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It was déjà vu for the Sharks as they ran out of gas against VVNTU on Sunday as they gave away a 3-1 lead at half-time to lose 4-3 at the death. That's is probably the story of the season for the Sharks as they were unable to keep up their consistency in Season 11 as they languished in 4th place, where a victory would inch them closer to 2nd place. VVNTU got a dream start when they went a goal up in the first minute but a goal each from debutants Harold and Andrew got the team back on their feet. Jiayong however added another with a thumping scorcher just before the break meant that they were comfortably leading at half-time. Nonetheless, bad substitutions and some lacklustre performance in the second-half provided VVNTU back in the game as they collected all 3 points.
With the long weekend for the match, Sharks had to call upon a couple of new faces with the likes of Andrew and Harold up for the game. At the same time, Daniel Tan earned a recall to the team but the custodian first piece of action was to collect the ball off his net when he could only parry a thumping header in the first minute. The goal seemed like it's going to be a long afternoon for the Sharks but in the 15th minute, a surging run on the right from Heng Li found Brendan in the box but the midfielder somehow mistimed his run as the ball rolled over to Harold who was unmarked on the far side and the dimunitive winger finished with ease for the leveler. That set the tempo of the game and the advantage was to the Sharks as they surged in numbers and controlled the tempo in midfield. Six minutes later, Heng Li yet again turned provider when he slid the ball for his new partner upfront as Andrew surged forward and finished with aplomb to give his team a 2-1 lead. That seemed to rock the Vietnamese defense into disarray as they found hard to contain the marauding Sharks. Just as the referee was about to blow for half-time, Jiayong won the ball in the middle with a terrier-like tackle and shot for goal. As soon as it flew off his boot, courtesy of a sponsor from Zhuoneng, it was always going to find the back of the net as the midfielder scored his first ever goal for Sharks after 30 games.
Several substitutions were made at half-time and somehow, the impetus was on VVNTU and they controlled the duration of the half with more hunger and purpose and before long, they narrowed the lead off a corner. Shortly afterwards, they leveled the game with yet another goal, this time round, the referee were non-existent as they pushed and shoved their way into goal. The icing on the cake has to be when Jeremy Tan pass bounced off the referee and with the players caught upfront, the defense was caught off-guard as they strode the ball into goal for the winner.
The manager commented, 'We totally didn't turn up for the second half. Perhaps substitutions could have been better managed but the zest the opposition was showing in the second half was something the team was found wanting.
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