ARFC off to winning start in 2012

ARFC got off to a winning start in 2012 after overcoming a determined Liverland FC 2-1 at bedok Green Sec Sch courtesy of a late winning goal from Soon. The victory was witness by Anna and Tracie, WAGs of Elvis and Guoxiong respectively.

Incidentally, ARFC had also got off to a winning start in 2011 with the same score-line, a 2-1 win over The OC with a brace from Haron.

Special mention to Tze Ern who turned up after being conferred a 7-star General by MINDEF. Unfortunately, he was not fielded as he forgot to bring his contact lenses.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong
Sweeper: Unpredictable Blackburn
Stopper: Hard-man Tjioe
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Long-throw specialist Norman
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Sublime Khim
Striker: Speedy Hee
Striker: ARFC Scoring Legend Haron (captain)

Subs:

Talisman Derrick (late)
Astute-reading sweeper Elvis (late)
Powerful Alvin (late)
Steely Tze Ern (but not fielded)

Absent:

Wonder Wayne
Towering Toh
Combative Ron
Precocious En Dian
Nippy Kenny
Talented Chun Haw


ARFC clearly had the upper hand but was unable to convert its early chances. Particularly, Hee was just slightly late (despite his world-renowned speed) in meeting Haron’s square ball across the 6-yard box.

Alvin and Derrick then came on for Hee and Norman respectively.

Within mins of coming on, Alvin powered his way down the left flank and crossed the ball in. The ball flew over everybody to reach Derrick who came charging in from the right flank. He attempted a volley but failed to connect but the ball fell kindly to him. He then slided the ball across to Haron but the latter just failed to get a clean connection and the ball trickled out.

ARFC took the lead in the 27th min. Alvin’s well-floated corner was met by Derrick who despite the challenge of their big keeper, managed to glanced home for his 47th ARFC goal. 1-0

Elvis then replaced Sebastian with Blackburn moving up to centre mid to partner Soon. Hee also came on for Khim who requested to be substituted.
Despite having almost nothing to do in the 1st half, Jinzhong was still alert and this was evidenced by his brilliant save towards the end of the half. Their striker broker through and looked to score but was thwarted by Jinzhong’s superb save with his legs ala Edwin van da Sar.

In the 2nd half, ARFC continued to dominate proceedings but was let down by some poor finishing. Haron had a fantastic chance when he made his way down the right side and his stinging volley was just 0.77 inches over the bar.

Haron had an even better chance mins later. Sebastian’s long and high diagonal to the left wing was latched on perfectly by Khim who first-timed the ball into the penalty area near the penalty spot. Haron ran in and the whole stadium and live audience throughout the world were already anticipating a goal but Haron inexplicably fired the ball to row Z!! Unfortunate miss but what great awareness and positioning.
Khim then wriggled his way inwards but his shot for the top corner was clawed away by their impressive keeper. Unlucky!

Alvin also showed his might when he chased down a couple of through balls but was unable to find a shooting chance.

The opponent then scored from a break-away chance. 1-1

Soon had an excellent chance to restore ARFC’s lead when he was put clean through by both Khim and Blackburn. Facing their keeper one-on-one inside the box, Soon somehow drilled his shot about 1.77 metres wide!

After relentless pressure, ARFC finally secured the victory with a late goal from Soon. Sebastian’s corner was met by Derrick (who seemed to inherit Toh’s heading prowess) and the ball was trapped by Soon who was standing in front of their keeper inside the 6-yard box. Instinctively, Soon executed a sharp turn and put the ball into the net for his 37th ARFC goal! 2-1

For this match, total credit must be given to Tjioe who gamely played the stopper position without complaint and subsequently put in a colossal performance ala Nemanja Vidic! For this, he is given the Man-of-the-Match award though Elvis, Soon and Khim all came close.