ARFC started 2009 with victory

ARFC started 2009 on a winning note with a hard-fought 3-1 victory over a very determined Monforto 3-1 in its 8th league tournament match at Serangoon SS.

Needless to say, ARFC was supported by 77,777 fans which included Haron’s family.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Fearless Jeffrey
Sweeper: Uncompromising Edwin
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Left-foot wizard Bernard
Right-mid: Mean-machine Hock
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Hard-man Tjioe
Left-mid: Dynamic Soon
Striker: Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)
Striker: ARFC scoring legend Haron

The subs are as follows:

Hard-running Guoxiong
Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Powerful Alvin
Speedy Hee

All 4 subs were slightly injured or unwell.

Perhaps a little complacent, ARFC was not its usual self and allowed the opponents to create some nervy moments. Nevertheless, ARFC’s strong defence, led by Edwin, easily repelled all their attacks.

ARFC also created little upfront though Hock wasted a glorious chance when he over-stepped the ball and the chance was lost. Though ARFC tried to boost its attack by replacing Alvin with the ineffective Blackburn, and Hee with Tjioe, and Guoxiong with Jeffrey, ARFC still did not create any noteworthy chances and it was no surprise that the half was goalless.

ARFC improved much in the second half and had the opponents at their back foot.

17 mins into the second half, ARFC finally got its breakthrough that it thoroughly deserved. Sebastian chipped in a ball over their defence for Alvin who broke clear, shrugged off their defender and powered home with the outside of his boot for his 77th ARFC goal. 1-0.

7 mins later, ARFC doubled its lead. After some pressurizing from Hee and Alvin, their keeper inexplicably cleared the ball straight to Haron who was about 27 metres away from the goal. Spotting the gaping goal, Haron displayed superb precision and calmness to side-foot the ball home for his 133th ARFC goal. 2-0.

Guoxiong also nearly scored after being put through but his shot was brilliantly blocked by their keeper.

Sebastian also tried 2 Xabi Alonso-type attempts with 2 long range lobs from almost the half-way line but to no avail.

At this juncture, Jinzhong came to ARFC’s rescue with a couple of stops to preserve the lead. However, he and ARFC were let down by Blackburn in the 77th min. Despite lots of shouting from Jinzhong, Elvis and the fans and having plenty of time to clear the ball near the left-middle of the field, Blakcburn fooled around and dragged the ball back to his left-back position right beside the corner flag. To everybody’s disbelief, he then proceeded to foul the opponent and gave away a free-kick. From the resulting free-kick, the opponent pulled a goal back. 1-2 now.

ARFC did not let this stupid moment affect them. Just mins later, Hock’s precise cross from the right was controlled superbly by Alvin who turned the defender and fired a shot which was blocked by their keeper. The ball spun upwards and Jeffrey followed up with a header but the ball was cleared off the line by their covering defender. Unlucky!!

Jeffrey was not to be denied 7 mins later. Alvin hooked the ball above the defender and Jeffrey cushioned the ball with his head and raced through on goal. Facing their keeper, Jeffrey turned back the clock when he cross-shot the ball home for his 49th ARFC goal. His goal ended his barren spell since 06 Oct 2007 when he scored at Tampines SAFRA against Westminster. 3-1

Other than the good attendance, ARFC’s first half performance was atrocious but ARFC redeemed itself with a much, much improved display in the second half.

For his superb marshalling of the defence, Edwin is the Man-of-the-Match.

The only negative point is the yellow card earned by Hock for persistent fouling.