ARFC despatches perfect gift to newly-wed Alvin and Irene

(match report courtesy of Toh with edits from Sebastian)

Due to the last minute walkover conceded by Mammoet FC, ARFC secured 2nd runners-up position in the D2D league Div 1, finishing below the formidable Team BI and the extremely fit-and-young The OC.

In place of the 3rd place game was a last-minute arranged game with Serangoon CSC. With the importance of the game downplayed due to the walkover, ARFC warriors played out a low-key game with a 1-0 win over the young and fit boys from Serangoon CSC. The match was witness by the WAGs of both Elvis and Jinzhong.

ARFC started with this line-up:

GK - Dependable Jinzhong

RB - Hard-running Guoxiong

Sweeper - Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper - Towering Toh

LB - Wayne(guest player)

RM - Sublime Khim

CM - Dynamic Soon

CM - Hard-man Tjioe (captain)

LM - Nippy Kenny

SC - Unpredictable Blackburn

SC - Speedy Hee

Subs:Leon(guest player)

Yao Yang (guest player)
Seh Meng (guest player)

Due to his ROM with his extremely lovely and beautiful wife Irene, ever-present Alvin was not able to turn up for the game for once. A few ARFC warriors were also missing for the match as they had to help out Alvin and represent ARFC in the ROM ceremony. As such, ARFC was short of players and had to engage the help of 4 guest players for the match. Luckily, Sublime Khim made a surprise appearance to beef up the squad after successfully coaxing his children to take their afternoon nap.

With news that ARFC has clinched 3rd place before a ball was kicked, the pressure was off the 10 warriors who turned up in anticipation of a tough match. The match turned out to be a dull affair with limited chances for both sides.

The match kicked off with ARFC playing against the wind, and against the flow of the game. The fit and young opponents were first off the block with tenacious running at the ARFC defence. However, the solid defence of ARFC held out and limited the opponents to pot shot from distances which rarely threatened Jinzhong in goal.

As the match progressed, ARFC started to stamp its authority and started to pin the opponent back in its half. With 15 minutes gone, Blackburn attempted to do a ‘Xabi Alonso’ when he spotted the opponent keeper off his line. However, his 50-metres lob was under hit and the ball was parried away by the pack pedalling goalkeeper. Unlucky!

Off a corner, Toh had the chance to end his goal drought when he towered above the keeper to meet Blackburn’s inch perfect cross. The ball bounced on the ground and looked set to end up in the net, only to be cleared away by the covering defender at the far post. Unlucky again as Toh will have to wait again for his long overdue goal.

With 15 minutes of the half remaining, captain of the day Tjioe signalled to Toh to bring in the guest players for a run-out. Thus, on came the 3 guest players in place of Hee, Khim and Tjioe himself.

The half proceeded without much threat to both sides. But with just 15 seconds before the half time whistle, Guoxiong chased after a seemingly harmless ball to prevent a corner. As he cleared the ball, he unknowingly pulled his hamstring which marked the end of the half, his match for the day and maybe his appearance for the next few games. HT:0-0.

Due to Guoxiong’s injury, he was replaced by Seh Meng (guest player) at right back and Tjioe came back into centre of the park for the 2nd half.

The start of the 2nd half mirrored the last 15 minutes of the 1st half where no real chances were created. The inclusion of the 4 guest players must have had its effect on the attacking play of ARFC as no real chances were created despite involving them in the build up.

It was only after 15 minutes that ARFC has its breakthrough. Khim, who just came on for the ineffective Yao Yang (guest player), played a forward pass to Blackburn, who spotted the run of Soon, dummied for him to race through facing one-on-one with the keeper. Having followed how Torres made scoring looked so simple, Soon duly mimicked the movement and coolly slotted the ball under the body of the diving keeper. 1-0! The goal was a land-mark achievement for Soon as it was his 30th ARFC goal and also ARFC's 1100th goal in its history.

With the lead, ARFC was happy to slow down the play and that allowed the opponent a couple of chances to equalise. Off a counter attack, the opponent’s striker was put through one-on-one with Jinzhong in goal. Jinzhong was alert and rush out immediately to narrow the angle by spreading his big body frame. The opponent striker, on seeing his angle narrowed down, tried his luck but the ball trickled harmlessly wide.

Within minutes, Jinzhong was called into action again, this time defending a freekick by the opposition. The opponent let fly a well-taken freekick which looked to have secured an equaliser until Jinzhong dived to his right to keep the ball out. World-class save!

These were the more significant moments of the 2nd half as ARFC continued to play out the otherwise dull and uneventful game. The final whistle came and the ‘makeshift’ ARFC notched up another win.

It was a game where ARFC never looked like conceding with the impressive defence led by Elvis and goal guarded by Jinzhong. Man of the match goes to Jinzhong for his world-class saves and cleansheet for the day.

All the warriors and guest players were happy with the 1-0 result and dedicated the win to Alvin and Irene, wishing them a blissful marriage and that they live happily ever after and with at least 99 children.......