Central Park v Northern Whites

While the Sharks were ran ragged by the youthful side from IFA in their last match, the match against the eastern team were there for their taking with the return of several players such as Adzmi, Andrew and Jeremy which bolster the team in midfield and attack. The Whites provided the early exchanges, constantly attacking from both wings but to little extent with the defence ably marshaled by Salihin. The first chance however was carved out by the Sharks after a good work from Raymond, deployed on the right flank only for Andrew to shoot wide. With the Sharks gaining the upper-hand in midfield, came the first blunder from Helmi when he misjudged the bounce of the ball to enable the Whites, to their amazement to take the lead. Undaunted, the boys in yellow picked themselves up in search for the equaliser. Zul was presented with a great chance right after kickoff when he broke through the offside trap only for him to flutter his meek shot into the grateful hands of the custodian. The impetus was then on Zul to drop back in midfield with Andrew playing the lone man upfront after Isa pulled a muscle in the 20th minute and Jeremy was pulled back into the left back position. With the Whites constantly barraging the Sharks wings with high punts, what they clearly lack was the final killer pass which Zul demonstrated after his low through pass allows Azman to gracefully picked the ball from deep leaving the Whites defence static just outside the box and leaving him with the simplest task to put the ball past the onrushing Whites keeper. With the equaliser, the Sharks were rightfully on hand to search for the goal which would put them on the lead. But perhaps, it was not meant to be. Right from the kickoff, the Whites pull off an innocuous shot which everyone expected Helmi to hold on to. However to the amazement of everyone including the Whites, he somehow allows the ball to slip through his hand to the disappointment of the Sharks. While he escaped the wrath of his team-mates, he did not escaped the tongue lashing from the Sharks manager which was to follow. The goal clearly lifted the spirits of the Whites as they began to conjure up with a series of attack and constantly raining shots from outside the box, in view of the demoralised and unsteady hand of Sharks keeper Helmi. They would have increased their lead shortly after Salihin was beaten by the flight of the ball and he brought down one of the Whites forward when he was clean on goal. Perhaps it would have been a sending off incident if not for the abusive language lashed out by the Whites forward to the Sharks sweeper. Both were booked for the incident.

The Sharks were clearly affected by the Whites freak goal and the defence lack of concentration after the blunder were punished when the Whites broke through the offside trap for the first time and Helmi was left stranded. The goal seems to awaken the boys as they began to play their normal flowing game. Azman's pass to Zul which the former expects a return clearly fooled the Whites defence who were going after the Sharks talismanic player only for Zul to provide a first-time flick across the Whites backline and Andrew was at the end of the lovely move with a gutsy header which not many players would have wanted to go for, with the sweeper and goalkeeper going for the ball. It was game-on from then on as the Whites were often pushed back to their own half. Andrew would have made it perfect if he have buried his chance after a clever flick by Azman found him with only the Whites custodian to beat, only for his lob to go wide just before half-time. The wrath of the Sharks manager were clear at half-time with his frustration directed at Helmi. It was no surprise then when he was substituted during the break to the relief of the Sharks fans. Isa was then brought back into the game as the team custodian.

Second-half started with the Sharks searching for the elusive equaliser. The first chance fell to Suhaimi whose pace often found the Whites right back backtracking. Clean through on goal, his fluffed his shoot with the Whites custodian clearly beaten. Andrew was then on hand with a scorcher at the edge of the box, only for his shot to deflect for a corner. Sensing the Whites defence pressure on taking on the Sharks five prong attack approach from Adzmi, Azman, Zul, Suhaimi and Andrew, changes were made for the Whites backline, with their speedy man upfront brought into defence and leaving only a lone striker upfront. Zul was then presented with a great chance to capped a memorable afternoon by notching the equaliser when good work from Adzmi in holding off 2 defenders at the edge of the box enabled him to layoff a perfect ball for the former to shoot on goal, only for Zul to delay his shot and the chance was gone. The Whites then began to exploit Sharks over-indulge in attack to grab the equaliser with attacks of their own and they had a couple of chances to put the game beyond the home side, only for them to waste those chances with most of them off-target. The last chance fell to Azman in the six-yard box off a free-kick by Adzmi but with 3 men on his back, he could do nothing.

• Sharks Manager Disgusted
  

Right after the match, the focus was clearly on the Sharks second-choice goalkeeper. The manager stood his ground on his disappointment of the player. But from the facial expression, one word describes it all, Disgusted. He choose to remain silent on the player chances of regaining his place this season. When asked on some ugly scenes which threatened to boil the match over, the Sharks manager commented, 'It's all part and parcel of the game. It definitely shows how competitive this match was and how much the boys wanted to win. But after the match, both sides acted in a sportsmanlike manner and at no point of time was there any incident after the match.'

With a constant backline for the Sharks, we queried on the inclusion of Jeremy at left-back. The manager added 'He clearly shows he is truly accustomed to that position despite only a cameo appearance in that position against Ale Vasco a few weeks back. We will definitely try him out in that position in the next couple of games. Being left footed, it's only natural that he is accustomed to play anywhere on the left.'

On Raymond and Andrew who have notched two appearances for the Sharks, 'Raymond shows his willingness to run at the defence and on top of that, he is always ready to help at the back. As for Andrew, despite opening his accounts for the Sharks, he is the first to admit his disappointment not to add to that tally. Both of them should be great after a couple of games. The month of May will prove interesting for the Sharks when they play away from their home ground. Besides that, the heat beckons for the team when most of the May matches will start at 3pm.