After 4 tournament matches, ARFC stayed unbeaten after snatching a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw against FC Simpang at the poor Sengkang SS pitch. Witnessing the draw were Anna, Cerine and Tracie, WAGS of Elvis, Jinzhong and Guoxiong respectively.
Special credit to Soon for turning up to support despite just finishing the Standard Chartered marathon today in an ARFC record time of 3 hours 27 mins. It's a record time since I don't think any ARFC warrior can better his time in years to come. By the way, Khim's time is 6 hours 10 mins.
Prior to the kick-off, Hee received a trophy from Blackburn for his 70-goal feat for ARFC.
ARFC started with this line-up:
GK - Dependable Jinzhong
DC - Astute reading Elvis (captain)
DC - Towering Toh
DR - Hard-running Guoxiong
DL - Unbeatable Darren
CM - Influential Sebastian
CM - Hardworking Tong
RM - Talisman Derrick
LM - Unpredictable Blackburn
SC - Powerful Alvin
SC - Speedy Hee
Subs:
Nippy Kenny
Combative Ron
Hardman Tjioe
ARFC Scoring Legend Haron (late)
Buoyed by its 3-2 thursday night victory at Tampines SAFRA, ARFC started the match confidently and was able to carve out some chances. The match was just mins old when Hee was left with a nasty cut after an aerial challenge with their keeper and had to be substituted. Kenny came in for him with Blackburn moving upfront.
ARFC nearly took the lead but Derrick's touch from Sebastian's through pass was too heavy. Alvin repeated a similar heavy touch after he was put through on the left. Unlucky!!
FC Simpang then struck the stachion off a corner which was only half-cleared by ARFC.
Alvin could have scored after a defensive mix-up by their keeper and defender but his instinctive shot for the loose ball was slightly wide.
The half ended 0-0.
ARFC fell behind after the opponent scored from the penalty spot after the referee correctly ruled for an infringement. 0-1.
ARFC did not panic and began its search for an equaliser. Tjioe could have been the saviour. From a corner, Toh and Ron caused panic in their box and Tjioe was able to fire in a shot through seas of legs but the ball unfortunately hit the post. Unlucky!!
Derrick was causing all sorts of problems at the left flank but was brutally chopped down by their right-back who earned only a yellow card for 2 offences.
ARFC finally equalised 7 mins from time. Darren, who was unbeatable all day, took a long and quikc throw-in all the way into the box and was picked up by Alvin. Shrugging off 2 defenders, he squared the ball across for Haron but the ball was blocked. Alvin did not give up and swivelled and with a slightly-miscued shot, the ball somehow managed to trickle over the line for his 110th ARFC goal. 1-1
Though a fight-back draw, ARFC was left to rue 2 points dropped rather than 1 point gained.
The Man-of-the-Match is given to Darren though special mention must be given to both Ron and Tjioe as both of them were almost like 2 Russian tanks when they are closing in on opponents. Elvis, Jinzhong, Derrick and Alvin did well too.
After the match, Sebastian acompanied Hee to the clinic where he was given 7 stitches for the nasty cut just above his left-eye. On behalf of ARFC, we wish him a speedy (no pun intended) recovery......
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