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The last time Central Park lost their first fixture of a New Year was back in 2006 when they went down 2-5 against Mystic FC in the now-defunct Clemeenteers League where the Sharks pulled out of the competition in April later in the year after some questioning administration of the league. Despite Sharks loss in the last fixture of the year against Admiralz, they were looking to bounce back against Gabrielite Remix but unfortunately, they went down 1-4 at Bedok North Secondary.
Sharks started the game missing midfield lynchpin Graeme and Jiayong as they were forced to reshuffle with the likes of Charlson and Steven taking the mettle while Jason started in the place of Isaac who didn't make the kickoff on time. They were immediately on the backfoot in the opening exchanges and inside 10 minutes, they went a goal down. That goal seemed to give the opposition belief as they begin to stroke the ball confidently while Sharks were still unable to get their foot on the field. It wasn't until 35th minute when Sharks level the score after Heng Li provided for Jason to score with a first-timer which found the roof of the net. Shortly before the goal, Sharks came close after Harold's freekick went loose in the box but despite having 3 man in the box, they were unable to capitalise on it. The leveler seemed shortlived as just before half-time, Gabrielite scored their second after some bad defending from the Sharks.
The second half changes were meant to provide more cover for gaps in the Sharks lineup as the likes of Jeffrey, Isaac and Chris came into the fold. Within the first 10 minutes, Sharks had 2 glorious opportunities to level the score yet again but indecisiveness among Isaac, Heng Li, Harold and Brendan meant that they were to rue those opportunities shortly after. At the other end, Gabrielite ran the defense ragged with some enterprising wing play but despite Michael stopping them on a couple of occasions with some stupendous save, he could do nothing in the 3rd goal, a scorcher from distance that just clipped the crossbar and into the back of the net. The final nail in Sharks coffin came shortly afterwards when Kelvin were outpaced and outran by the winger.
The manager commented, 'We didn't get off from second gear for the duration of the game. The midfield was non-existence and we were lucky not to be handed a more crushing defeat. What we need to do now is go back to basics and do what we do best; bouncing back in the next game.
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