ARFC's 13-match unbeaten streak in 2013 came to end

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 2^nd 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 7^th 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 48^th ARFC goal. 1-1.

In the 27^th 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 37^th 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 201^st ARFC goal. 2-2

This was Alvin’s 4^th consecutive match that he has scored.

Both teams were evenly matched in the 2^nd 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.