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Central Park XI brushed off their disappointment of their semi-final loss with a slim 1-0 win in the 3rd/4th placing encounter against Fighting Cocks on Saturday. An early goal by Aaron Huang in the first half was enough to see off the Vietnamese challenge. Sharks could have wrapped up the match when they were awarded a penalty midway into the second-half but a meek shot by Nuriman on the spot was easily parried away.
The timing of the match meant that Sharks were forced to field a rather weakened side but the Vietnamese outfit wasn't doing great either as both teams have problems fielding a team with a early Saturday kickoff. The boys in yellow with Jeremy leading the team though made whatever resources they could muster for the game to gain an early foothold in the match and Sharks looked to be the team between the two which will score the important first goal when they missed a couple of opportunities to go a goal up. Aaron though calm the team when he got into the end of Kelvin's Tan searching ball from defense to finish cooly for his 2nd goal in as many appearances since his return. With the opposition not only fighting to level the game, they had to made do playing against some strong headwind while Sharks made full use of it to make their forays upfront. They soon got their tails up but were unable to capitalise to take a two goal cushion just before the break when the Vietnamese defense were found to be in sixes and sevens.
Second half started with Sharks knowing that the single goal wasn't enough and they continued to get the 2nd goal with Aaron and Fadley coming close. Midway into the second-half, captain Jeremy had to limp off the game with a twisted ankle but the team soldered on with Heng Li taking over the mettle in the team's captain absence. Shortly afterwards, Sharks got the opportunity they wanted when they were awarded a penalty after Nuriman's shot was blocked unfairly in the box. The midfielder himself took the resulting penalty but his tame shot was easily parried away. The closest the opposition came to scoring was right at the death of the match when a corner was floated in but the end product was high and wide and that proved to be the last action of the match.
The manager commented, 'It was not an easy afternoon but the boys deserved the win today as they worked their socks off for the victory. Right now, it's back to league action for the team.
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