Central Park

3

vs

Royals

1

With the season coming to a close, Central Park stuck to their gameplan to notch a 3-1 win over Royals Football Club in scorching weather with goals from Muzzammil, Eddie and Jeffrey in the first half proved enough to see off the challenge from the opposition. Royals pulled one back midway in the second-half but it proved to be mere consolation for the away side.

The first meeting between the two sides was still fresh for Sharks when they were held 2-2 in the first meeting with the opposition custodian playing a key role with a number of outstanding saves to deny the likes of Isaac and Heng Li in front of goal. It wasn't a surprise then that the key plan was to ensure that the Sharks stayed sharp in front of goal and the key was to get an early lead considering the many instances of time wasting tactics employed by the custodian right even at the first minute! That didn't take long as Muzzammil gave his team an early lead just six minutes into the game. Sensing the custodian was way off his line, he unleashed a scorcher just after the half-way line and while the shot went straight to the custodian, he let it slip in between his fingers and into goal. That goal put some urgency into the opposition play but Charlson was almost covering every blade of the field to twart the opposition attacks. Sharks on the other hand were making full use of the flanks with the likes of Suhairi and Ismail providing some instinctive passes for the forwards. Right on the half hour, a change brought the team their second goal of the game. After winning a series of corners, Eddie barely came in before he took full opportunity of some poor clearance to shoot past the sea of legs and into the back of the net. Just before the end of the half, Heng Li broke free on the right and he unselfishly laid off the ball for the onrushing Jeffrey who celebrate the birth of his son a few weeks ago by notching the team's third.

Several changes were made for the second-half and that allowed the opposition to gain some foothold of the game and they were finally rewarded when a sweeping attack caught the Sharks rearguard in no man's land as Royals reduced the deficit to 3-1. Despite coming close on several occasion to reduce the deficit further, Sharks stood firm to collect all 3 points.

The manager said, 'The equation is simple, win the remaining two games and the team can look forward to ending the season on a high.'