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The Sharks put up a battling performance, but were eventually narrowly downed by Division 1 side Gabrielite Remix in their very first cup game of the season. Strikers Heng Li and Issac were missing, as was captain Vincent, who has yet to recover from a broken wrist. Trialists Joshua, Jung, Jia Kai and Ming Quan all came in to bolster the thin squad.
As expected, the skillful Gabrielites pegged the Sharks back, especially on the right flank. Their right wingers gave Vince a torrid time, and the boys in yellow could count themselves lucky not to go behind early on. Some good interplay from the Gabes found a striker unmarked on the edge of the area, but his shot went wide of the post. The Sharks further survived a host of freekicks and corners, only to be almost undone by an own goal when Jung decided to the clear the ball in an unusual fashion, curling a shot on goal which went narrowly wide.
Central Park struggled going forward, losing many headers to the tall Gabes backline. Brendan managed to break down the left, evading his marker twice to send in a cross. A deflection off a defender found Jason lurking in the box, but his near post shot was saved. The Gabes keeper looked increasingly uncomfortable with high balls, spilling a few crosses, but remained unpunished before the break.
The sun peeked out from behind the grey clouds for the second half, which proved to be far more action packed than the first. The Gabes struck first, when a foray down the left beat the diminutive fullback Zhuoneng. The Gabes winger then squared to an unmarked striker, who backheeled the ball beyond Mizan. But Central Park responded not long after. Chris provided an extra dimension in attack, and proved his worth with another fortituous goal to his name. A poor clearance by the keeper was brought down by the Aussie striker who attempted a looping shot from distance. A deflection must have distracted the keeper, who let the ball slip through his fingers to nestle in the back of the net.
Gabes continued to pour forward, with the excellent Anuar cutting out passes and keeping their strikers at bay. But it was some slack defending from the Sharks that allowed their opponents to score again. A slaloming run by the Gabes attackers found their striker one-on-one with Mizan, with a strong suspicion of offside. But the referee allowed play to go on, and the forward made no mistake with his finish. A mere five minutes later Chris caused problems in the box, and the referee pointed to the spot. Ryan coolly stepped up to convert the penalty and put the Sharks level again. Central Park then finally got in front in spectacular fashion. Harold opted to shoot from a freekick over 30 yards away, and was duly rewarded when the error prone Gabes keeper somehow spilled the shot.
At this point, all the yellows had to do was not make any more mistakes with less than 10 minutes remaining. It wasn’t to be however, with yet another poor refereeing decision proving the turning point. The Gabes cut through on the right wing to float a cross into the box. Their tall target man clearly controlled the ball with his arm before slamming the ball into the bottom corner to make it all square again.
With the score at 3-3 at full time, the match went into ten minutes of extra time. Harold took a shot from the kick off, forcing their keeper to punch the ball into touch. Nothing came out of the resulting corner, but moments later Central Park’s best chance came. A great diagonal ball by Ryan found Harold lurking on the right flank. However, the final cross evaded the charging strikers. Then Gabes struck the fatal blow. Precise passing in midfield ended with a through ball being threaded through to their target man. He made no mistake from 6 yards to settle the game.
Central Park however, will be glad this was not a league game, and can take comfort from mounting a decent challenge against a Division 1 side.
The fuming manager said, 'It was daylight robbery. When you see your team fought so hard against a team that tried every dirty trick in the book to win a game and ultimately get let down by the referee, it's just beyond belief.'
He added, 'The boys fought really well and the team lined up pretty well in the first half. At extra-time, we knew that we stood a good chance if we can hold them off till the penalty kicks but at the end, we just ran out of steam. That's twice this year that we have gone out in extra time against a Division 1 team. |
