ARFC in hard-fought 2-1 win over Triple X

In the 2^nd leg match at Anderson Sec Sch against Triple X, ARFC edged past its opponent 2-1 courtesy of an exquisite goal from Alvin.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper - Dependable Jinzhong

Right-back - Marauding Guoxiong

Sweeper - Astute-reading sweeper Elvis  

Stopper - Unbeatable Darren

Left-back - Unpredictable Blackburn

Left-mid - Dynamic Soon

Centre-mid - Influential Sebastian  

Centre-mid - Hard-man Tjioe

Right-mid - Talisman Derrick

Striker - Powerful Alvin

Striker - Nippy Kenny

 

Subs:

Towering Toh (late)

Wonder Wayne  (late)

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron (late)

Playing for Triple X:

Impeccable How Meng

Skillful Weilit

Resolute Jasper

Roy

Composed Jackson

Talented Chun Haw

Absent:

Steely Tze Ern

Speedy Hee

Combative Ron

Sublime Khim  

Mean-machine Hock

Long-throw specialist Norman

Precocious En Dian

Prior to the match, ARFC received heavenly assistance as the heavy downpour in the morning resulted in very cool weather even though the match was played at 1 pm.

ARFC started off quicker and displayed more urgency and it took ARFC just 7 mins to open the scoring. Tjioe did very well to play the ball out from the left mid area to Soon who then moved the ball upwards into the central area. Soon then executed a slide-rule pass and Kenny broke their offside trap. Their keeper rushed out but Kenny duly rounded him but was then put at an awkward angle. Kenny showed true teamwork when he paused and squared the ball across goal for Derrick who came in from the blind side on the right. Despite their defenders rushing back, Derrick did not panic and poked the ball home for his 59^th ARFC goal. 1-0

With this goal, Derrick moved past Tjioe (at 58 goals) to the 8^th position in ARFC’s goal-scoring chart. However, Derrick is still 5 goals behind Toh’s 7^th position.

Blackburn and Kenny then tried from distance but to no avail.

Tjioe then failed just narrowly to get a clean connection from Sebastian’s laser-like corner.

In the 20^th min, Haron, Wayne and Toh replaced Alvin, Sebastian and Blackburn respectively.

Bad news struck ARFC when Haron lasted about 7 mins after suffering a serious-looking leg injury and was replaced by Sebastian.

Jinzhong then produced a top-draw save to preserve ARFC’s lead.

Over at the other side, Tjioe was tripped by their defender but he stayed on his feet and no penalty was given.

Jinzhong then showed his class when he got down very fast to keep out Chun Haw’s venomous shot with his out-stretched leg. World class save!

In the 2^nd half, Soon’s lifted shot struck the cross-bar. Unlucky!

Derrick was then brought down after one of his many legendary dribbles. From the free-kick, Sebastian’s well-hit shot just flew 0.77mm wide of the stanchion.

Triple X then equalized after their free-kick took a wicked deflection off Elvis and wrong-footed Jinzhong. 1-1

ARFC regained its lead from a quick counter-attack from their corner. Their corner was forced out by ARFC’s defenders and Soon which eventually saw Sebastian nib the ball out from their player to Alvin at the left mid area near half-way line. Alvin spotted their keeper way off the line and he instinctively whacked the ball high over him with his outside right foot. The ball sailed over their keeper and into the empty net for his 193^rd ARFC goal. 2-1

Guoxiong could have put the result to bed when he expertly brought the ball down from a high diagonal cross from the left. In fact, Guoxiong had almost 2.77 seconds after bringing the ball down but he hesitated and shot straight at their keeper. Unlucky!

Triple X nearly snatched a second equalizer but Jinzhong got down very well to smoother their shot. 2-1 is the final score.

Though ARFC won, it paid a heavy price as Haron could be out for a very long time.

Credit must also be given to Triple X which put in a much-improved performance and matched ARFC almost stride for stride but probably lost out to experience.

Man-of-the-Match is given to Jinzhong though Darren and Tjioe did very well.