Kicking off the new D2D League season, ARFC crashed to a 0-3 defeat against FC Simpang at the artificial pitch at Tampines SS in front of just 7,777 fans which included 4 hot babes Tracie, Anna, Cerine and SuI. The low turn-out was due to the heavy downpour just before the match.
ARFC started with this 4-4-2 line-up:
Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Influential Sebastian
Right-mid: Long-throw specialist Norman
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Combative Ron
Left-mid: Steely Tze Ern (captain)
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Subs:
Unpredictable Blackburn (late)
Wonder Wayne (late)
Absent:
Hard-man Tjioe
Precocious En Dian
Unbeatable Darren
Sublime Khim
Speedy Hee
Nippy Kenny
Talisman Derrick
Talented Chun Haw
ARFC was determined to start the new season on a positive note and played really well in the opening exchanges. Just mins into the match, Jinzhong made a superb save to deny their striker from putting FC Simpang ahead.
ARFC then returned fire 7 mins later. Sebastian’s piercing slide-rule grounder saw Alvin springing and bore down on goal. However, his attempt to lob their keeper was thwarted when their keeper clawed the ball away for a corner.
Haron, who was carrying a niggling ankle injury but still gamely turned up to play, wriggled his way past 4 defenders but was cruelly brought down just outside the penalty box. From the resulting free-kick, Sebastian curled the ball low but was really narrowly just 0.77 m wide!
ARFC then conceded a goal. 0-1
Haron then combined very well with Alvin by exchanging several one-two passes. However, Alvin could not get a decent shot in.
Blackburn then came in for the slightly-injured Soon with Sebastian moving back to centre-mid position.
Norman also impressed with several throw-ins which FC Simpang had problems dealing with but ARFC could not benefit from those missiles.
In the 2nd half, Wayne, who only arrived at the break after going to the wrong venue, came in at left-back with Blackburn partnering Haron in attack.
ARFC fell further behind when its off-side trap failed and the striker was able to take almost 7 mins before rolling the ball into the empty net. At this juncture, Sebastian totally flew his top as no one even bothered to chase after their striker after the failed off-side trap which is totally suicidal!
ARFC suffered yet another crushing blow when Haron picked up a thigh injury and had to be substituted. L
ARFC then threatened with a few corners but was unable to capitalize. Blackburn also flashed a shot wide.
ARFC then conceded another suicidal goal. 0-3.
From Sebastian’s diagonal cross-field pass, Tze Ern shot meekly at their keeper.
In the dying mins, Soon showed ARFC his world-renowned determination when he came from nowhere to chase after Jinzhong’s long punt. Just when everyone thought their keeper would get the ball, Soon nicked the ball away from him but his shot from an acute angle just rolled across the goal-mouth with no ARFC there to tap in. Unlucky but what a world-class determined run!
Besides the morale-sapping 0-3 loss, ARFC is also looking at potential injury victims in Haron, Soon, Alvin and Guoxiong.
Just one thing to add, considering the injuries that both Alvin and Haron were carrying prior to the match, both did well. If there is anything to blame, it’s us midfielders as we did not feed them with quality balls and they had to rely mostly on scraps.
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