Royal Football Club

vs

Central Park International

1

5

Central Park International was back in action after missing out on two consecutive weekends when their games against Royal SC and Raptors were postponed due to unfavorable weather. For this game though, the sun decides to shine bright for the kickoff against Royals Sports Club over at Bukit Timah Field.

The International team were off the blocks quickly in the game as they looked to build on their win against Killer Whales a fortnight ago with several openings being made in the opening minutes but Royal's custodian were quick to snuff out any danger from the likes of Soerensen, Benkovic, Jason, Chris, Azmeen and Robert. The closest the team came was when Soerensen rose highest off a cross from Chris, only to be denied by the impressive Royals custodian. Just as the International team looked to have run out of ideas, Benkovic tried a speculative shot outside the area which somehow found the bottom corner of the net to settle his team nerves after 35 minutes into the game. Four minutes later, Soerensen got his name on the scoresheet when he headed in Naoki's corner into the far corner as the team consolidate their two goal cushion till half-time. Second-half started with Royals gaining a foothold in the game as they make forays into the Sharks half but they were unable to unsettle the defensive duo of Jorgensen and Vincent in the middle. As the game degenerated into some listless passing by both teams, Vynesh added Sharks third as his corner floated directly into the net. Shortly afterwards, Royals who have been threatening on the right wing made their chance count as they narrowed the deficit. Hopes of a Royal comeback was extinguished when Iskandar, who were deployed in a much deeper defensive role netted his second goal of the current campaign when he curled his free-kick into perfection, beating Royals custodian on his near post. Just before the final whistle, Benkovic added his team fifth goal of the game with some well-worked build-up play.

The beaming manager commented, 'We switched off early in the second half and were lucky not to be caught by Royals. The win though will boost the team morale in the coming weeks and hopefully they can keep the momentum going.'