Central Park v Pink Whales

Turning up in their now infamous 'jinxed' grey jersey didn't help either. The latest defeat meant that they have lost the last 3 consecutive matches and not surprisingly, all 3 are 7 goal thrillers. With the team conceding 9 goals in their last 2 matches, the Sharks manager decides to act by bringing in 3 trialist to bolster the team fortunes in defence. The return of Sarhan and Marzuki was a welcoming sight for the battered Sharks defence. Kelvin started in his favoured right wing role for the first time in his Sharks career with Suhaimi, Azman and Jeremy keeping their places respectively in midfield. Nawi and Brendan started upfront after hotshot Michael was forced to withdraw from the match after he failed a late medical test. The match nearly didn't materialise with darks clouds hovering the Sharks home ground and lighting streaks seen over the horizon. Perhaps that was an omen the team should have heeded and the writings were on the wall in the very first minute when an uncanny mistake from player-manager Zul who were standing-in for Shawn between the post decides to race out of his line but totally misjudged it and allowing the opposition to covert the chances in the open goal. He promptly substituted himself after that embarrassing error. The tides were turned when the Sharks immediately responded when Brendan notched his first ever goal for the team after good footwork from Azman. However, the opposition conjured up their very own attack and took the lead yet again after Shawn was beaten on his near post. Salihin which started the match as the team's libero added the much needed calmness at the back. However, the majority of the Sharks players had a collective off-day especially Sarhan who were beaten time and again by the silky skills of the Rangers winger. Despite piling the pressure on the Rangers defence, the Sharks failed to trouble the opponent custodian when they decide not to bring their scoring boots for this game. The most glaring of misses has to be from last season top-scorer Nawi who misses from six yards with the goalkeeper well beaten from Azman's cross. The fact that the Sharks failed to capitalise on chances were punished when Rangers added another 2 goals before half-time. The Sharks manager was clearly disturbed by referee Sulaimi when he failed to stamp his authority on the game with Azman and Salihin constantly caught by some dangerous tackle which could ruin one's career. The match threatened to brew into a free for all when Kelvin almost seemingly harmless looking tackle clearly frustrated the Rangers defence and in the aftermath, camera footages showed that Jeremy was being spat at. Surprisingly, Kelvin was booked!?

The second-half saw a makeshift goalkeeper Sulaiman taking over the custodian role for the Sharks and Kelvin dropped back to right-back. Jeremy was switched to the wings to accommodate Zaidi in the middle. First chance fell to the Sharks when Rangers defence hesitated to clear a corner and Zul managed to sneak in to stab a shot which missed by inches to the dismay of the home side. The Sharks were by then clearly disturbed by flashes of lighting streak but Rangers were not finished yet and managed to score another double before the referee decides to abandoned the game. After the match, the manager refused to be drawn into a debate on their jinxed jersey and instead focuses on the match itself. 

He said, 'We almost had 8 clear cut chances in the first half and managed to put in only one while the opponents were doing everything right and almost all their chances were converted. While the new look defence leaked in 6 goals today, I'm confident that the addition of Salihin will tighten things up at the back. We have yet to see what Sulaiman can do as a right-back. while George had a rather quiet outing today but it's understandable for new players on their first game and we'll have to take a closer look at him on our next game.'