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Central Park came back from a goal down in the 65th minute to grab a point thru second-half substitute Kim Hwa as they held on for a precious point against favorites Elias Park at the Kallang Practice Track. The result leave both teams on the verge of qualification for next year NFL Division 3 after the other match between Jalan Damai and Westridge ended in similar fashion over at Meridian Junior College.
Sharks started the match strongly and were unlucky not to be a goal up in the first 5 mins of the game after Li found himself clear but his tame shot were easily parried away with the opposition's defender doing enough to put him off. The team had a couple more chances in the first half but was unable to put it away. Elias had chances of their own but were unable to trouble Nizam in goal. Just as previous games in the competition, Elias free-kick and corner kick were creating all sorts of problem in the penalty area. Nonetheless, Sharks stood firm as both teams ended the half in a stalemate.
There was only one substitution made at the start of the second-half for Sharks as Kim Hwa was brought in for an off-color Jiawen. Elias began to impose themselves in the match and the boys in yellow were stretched badly. They had a great opportunity to take the lead after a good cross from the right were met by the opposition's forward who had a free-header but just missed the target. With Elias corner creating problems all night, it wasn't a surprise that they took the lead via this outlet after Sharks failed to clear cleanly with the ball hitting the underside of the bar and into goal. That goal signalled Sharks to bring on Zul who returns after serving a two match suspensions for the tiring Mustaffa. Almost immediately, his presence meant that Sharks were able to spray passes and stretch the opponent's defense. 15mins before fulltime, his flick-on header freed Li who was lurking across the backline. Though he did manage to get to the ball first, a collision between him and Elias Park custodian left both of them on the ground. As the referee hesitate to blow for a foul on Li, Kim Hwa managed to get to the loose ball to find the net for the equaliser despite Elias defender attempt to scramble away the danger. As the team celebrates the goal, both players who were involved had to be replaced with Elias custodian coming off with a dislocated shoulder.
As Sharks held on for the final minutes of the game, the opposition thru Eric Francis had the golden opportunity to score the winning goal. His swivle to get past 3 defenders outside the box were only saved by an alert Nizam who scrambled quickly off his line to save the point for the Sharks.
'It was an entertaining game and the slick pitch after the downpour meant that the tempo of the game was nothing less than electrifying. The point was definitely hard-earned and the boys will just have to focus on the final 2 games of the competition. 'commented the manager.
He warned however that, 'We are not there yet. It's ok to be positive but to think we already earned the right for a place in next year's NFL Division 3 will be a mistake as the Westridge game showed. The boys will have to keep plugging away to achieve it.'
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