ARFC paid heavy price for thrilling 3-2 win over Raven

In a 9 pm friendly match at Tampines SAFRA, ARFC paid a huge price for their thrilling 3-2 win over perennial rivals Raven as Alvin suffered a serious injury on his right hamstring that threatened to rule him out for the rest of the season.

ARFC started with this strong line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Talisman Derrick
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Sublime Khim
Striker: Nippy Kenny
Striker: Powerful Alvin

Subs:

Wayne
Norman
Tze Ern
Yoong

This was the 11th time that ARFC had played against Raven and the past results were:

(i) 26 August 2001 – 5-0 @ ITE AMK;
(ii) 14 April 2002 – 3-1 @ Blk 367 Yishun Ring Road;
(iii) 25 August 2002 – 0-1 @ Blk 367 Yishun Ring Road;
(iv) 21 September 2003 - 2-0 @ Blk 367 Yishun Ring Road;
(v) 05 February 2006 - 4-4 @ ITE AMK:
(vi) 11 March 2007 - 6-0 @ Blk 367 Yishun Ring Road;
(vii) 29 April 2007 - 1-5 @ Admiralty SS;
(viii) 24 August 2008 - 3-0 @ St. Wilfrids;
(ix) 20 December 2009 - 3-2 @ Pioneer SS;
(x) 09 May 2010 – 5-1 @ Regent SS.

Interestingly, this would be the 1st time that both teams are playing at night.


ARFC quickly put the opponents on their back-foot with some quick passing. Within 7 mins, Kenny spurned 2 great opportunities after being put through but put both shots too near to their keeper. Unlucky!

At the 20th min mark, Yoong and Norman came on for Kenny and Derrick respectively. 5 mins later, Tze Ern replaced Soon, and later on Wayne took over Sebastian with Blackburn moving into centre mid role and Toh dropped to sweeper with Wayne covering him at stopper.

In the 27th min, Yoong’s superb long throw was headed on to Tze Ern who was lurking just inside the penalty box. Unfortunately, Tze Eern’s well-struck sweet volley was parried away for a corner by their keeper.

The worst news came soon after when Alvin pulled up with a hamstring injury after chasing a long ball. Kenny came back on for him and soon redeemed himself.

Khim, who was having a superb match, back-heeled the ball for Kenny who galloped down the left flank. Looking up, he crossed in and the ball was spilled by their keeper. Blackburn picked up the loose ball just right outside the 6-yard box, shaped to shoot but eluded one covering defender. As the subs were getting ready to “scold” him, Blackburn still did not shoot and evaded another defender. Blackburn then rifled the ball into the roof of the net for his 92nd ARFC goal. 1-0!

ARFC doubled its lead just 3 mins later. Again, Khim started the move with a world-class through ball to Kenny who broke the off-side trap and expertly placed the ball to the far corner for his 6th ARFC goal. 2-0!


In the 2nd half, Sebastian gave a well-deserved break to Guoxiong and Toh which drew a chorus of boos from the crowd. Thankfully, the fans later realized that ARFC is having a grueling tournament match on Sunday afternoon. Derrick came back on and Norman dropped to right-back. Sebastian also played as the sweeper, and Soon tok over Blackburn in the centre mid role.

The opponents seemed fired up in the 2nd half and actually controlled proceedings in the opening 10-15 mins. In fact, they could have pulled a goal back but Jinzhong produced a world-class one-on-one save to deny them. Fantastic stuff!

Raven also came close with several half-chances.

ARFC then settled down and scored its 3rd goal. Soon’s clever through ball to the right saw Yoong latching the ball on and moved into the right side of the box. From an almost acute angle, Yoong fired the ball past their keeper for his 7th ARFC goal. 3-0

Kenny could have scored his second goal in the match after Sebastian’s pass was too weak to reach him at the left hand side but their right-back “lobang” the ball. Without breaking his stride, Kenny hit a curling right-side-footed shot that bent over their despairing keeper but the ball struck the left post. Totally unlucky!

Raven was then given a reprieve by the referee who wrongly awarded a penalty to them. Toh cleared the ball but the ball struck his own hand which was totally unintentional. Despite going the right way, Jinzhong just narrowly failed to keep the ball out. 1-3.

With 10 mins remaining, Blackburn produced the “Kelong Act of the Century” when he “purposely” let the ball run through his legs and their striker duly struck home. 2-3

The last 10 mins was tense as the opponents looked to grab an equalizer. Thankfully, ARFC held firm for a 3-2 victory.

For this match, every warrior played very well and all contributed to the victory. Particularly impressive were Tze Ern, Wayne, Derrick, Khim, Kenny and Yoong.