Sharks first meeting with Mystic ended in disaster as they paid the price for not having enough backups in defence and most importantly in goal. Despite taking a 2 goal lead in the first encounter, they eventually lost 2-5 when stand-in custodian Suhaime has to be taken out and that was perhaps the start of the Sharks downfall as they played for most of the game without a known custodian. The return encounter however had Sharks well-prepared as they came in numbers, 19 to be exact which included 3 trialist. Salihin was to play some part in the game but an unfortunate incident during warm-ups raised the question whether will he ever don the Sharks jersey again.
Sharks started the game with Michael leading the team in the absence of Jeremy. Lutz returned to the lineup after missing last week match partnering Syafiee in the middle of the park. The lack of a naturnal defensive player in the middle showed in the first few minutes as the Sharks struggled to make any impact. Pushing Jeffrey upfront to add more pace failed to provide the Sharks with any width and the first change was made 15mins into the first half with trialist Fazail coming in for Jiawen and Jeffrey reverted back to his favored right-midfield. The change balanced the team and Sharks make full use on their hardworking wingers to crave out chance after chance for the forwards. Mystic foiled several glit-edge chances that fell to the Sharks but they were unable to stop Michael from opening the accounts for the day when he headed in off a corner from Kit. The opposition were always in danger of getting back into the game but astute defending from Kelvin in his new role meant that their chances were few and far between. The first-half ended 1-0 to the Sharks despite their domination.
More changes were made in the second-half as another trialist Salem came in for Lutz who is still not back to full fitness. It wasn't long before Fazail and Salem get into the act as the latter set up for Fazail to increase the lead inside 10mins. That goal calmed the nerves for the Sharks as they controlled the pace of the game. They had chances to increase the lead but failed to capitalise with the best chance felling to Kit failed to beat the onrushing Mystic custodian despite getting his shot on target. While the Sharks were strolling in the game, complacency sets in as Mystic managed to nick the ball to reduce the deficit after a misunderstanding from Amran and Yi Quan with only 15mins remaining. Sharks then made their final change with Suhaime coming in for Kit and the third trialist Shah coming in for Fazail. The decision to introduce Suhaime only in the last 15mins after an indifferent showing in the last couple of games seemed to provide him an impetus to show that he can still do a job for the team. But it seemed like an old story as he missed a couple of sitters to put the game beyond doubt with Jiawen clearly frustrated by lashing out at the former for missing in the six-yard box in one incident. That seemed to fire him up as good work from Jiawen in two occasions meant that he finished the game with 2 goals and put the game beyond doubt.
The manager was clearly annoyed despite Suhaime's two goals. 'The goal was well-taken but playing not according to specific instructions when he came on marred his good work. Overall, the boys and the trialist played well to crave out the win. We just made our job harder when we conceded that goal when we could have killed the game in the first-half.'
He added, 'If the boys played as hard as they did the past two games, results will eventually go in favor of the team. I'm confident this bunch of guys will give me that every game.'
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