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Struggling Sharks shot down by French outfit Aioli United 2-4 over at Temasek Secondary as the latter completed the double. Aioli took advantage of some sloppy defending to go two goals up with just 10 minutes of the first half but fought back strongly and took advantage of some slack defending at the other end to level the score at 2-2 at halftime. Aioli moved up the gear in the second half as Sharks meekly surrendered as the former notched another two goals to leapfrog into first place in the division.
The barebones Sharks team had to make a major reshuffle of the lineup with the likes of captain Vincent, Isaac, Betrand, Pierre all missing thru injuries. Coupled with the long list of absentees, Jiayong was moved to defense while Anuar were moved in the middle of the park to stiffle the mobile French midfield. Upfront, Brendan partnered Heng Li to spearhead the attack. Within the first minute, Sharks gameplan were thrown in disarray after Aioli managed to pick up a loose ball after Michael, who had a fantastic game after last weekend blunder only managed to pushed the ball to an oncoming French striker. Despite having all the time in the world, Sharks defense indifferent attitude somehow allowed the opposition to take the lead. If that didn't awake the boys up, Aioli notched another goal as Sharks begin to wonder if this was a long afternoon. Zhuoneng was replaced shortly as Sharks begin to strengthen and plug the gaps.
The opposition took their foot off the gas after the second goal and allowed Sharks into the game with Anuar notching a poacher's effort in the six yard box to connect with Graeme's freekick. 2-1 and the Sharks kept pegging the opposition into their own half and was duly rewarded six minutes later as Heng Li took full advantage of a miscommunication in the opposition's defense to float the ball over the onrushing custodian. 2-2 and the game were level but Sharks had Michael to thank for when he saved his team a couple of opportunities which Aioli could have ensured that they took to half-time with their lead.
The second half was all Aioli as Sharks were unable to string any meaningful passes, let alone carving an opportunity at the other end. The closest they came was a weak penalty call when Jeffrey was brought down in the box, a bad volley with all the time in the world from Kelvin and an effort which Heng Li couldn't capitalise after a fantastic flick-on from Brendan. At the other end, Michael came to the rescue time and time again when his defense was breached but he was powerless to stop both goals from Aioli in the second half. The disappointing Sharks continued to solder on in the searing heat but somehow, their inability to penetrate and let alone form any decent passes lead to their downfall which for a moment, they don't look like a team in the upper ranks of the division. As the final whistle blew for full-time, the Sharks manager know that this team is a pale shadow of what the team is known for.
The manager commented, 'When you can't even string 3 passes together against a technical team, you will be punished. Our inability to get the ball out of our half makes it even harder. Perhaps we should be looking to rebuild for the new season in a couple of weeks time and take this time to identify areas that we need to reinforce. We just didn't have enough strength in depth to compete competitively at the moment.
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