Central Park

2

vs

FC Gila Galactico

1

Central Park notched a narrow win on Sunday at Temasek Secondary School. Heng Li gave his team an early lead while Na'eem added a second in the 21st minute and it proved to be enough to secure maximum points for the Sharks. In a game marred by some unsporting incident near the end of the game, Sharks forward Murugesan was rushed to Changi Hospital with a fracture shoulder and finger early in the game after he was brushed off in an off-the-ball incident as he slammed into a concrete seating.

The game was played in a fast paced setting with Sharks taking the initiative in the early exchanges as the opposition were still finding their rythmn to the game. Murugesan in particular was a constant thorn in the attacking half as his pace troubled the defense on numerous occasion till he was sadly brought off after just 5 minutes into the game with serious fracture. Na'eem came into his place and it was a slow build-up that lead to the opener as Naoki jumped highest to nod the ball into the path of Heng Li and the onrushing custodian coming off his line, the forward chipped his shot nicely into the back of the net leaving the custodian with no chance. The opposition on the other hand tried to build-up from the middle and they came close on several occasion but they were often denied by the ever present figure of Charlson Tay. Sharks by then was on the backfoot till against the run of play and out of nothing, Stefan exchanged passes with Na'eem and the latter turned his marker and let loose a scorcher which found the roof on the net to give the team a comfortable 2 goal cushion. The forward could have added another shortly afterwards when he linked up well with Stefan again but his stiff grounder missed just inches. On the other end, Sharks almost gave the opposition some glimmer of hope before the end of the first half after some slacking marking but the forward was unable to capitalise with Michael stranded on his line.

The second half belonged to the opposition as they pegged Sharks into long duration in their own half and they were duly rewarded midway into the half when they pulled one back. They could have pulled one earlier when Charlson brought his marker down just outside the area but the resulting freekick didn't troubled Michael in goal. As the match wore on, it looked like the opposition were close to finding that elusive leveler but the Sharks defense were putting everything they got to defend their narrow lead as they put their bodies, head and legs in the firing line. When that didn't prevent a shot in goal, Michael was ever-reliable to snuff out the opposition's opportunities. As the clock ticked by, frustrations began to emerged in the opposition play as they finished the game with 10man while 11 brave Sharks held on for the points.

The manager commented after the game, 'We will just leave the incident in the game and after the match up to the organisers. But to take things beyond the pitch and even to the extent to the referee as well, that's just inexusable.'