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Sharks had to come from behind twice thru Jiawen and Kit in each half as they held on with 10 men after Zul's sending off in the 14th minute of the game. The sending off for an apparent elbow didn't help the team's cause with already a depleted side being named for the match.
The team was having a mini crisis coming to this game as they had only 15 players to call up for the game with the rest missing thru injuries, work and suspension. Of the 15, two are not even fit to play any part in the game but nonetheless were being named for the match. It was a total makeover in terms of the lineup as several changes were being made to accomodate the availability of the player and it didn't take long for the Westridge to take the lead early in the game as Sharks failed to find their foothold in the game. To make matters worse, Zul apparent elbow which caught the eye of the referee meant that things got from bad to worse as they were reduced to 10 men and a goal down. Despite the setback, Li's introduction to make up for some creativity paid off as his jinking run into the area were left unchecked and his pull-back into the area found Jiawen who smashed in the equaliser from close range in the 36th minute. It was shortlived however as Westridge regained the lead just before the break.
The team in yellow however started the second-half brightly and were rewarded after Kim Hwa's thru pass found Kit who buried his goal cooly past the custodian. While Westridge was still recovering from the equaliser, Sharks again broke the opposition's frail defense but this time, Jiawen was unable to finish off the great opportunity. Westridge has numerous chances to take the game to the Sharks but were let down by poor finishing. As play deteriorated from both sides, Sharks had a chance to take a surprise lead on the 85th minute when Jiawen reacted quickly from a poor goalkick but Li missed the opportunity from six yard as his tap-in went inches wide. At the other end, Westridge was denied after Nizam were unable to hold on to a stupendous shot but Yi Quan came to the rescue with a last ditch clearance. Both sides shared the spoils and while some were visibly disappointed with the result, the later game between Jalan Damai and Hougang which ended in a draw meant that the smiles were back again.
The manager commented after the match, 'It was a decent result considering what we had today and with a man down after Westridge took the lead and how the boys fought back, no one could complain that it was two points lost. I believe the rigours of playing 2 games in a week have now taken it's toll on some of the players and hopefully, the crisis we had today is just a one-off. It's definitely a sad sight to have players who aren't even fit to play being named on the bench but luckily, we didn't have anyone going down today from injuries. We are hopeful that we kept this going for the remaining games.'
Commenting on the other game played later, the manager said, It was probably great to hear that the other match ended as a draw as it meant that we are still in the driving seat but it's still early days and anything could happen just like what we experienced today.'
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