Playing its 9th league match at Tanglin Sec Sch, ARFC came from behind to salvage a 1-1 draw against Oogleeee Boys courtesy of a well-taken Elvis penalty. This is also the 1st draw in 2010 for ARFC and the match was witnessed by Anna and Cerine, beau of Elvis and Jinzhong respectively. Sebastian was also around but still could not play due to his crocked left knee.
ARFC welcomed back Tjioe from his overseas trip and the team was further boosted by the late arrival of Kenny.
ARFC started with this line-up:
Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh (captain)
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Hard-man Tjioe
Centre-mid: Combative Ron
Left-mid: Unpredictable Blackburn
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Speedy Hee
Subs:
Chuan
Nippy Kenny
ARFC was looking to repeat its victory over the same opponent when they first met during their opening league match when Kenny scored a brace for a 2-1 win. However, it could not capitalize on several half-chances and Tjioe was particularly close with his effort.
Disaster struck in the 27th min. Off a harmless free-kick, Jinzhong fumbled as he clashed with Toh in collecting the high ball and the ball bounced into the empty net for an own goal. Unfortunate but to his credit, Jinzhong recovered from this mistake to put in a solid performance for the rest of the match, with his throws out to our players for quick counter-attacks particularly impressive. Jinzhong also commanded his defence well in the 2nd half with clear and commanding shouts in coming for the balls floated in.
Sebastian then replaced the ineffective Blackburn with Kenny and Chuan came in for Hee. Ron also tired out and was replaced by Soon.
Trailing 0-1 at half-time, ARFC wanted badly to redeem itself and every warrior then put in extra effort in the 2nd half which resulted in many golden chances created.
First, Chuan just narrowly screwed his shot wide after very persistent pressuring of their defender resulting in him facing their keeper one-on-one in the box. Kenny retrieved the ball at the left flank and fired in a venomous shot that was pushed out for a corner. Unlucky.
Next, Kenny crossed from left saw the ball travelling all the way to the right edge of the 6-yard box. Hee showed great anticipation by connecting with a looping header back into the danger area. Toh was denied his 39th ARFC goal when his follow-up header was cleared off the line by their defender. Real unlucky!!
ARFC finally got its equalizer in the 67th min. Tjioe pressured their keeper into dropping the ball and Toh’s follow up effort was handled by their defender on the line, giving the referee the easiest of decisions to award a penalty. Elvis stepped up and coolly slotted the ball past their rooted keeper for his 7th ARFC goal. 1-1
Tjioe could have scored the winning goal after Alvin, who again put in a solid shift upfront, pressed hard which resulted in Kenny picking up the loose ball. Kenny’s clever lay-off to Tjioe had goal written all over it but to the horror of the live audience in Football Channel, Tjioe scuffed his shot badly and wide for a goal-kick.
In all fairness, ARFC could have lost the match in the dying mins when their impressive Indian left-back nearly scored when presented with an open goal but sent his shot into row Z.
The 1-1 draw was probably a fair result though ARFC had the better chances to snatch a winner.
The Man-of-the-Match goes to Elvis for his commanding presence in defence as well as his equalizing goal. Hee did well with this constant pressurizing using his speed and Darren and Guoxiong kept their wingers quiet all day. Ron and Tjioe also showed their much-vaunted strength and power in the middle of the park.
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