Muhammad Aiman Firdaus.
Eight minutes later RSC found themselves 2-0 down when some slack defending allowed Izat Amir to score his second goal of the match, much to the dismay of the RSC coaching staff.
Izat Amir proved to be the chief tormenter of RSC when he put the ball at the back of the RSC net for the third time for his hat-trick in the 15th minute and give his team a comfortable 3-0 lead going into the break.
The second-half saw a rejuvenated RSC side and their determination paid off in the 29th minute when Rashwin Nair scored to make it 1-3.
The MBPJ, boys despite their two-goal cushion, seemed to be rattled by the goal and went into defensive mode to protect their lead.
In the last minute, of the match RSC earned a penalty and Mohd Hafizi cooly sent keeper MBPJ keeper Muhammad Irfan the wrong way to make it 2-3 and promise of a thrilling finish.
But time was not on RSC’s side and the referee final whistle came as a huge sigh of relief for the MBPJ players and officials.
In their final match, MBPJ took on Mahkota Football Academy and three late second half goals from Muhammad Arif Aiman (31st, 40th ) and Arwin Raj (34th) were enough to give MBPJ at the the top spot in Group B standings with 66 points, two ahead of APS Bintang Biru who scored a narrow 1-0 win over First Kick Academy (Mohd Syafiq Heelmi Zainol – 38th) and a 4-0 win over Kidokickers Academy (Ku Muhd Alif Khairi -12th, Mohd Faisal Abdul Halim - 16th & 40th and Muhd Hafizudin Md Zaki-23rd).
Besides MBPJ and APS Bintang Biru, the other teams who have qualified for the round of 16 were Jasmine Junior FC, Jasmine Putra United, UKRC, KB Remaja Bersatu, Junior Soccer Schools and Little League.
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