ARFC laboured to a 5-3 victory against Serangoon Uncle FC

In a match played under the capacity crowd of 77,777 at ITE Stadia, ARFC laboured to a 5-3 victory over the winless Serangoon Uncle FC.

Due to lack of GK, quick-silver Derrick volunteered to be in goal. In defence, the 4 stalwarts remained, astute-reading Elvis, Towering Toh, Bernard and Huiming. In midfield, Sebastiano and Kiat Gulam guard the centre to be flanked by sublime Khim and WO Neo. Up front, powerful Alvin partnered Speedy Hee who returned after missing last week's macth due to his negotiations with all the IMF protesters. ARFC scoring legend Haron, still-injured and unpredictible Blackburn and later, Jinzhong, were the subs.

The match was only 7 mins old when Sebastiano hit a measured diagonal long ball into the path of the onrushing sublime Khim who side-footed the ball home for a 1-0 lead.

7 mins later, off a through ball from sublime Khim to powerful Alvin, the latter was clumsily tripped by their defender and up stepped astute-reading Elvis to send the GK the wrong way with his penalty. This would be only Elvis' 3rd goal for ARFC. 2-0.

ARFC then squandered chances after chances and powerful Alvin was the chief culprit. WO Neo also missed an open goal (ala Bellamy's effort against Tottenham on Saturday).

Serangoon Uncle FC soon made ARFC paid for its watsefulness. In the 27th min, a horrendous mistake by Bernard resulted in them pulling a goal back.

Worse was to come 7 mins later. The opponent flighted the ball in from the free-kick and the enitre ARFC defence stood rooted. As a result, their player "stomached" the ball in for the equaliser. Half-time 2-2.

ARFC was booed off by their faithful fans at half-time which was a very rare ocurrence though it was well-deserved.

ARFC responded by bringing on ARFC scoring legend and quick-silver Derrick at right-mid. Just minutes later, both subs contributed to the 3rd goal. Quick-silver passed the ball to Haron who took a touch before letting fly a shot which screamed goal all the way. True enough, the ball flew right across the keeper into the top left-hand corner which prompted a "Mexican waves" around the stadia.

7 minutes, Serangoon Uncle FC equalised when their left-back took a shot that beat Jinzhong all the way. 3-3.

The experienced ARFC warriors then patiently carved out chances. In the 67th min, Sebastiano chipped the ball to sublime Khim who in turn touched on for Haron to side-foot home. 4-3. Wonderful technique!!!

7 mins later, WO Neo harassed the defender so much that the latter lost the ball to powerful Alvin who made up for his earlier misses by bringing the ball in and beating the keeper easily. 5-3.

In the post-match interview with Skysports, powerful Alvin apologised for his misses and vowed to do better in the next match.