ARFC's late rally in vain

Taking on The OC for the 2nd time in this season, ARFC rallied but ultimately fell to a 2-5 defeat in front of 77,777 fans including Anna.

ARFC could not managed to get any stand-in keeper and as such, Ron and later on She Meng gamely volunteered to be keeper for each half despite not having any gloves on.

ARFC started with this 4-4-2 line-up:

Keeper: Combative Ron
Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis (captain)
Stopper: Wonder Wayne
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Seh Meng (guest player)
Centre-mid: Steely Tze Ern
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Minghui (guest player)
Striker: Unpredictable Blackburn
Striker: ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Subs:

Powerful Alvin (late)
Towering Toh (late)
Yao Yang (guest player – late)

Absent:

Talisman Derrick – suspended
Sublime Khim
Dependable Jinzhong
Speedy Hee
Dynamic Soon
Hard-man Tjioe
Long-throw specialist Norman
Precocious En Dian
Nippy Kenny

Disaster struck as early as the 7th min when a very soft shot slipped through Ron’s grasp. However, no one laid blame as Ron was playing without gloves. 0-1

ARFC nearly equalized when from Sebastian’s corner, Tze Ern leaped highest and hung in the air ala Les Ferdinand but his header looped just 0.77 metres wide.

ARFC then conceded another goal. 0-2

Toh then replaced Wayne while Alvin came on for the ineffective Blackburn. Yao Yang soon took over from Minghui who had a poor match.

Within mins, Alvin produced a long distance shot but their keeper gathered the ball safely.

Haron then showed close control to fashion a chance. He also came out with several decoy runs.

In the 2nd half, ARFC conceded another goal to trail 0-3.

All looked lost for ARFC till the 67th min thanks to large part to the determination and grit of Alvin. From a ball by both Darren and Tze Ern, Alvin chased the ball despite being in a inferior position than their defender and keeper who looked to be in pole position to smoother the ball. However, Alvin did not give up and managed to nick the ball away from them and slotted the ball home into the net guarded by 2 defenders for his 142nd ARFC goal. This was also his 4th goal in as many matches. 1-3 now.

7 mins later, Alvin was again the architect when his floating corner from the left was missed by Toh who was under close and tough challenge from their defenders. When the ball dropped into the 6-yard box, Haron showed all that despite not in the best physical condition, his sharp mind did not abandon him and he was the quickest to swoop in and sweep the ball home for his 170th ARFC goal! 2-3 and a fight-back is back on and the fans tried to rally ARFC with 77 rounds of ARFC wave.

Alas, the fightback did not materialize as ARFC conceded another 3 goals due to fatigue to lose 2-5.

Man-of-the-match is jointly given to Alvin and Darren.