Central Park

3

vs

Suave Fusion

1

Central Park wrapped up the game with 3 early goals in the first half courtesy of man-of-the-match Naoki Fukushima with the Japanese winger having hand in the second with Brendan climbing highest to meet the former's corner while the third came off Isaac after a beautiful pass off Jiayong from the middle of the park. Sharks though were pegged back in the second half and they allowed the opposition to grab a consolation late in the game after some terrible defending.

The team welcomed back Danish maestro Soerensen for the game after a long layoff but he started the game in unfamiliar territory, from the Sharks bench partnering the likes of Jason, Zhuoneng, Murugesan, Kelvin, Naem and Fadley at the sidelines. The boys started the brighter of the two sides with Naoki particularly in fine form for the afternoon laying off several opportunities for the likes of Isaac and Heng Li upfront but the duo were unable to capitalise. Nonetheless, the winger notched the opener when his stinging corner swung right into the net with the opposition custodian giving a helping hand to it as well. Suave Fusion on the other hand were dangerous on the breaks but some resolute defending from the Sharks defense kept them at bay. Ten minutes after taking the lead, Naoki was on hand yet again. This time round, his corner found a sea of players in the box with Brendan climbing highest to head into goal. A few more opportunities fell to the frontman of Isaac and Heng Li but both of them couldn't conjure up chances of their own but with just five minutes into the break, Jiayong broke the opposition defensive line with an exquisite pass laid beautifully for Isaac to finish with aplomb as the team go into half-time with a comfortable 3-0 lead.

Second-half though was a different affair as the opposition pegged Central Park back into their own half. Upfront, Murugesan and Isaac tried to hold the line but the service from the wings were just missing from the likes of Jason and Fadley. The closest Sharks came to increase their lead was when Isaac latched on a loose ball in the box but his shot were narrowly wide. On the other side, Suave Fusion began to slowly come back into the game particularly from the wings. They got their just reward midway into the second-half when they pulled a goal back. Right at the end, Soerensen had a golden opportunity to notch his team's fourth but his resulting shot were palmed away to safety.

The manager commented, 'The second-half was particularly poor as the team allowed too much time and space for the opposition in the wings with our players failing to track back on numerous occasions. Nonetheless, what matters is the 3 points in the bag.'