Central Park v FC Nippon

The Sharks were left reeling from shock against an organised and fit team from FC Nippon, who are having their pre-season preparation. With only 5 minutes to go for the end of the match, the let slip a golden opportunity to extend their winning streak to 6 games. With the absence of Salihin and Danial, the Sharks were forced to re-shuffle the starting lineup with Sharks top scorer Azman playing in defence and the returning Suhaimi taking over the role of Danial. Long-term absentee Adzmi was available for selection but there were no place for him in the starting lineup. Norazman who is only making his second appearance for the club kept his place after a good showing in the last match against RCOB.

At the start of the whistle, the Sharks were immediately put on the backfoot with the opponent precise passing and swift inter-change of plays. It was going to be a long afternoon for the Sharks defence after they were kept being caught out with the Nippons speedy forwards for the first few minutes of the game. Despite their superiority, the Sharks regained their composure with both Jeremy and Norazman stamping their authority in the middle of the park. With Raymond and Hazli constantly backtracking their overlapping fullbacks, the Nippons were finding it tough to break the Sharks resistance and had to rely on their off-the-ball running to catch the Sharks defence off-guard. Perhaps the toughest match the Sharks had for a long time, both teams were increasingly frustrated with the few chances the had on goal. In total, less than 3 chances were created by both sides but were unable to capitalise. Despite the lack of goal mouth action, the fans were kept occupied with both sides testing and trying to take advantage of each team weaknesses. It was no surprise then that the game ended goalless at the end of the first half. The only clear chances they had was when the Nippons forward has a glance on goal but he place it wide. Sharks only clear chance came from Suhaimi after a perfect one-two with Andrew, with the former pulling the trigger and the Nippons custodian pulling off a reflex save, much to to dismay of Suhaimi.

The second-half resumed similarly to how it ended in the first-half. Both team were keen to break each other resistance. Sharks were caught on the break shortly after the restart with Azman being caught in possession in attack, leaving a gaping hole in defence. The Nippons gladly obliged with the golden opportunity. Being a goal down, the Sharks attack relentlessly and putting the Japanese defence under tremendous pressure. Shortly afterwards, the Sharks pulled a goal back through Azman. Catching the Nippons defence pushing up, Azman glide through 2 defenders and played a one-two pass with Adzmi whose precise pass found Azman clear of the defence. He made no mistake with only the goalkeeper to beat. With the score level, both teams had their fair share on goal. Andrew had a couple of chances tipped away to safety and the best chance the Nippons had was when the Sharks were caught again on the break. With 3 waiting team-mates against 1 Sharks in defence, a prefect cross on the right found a Nippon player whose bullet like header just missed the target from 6 yards. Against the run of play, the Japanese team was caught off-guard when Azman initiated an attack from defence. With no Nippon player tracking him, a delicate chip from Norazman found him in space yet again with only the goalie to beat. He took the chance to take the Sharks into the lead.

The Sharks then began to gain the upper-hand, controlling the game in midfield and attack. Despite having the lead, the Sharks were relentless in their attack. However, despite the advantage, the Sharks were always on the backfoot when the Japanese outfit attack in numbers. The fast tiring Sharks midfield were constantly non-existence. A glance on the clock which was brought to the match by the visiting side showed that there were 5 remaining minutes to the game. That was the start of Sharks downfall when an uncharacteristic mistake by Irman allow FC Nippon to level the game. Under pressure, Irman swung wildly to clear the ball but his clearance was directly towards a Nippon forward just outside the penalty area. With Azman out of position, the Nippon forward forced his way to goal. While his initial shot was saved by Amran and deflected into the crossbar, the rebound fell nicely to his teammate to slot the ball into the empty net. Fatigue began to sets in for the Sharks with the final minutes of the match remaining. A long hopeful ball from the defence found the Sharks defence overran with 4 against a rampaging 6 Nippons attackers. Amran came off his line and denied the initial chance but it rebounded nicely to an unmarked Nippon striker to slot the ball home for the winner. The Sharks tried to come back in injury time. Adzmi were in acres on space and time on the left. His square ball found Andrew whose lunge just missed by a mere inches with an open goal screaming, much to the latter disappointment. That was the final chance the Sharks had as the referee Mr Rosli blew for the final whistle.

Despite the defeat, the manager were satisfied with the general performance of the team. He said, 'Our players were clearly struggling in the final 10 minutes of the game. The Japanese team kept on running for the duration of the game and while the defence can only hold for so long, the midfielders failure to assist in defence proved to be the downfall.' He added, 'However, I'm not too perturbed with the defeat. FC Nippon were clearly the more fitter team on this occasion. It is through defeat against a better side that allows the team to know their strength and weaknesses. Against tougher opponents, mistakes will always be punished and the Sharks were punished for 2 errors. At the other end, we had our chances but couldn't capitalise on it.'