Central Park v Olympique Gaulois

Having broken their winless streak in their last game by a staggering goal margin, the Sharks were quietly confident on extending their run and claiming yet another scalp against Cosmoleague opponent Olympique Gaulois which made up of the French community in Singapore. As the French team came in one by one, two familiar faces stood out, namely the Italians manager Emiddio and playmaker Salvatore Buono. With the Sharks having met the Italians twice, Emiddio were seen providing some insights of the Sharks team to the French manager Philippe Vo. The Sharks made one change to the team usual back four with Jeremy being slotted back to his usual central midfield role with the return of Kelvin for the game, making up the quartet with Salihin, Irman and Sarhan. In midfield, there were no places this time for Faridil while Raymond reclaim his favoured right wing position after missing the last game. The Sharks current top scorer Michael was forced to miss this game and he was ably replaced by Andrew who was clearly looking forward to the game. With the whistle blown for the start of the game, the Sharks were immediately on the backfoot for the next few minutes with Salvatore holding the strings in midfield. The French high tempo and short passing game were clearly a joy to watch before Jeremy and Danial began to stamp their class for the Sharks by breaking up most of their opponent enterprising play. Sarhan and Zul were almost in tandem trying to choke the French midfield by marking the obvious French playmaker. With the battle fought mostly in midfield for the first 10 minutes of the game, the French drew the first salvo by making a couple of one-two passing at the edge of the box and managed to squeeze the shot pass Sharks libero, Salihin but Sharks custodian Amran was in fine form and began to show his attributes to claim the Sharks number one jersey from Shaun by making a series of saves.

With the barrage of shots from the French, they won their first corner of the game. From the corner, a mistake by Zul allowed the French forward to get in front of him and the swerving corner kick was met powerfully by a glancing header which went pass Amran, who was clearly taken by surprise. The Sharks then began to impose themselves through the middle with Andrew making a nuisance of himself with some nice touches and inter-change plays with Danial and Jeremy. Instantaneously, the Sharks were leveled after a layoff from Jeremy found Andrew who opted for placement rather than power. The French were taken aback by the swiftness of the Sharks reply to level the score and began their forays using the outlets making full use of their pacy wingers where Kelvin and Irman was tormented for the whole match. While Kelvin and Irman were often beaten on pace, there were always cover from the likes of Raymond, Zul and Din to shut out the danger. Salihin were always in control of his backline with assured command to his defenders. Despite being on the backfoot, the Sharks remained a constant threat in attack with a series of breakthrough by Raymond, Andrew, Jeremy and Danial who took turns taking shots outside the penalty box. It was during one of this attack that the Sharks were caught flat at the back. With only Salihin to beat for the French forward, he managed to make space for himself while his powerful shot parried away by Sharks custodian, he had no chance for the follow-up shot which enable the French to take the lead yet again with 15 minutes remaining of the first half. Jeremy had a perfect opportunity to level the score when the Sharks were awarded with a free-kick inside the penalty area due to time wasting from the French goalkeeper but his shot was easily headed away to safety. While the Sharks were destined to end the first half being a goal down, Danial beat two markers and when everyone was expecting his to shoot, he relayed the ball to an unmarked Andrew at the edge of the box and his snap shot deceived the goalkeeper who was wrong-footed and stood rooted to the spot. The Sharks were leveled yet again. Changes were then being made at half-time to refresh the team and the call to players was to shoot on sight.

At the start of the second-half, the French immediately took control of the game for the next 10-15mins while the Sharks were getting used to the change in personnel. Chances were few and far in between for both sides as the battle were being fought in midfield with Jeremy and Suhaimi remaining a constant threat through-out the second-half. Amran was then called into action for several times but the French were often denied by some acrobatic saves from the goalkeeper who is clearly in great form.

With 15 mins remaining, Chris was brought on to replace the ineffective Faridil. He almost scored from his first touch when a cross by Suhaimi was met cleanly by Chris whose eventual header was tip over the bar. With Andrew searching for his elusive hat-trick, Suhaimi's came up with an answer when his cross was misjudged by the French libero Philippe and Andrew was at the end of it to snatch his hat-trick and took the Sharks to lead for the first time. Perhaps that was the killer goal as the French began to show their lethargy with misplaced passes and Andrew punished them yet again after an aimless shot by Suhaimi found Andrew lurking just behind the last man and he certainly made no mistake from 10 yards to give the Sharks a comfortable 2 goal cushion. He was then replaced shortly by Raymond with five minutes remaining to a standing ovation from the Sharks fans, recognizing his contribution to the game.

After the match, the Sharks were clearly jubilant with the victory and at the same time, they can finally bury the rumour surrounding their jinxed grey jersey. The manager was clearly in joyous mood after the game. He said, 'Despite having to come from behind twice in the game, the Sharks clearly showed that they have the fighting spirit bellied within themselves. All credit to the players for putting a great show for the fans. Everyone worked hard for this win and they deserved all the credit for the win. The Sharks next game will be an unknown opponent in the form of RTP, a company based in Singapore. The Sharks will definitely be looking for a win in their next game in order to improve their overall record for the year as compared to the last. CP Times will be bringing you all the action from next week's match.