Central Park

3

vs

Singapore Cricket Club (Cosmo)

4

Central Park headed for a new challenge in the annual invitational EFL Champions Cup and kicked off their group A match against Singapore Cricket Club on Saturday, with memories of their 0-7 drubbing still fresh from their counterpart the SCC Tigers. Things didn't look rosy with Sharks clearly missing half the team and with only 13 players to call upon in the game, another drubbing looks to be on the cards for the Group A opening fixture.

The poor turnout for the team meant that Jorgensen who missed most part of the year were called upon in the centre of defense while another long term absentee Jeremy Tan made his first appearance after almost a year recovering from bronchitis. The latter however started the game on the bench with Jaleel and Brendan being given the responsibilities to protect the frail Sharks defense. SCC took the game by the scruff of their neck as they bombarded in waves after waves of attack right from the kickoff. Sharks on the other hand were unable to take any control of the game in the middle of the park with Heng Li and Naem featuring as a forklorn figure upfront with the lack of opportunities given to them. It wasn't a surprise when SCC took the lead when Sharks failed to clear their lines and a cracker of a shot left Michael in goal rooted to his spot. The manager had seen enough after just 15 minutes into the game and made his first change to balance the team. That seemed to provide a little balance in midfield with the introduction of Naoki in place of the recovering Kit who is still nursing a crocked knee. Just when Sharks were getting into the groove of the game, Michael in goal made a howler of a shot when he let a feeble attempt went thru his legs as SCC looked to open the floodgates which till the second goal, they looked more likely to tear the Sharks defense. Brendan however narrowed the deficit with 10 minutes of the half remaining when a pin-point freekick from Naoki found Brendan rising highest to head the ball into the back of the net as Sharks goes into the break 1-2 down.

There were minor changes in the second half with Zhuoneng being replaced as the defense was reshuffled. Sharks hopes of leveling the scoreline looked to be dampened when Brendan brought his man down in the box. However SCC suprisingly missed from the spotkick and that seemed to give Sharks the much needed boost to chase the game. Heng Li made his chance counted to level the game in the 58th minute when Azri put him thru the back of the defense and the storky forward calmly finished the move for his 129th goal for the club. SCC on the other hand were unable to get back their fluency in the game after that goal and with them missing a bucketful of opportunities in front of goal particularly with Michael intent to make up for his earlier howler with some fantastic save, Sharks took full advantage of the disarray when against the run of play, SCC defense were caught sleeping and Heng Li were on hand to score his 130th goal as he tapped into an empty net. With the clockings ticking by, Sharks seemed fated for a famous comeback but alas, they were let down by some poor calls as SCC took advantage of the fast tiring Sharks defense to level the scoreline. With both teams looking for the killer goal, it was the boys in blue who came up with the goods when they notched the winner with just minutes to the end as SCC held on for a 4-3 win.

The manager commented, 'These are the sort of games and the very reason why the team keeps going after all these years. The commitment the players put in the game were unquestionable and they can hold their heads high for playing their hearts out.