ARFC won again to close in on league title

In a league match against Team BBG, ARFC notched a tightly-contested 1-0 victory thanks to a superb goal from Blackburn.

ARFC was boosted by the lat-min appearance of both Toh and Derrick who were both doubtful for the match. ARFC was also supported by the injured Jinzhong and both pregnant ladies, Anna and Tracie.

ARFC started with this line-up:

GK - Haomin

DR - Marauding Guoxiong

Sweeper  - Astute-reading sweeper Elvis (captain)

Stopper - Towering Toh 

LB - Unbeatable Darren

RM - Talisman Derrick

CM - Combative Ron

CM - Unpredictable Blackburn

LM - Wonder Wayne

Striker - Powerful Alvin

Striker - ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Subs:

Weilit

Jasper

Influential Sebastian (only arrived in 2nd half)

Absent:

Dependable Jinzhong

Speedy Hee

Hard-man Tjioe

Dynamic Soon

Mean-machine Hock

Steely Tze Ern

Sublime Khim

Talented Chun Haw

Long-throw specialist Norman

Precocious En Dian

Nippy Kenny

Right from the kick-off, it was clear that their left-back could not cope with Derrick's mesmerising dribbles at all and constantly chopped Derrick down whenever he glided past him. After about 4 to 5 fouls, the referee finally decided to take some action by cautioning the left-back.

From the resulting free-kick, Wayne curled the ball in which saw their keeper fumbled and dropped the ball just in front of the goal-line. Alas, no ARFC warrior was on hand to capitalise.

In the 25th min, their defence failed to clear the ball which saw Blackburn, continuing his good form in recent weeks, got to the ball. Without hesitation, he thundered in a torpedo which measured at 777 km/hr and their keeper could only pick the ball up from the net. This was Blackburn's 116th ARFC goal. 1-0

In the 40th min, Ron threaded in a through ball and Alvin raced clear. Alvin was brutally fouled by their last man just outside the box but the referee did not even caution. Derrick took a very quick free-kick while the opponents were still talking with the referee by laying the ball to Alvin. Alvin controlled the ball with a killer first touch and then thrashed the ball goalwards that went in off the far post.  Alvin had already started celebrating his goal by sprinting 99 cm when the referee strangely disallowed the goal, claiming that Derrick took the free-kick from wrong position!

In the 2nd half, Guoxiong shifted to CM while Jasper took his position. Darren also made way for Weilit who played LM with Wayne dropping to LB. Haron also took a well-earned break and Blackburn partnered Alvin upfront.

The opening 10 mins of the 2nd half saw ARFC totally dominating play with Ron winning every headers and tackles in CM. Guoxiong also played like a man possessed with his powerful penetrative runs from midfield, perhaps boosted by Tracie's presence.

A flowing move started from Jasper saw Derrick, Blackburn, Alvin exchanging passes before Blackburn prodded a slight-rule ball to Guoxiong who ran in from deep. Unfortunately he could not get a clean connection to the ball.

Blackburn then struck the cross-bar when his audacious chip from 47.77 metres almost ended up in the net.

Weilit and Wayne then combined down the left with Weilit's superb curling shot flew just wide.

Jasper then came in with several crucial interceptions.

Ron then earned a well-deserved break and was replaced by Darren. Soon after, Guoxiong signalled to be replaced by Sebastian.

Haron then came in for Blackburn and soon was in the thick of the action. Haron and Derrick exchanged passes which resulted in Alvin breaking clear. Unluckily, his low diagonal cross grounder struck the far post.

Alvin's corner was met by Toh but his header back to the near post was missed by Derrick by 0.77 cm.

Elvis then took a nasty knock and was replaced by Ron.

Haomin showed why he is regarded as one of the brightest young keeper in Singapore with his assured safe-handling and superb long kicks.

Haron then displayed great team-work by running back to close down on their midfielder who then hurried his shot.

In the end, ARFC held out for a 1-0 win and at the same time kept clean sheet for the 2nd consecutive match.

Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Ron and Alvin.