Central Park International

5

vs

Interstar

2

Central Park International secured an automatic promotion spot to Division 4 with a 5-2 thumping of Interstar Football Club. Debutant Vikram who is here on a vacation capped his fine afternoon with a goal in each half with Soerensen, Murugesan and Asawin getting their names on the scoresheet as well. The victory meant that Sharks kept pace with league leaders AIG at the top.

Sharks started the game with a worryingly thin defensive cover as the likes of Fiet, Jensen and Zhuoneng were unable to make the tie. The team though welcomed back Vincent and Michael Jensen for the tie and they were supported with the likes of Daniel and Jiayong to form the quartet of defenders. The game barely got into gear when Soerensen gave his team an early lead in the 9th minute. Collecting the ball in the middle of the park, he skipped a couple of challenges and ran straight into the heart of Interstar defense like knife thru butter and made no mistake picking his spot. It looked to be a long afternoon for Interstar as Sharks kept tearing the opposition apart with Naoki coming particularly close when he smashed a loose ball into the box only to be deflected for a corner. Murugesan and Vikram were particular cause for concern for Interstar defenders as they kept moving into dangerous position with the latter coming close after being put thru by Iskandar but took one touch too many. As waves and waves of attack got repelled by the opposition, they level things up against the run of play when Sharks were caught ball watching. Images of their first meeting when the game ended 1-1 were playing at the back of the player's mind as chances went begging. Nonethess, the though turned out to be futile when they scored 2 goals in a space of 2 minutes with Murugesan latching on to Iskandar's thru pass and Vikram, putting away his chance off a corner as they go into the break with a 3-1 lead.

Second half were all Sharks as they try to consolidate their lead and were looking to extend it when Naoki wizardry allowed him to find Jason in acres of space in the box but in a gaping net from just six yards, the latter's touch proved to be his undoing as it came off the crossbar and into safety. It wasn't till the 64th minute before Sharks extended their lead. Vikram found himself in the clear after beating his marker and he finished with absolute coolness, side-stepping the custodian to his left and finishing it with ease. Asawin capped his return after missing for several game with a goal after Jason's flick found him in acres of space to score his team's fifth. Interstar on the other hand got another consolation shortly afterwards as Sharks hold on for the win.

The manager said after the game, 'The players did well in view of the lack of defensive cover in the team and the win ensured that they can't finish no worse than 2nd. The win was definitely a great birtyday present from the team with FC winning in the earlier game.