In a hastily-arranged friendly match, no
thanks to the Indons, ARFC lost their 13-match unbeaten streak in 2103 after
going down 2-3 to The Outsiders. This was also ARFC’s 2nd defeat in
2013.
The full match was witnessed for the very first
time by Hee’s muse – Melissa!
ARFC started with this line-up:
Keeper - Impeccable How Meng
Right-back - Marauding Guoxiong
Sweeper - Unpredictable Blackburn
Stopper - Victor (guest player)
Left-back - Unbeatable Darren
Left-mid - Speedy Hee
Centre-mid - Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid - Steely Tze Ern
Right-mid - Talisman Derrick
Striker - Powerful
Alvin
Striker - Wonder Wayne
Subs:
Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Resolute Jasper
Skillful Weilit
Combative Ron
(late)
Absent:
Influential Sebastian
Nippy Kenny
Talented Chun Haw
Dependable Jinzhong
Earl
Composed Jackson
ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Hard-man Tjioe
Towering Toh
Regal Roy
Sublime Khim
Mean-machine Hock
Long-throw specialist Norman
Precocious En Dian
The Outsiders is currently playing in the D2D Sunday afternoon league
and has a good central midfielder and 2 very fast wingers. However, when faced
with ARFC’s Guoxiong and Darren, they were not able to gain any significant
advantage.
In the 7th min, they took the lead. 0-1
10 mins later, ARFC equalized thanks to fast thinking from Wayne. Wayne’s quick throw-in saw Alvin scampering
away down the right flank. Alvin’s cut-back was met with precision-like timing
from Soon who came from deep to place the ball home for his 48th
ARFC goal. 1-1.
In the 27th min, ARFC conceded an own goal. 1-2
ARFC staged a strong fight-back. First, Guoxiong produced a superb
over-lapping run ala Dani Alves and crossed to the far post. Alvin headed the
ball back to Soon who was totally unmarked from 7.7 metres. Alas, he headed the
ball just over. Unfortunate miss but what a fantastic build-up.
How Meng then punted a long goal-kick ala Pepe Reina that sailed over
their defence to Alvin. With their keeper charging out, Alvin looped the ball
over him but sailed just 0.77 cm wide. Unlucky!
ARFC finally equalized in the 37th min. From yet another fast
break, Soon sliced in a through ball down the left to Hee. Obviously, Hee is
now much (x 77) lighter than before and despite the close attention of 3
defenders, Hee simply glided past them ala Ryan Giggs (20 years ago) with his
speed and squared the ball across goal. Alvin killed the ball with a great
first touch ala Fernando Torres (the Liverpool version), saw their keeper
coming out, and simply whacked the ball into the bottom left corner for his 201st
ARFC goal. 2-2
This was Alvin’s 4th consecutive match that he has scored.
Both teams were evenly matched in the 2nd half.
ARFC then conceded another goal. 2-3
How Meng the kept ARFC in the match when he produced a superb reflex save
from their header. World class goalkeeping!
In the last 7 mins, ARFC’s superior fitness prevailed and bombarded the
opponent’s goal but to no avail.
Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Soon and Ron.