Kenny's world class goal salvaged 2-2 draw

For the second week in a row, ARFC could not killed off its opponents after taking the lead and had to settle for yet another draw, this time a 2-2 score against SR Voodoo.

ARFC was supported by Shidah and Aqeel, lovely queen and lively prince of Ismail, and Rayes, cute son of Darren.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper - Commanding Ismail

Right-back - Marauding Guoxiong

Sweeper - Steely Tze Ern

Stopper - Towering Toh

Left-back - Unbeatable Darren  

Left-mid - Unpredictable Blackburn 

Centre-mid - Dynamic Soon

Centre-mid - Influential Sebastian

Right-mid - Nippy Kenny

Striker - Talisman Derrick (captain)

Striker - Powerful Alvin

Subs:

Impeccable How Meng

Astute-reading sweeper Elvis (late)

Dependable Jinzhong (late)

Weilit (guest player)

Absent:

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Combative Ron

Speedy Hee

Sublime Khim  

Wonder Wayne

Hard-man Tjioe

Immaculate Indra

Booming Boon

ARFC was obviously more affected by the heat but still had the initial control of the match though in all fairness, the opponents played with 10 men only.

Chances were a rare commodity though Kenny just narrowly failed to connect with Sebastian’s precise chip into the penalty box.

Derrick and Kenny then combined to put Alvin in the clear inside the box but Alvin took too long to take a shot and was closed down by their defender.

Derrick then won a free-kick just outside the box. From Alvin’s touch, Kenny’s fierce grounder a sea of defenders before the ball was cleared.

Blackburn’s corner from the left then caused mayhem as first Toh met the ball with a bullet header that was blocked by their defender. Derrick latched on the rebound but his shot was again blocked and subsequently cleared away.

ARFC then made 4 substitutions with the most immediate impact coming from How Meng. Within seconds of coming replacing Soon who was feeling a bit unwell, How Meng won the ball and dribbled upfield. He then exchanged a wall-pass with Derrick before driving into the box and dispatched the ball low into the bottom far corner to give ARFC the lead.

1-0 and this was his 3^rd ARFC goal, putting him on level terms with ARFC’s all-time best left-back by far at 3 goals.

In the 2^nd half, Kenny was set free by Alvin but he took the wrong option by going for goal when both Alvin and Blackburn were in a better position.

Darren then preserved ARFC’s lead after Ismail was beaten when he cleared off the line ala Ashley Cole.

The opponents then equalized from a counter-attack. 1-1

The opponents then took the lead in the dying minutes.1-2 and ARFC looked all dead and buried.

Incredulously, from the kick-off, Alvin touched to Kenny who unleashed a rocket that sailed all the way over their keeper ala Xabi Alonso to nestle nicely into the top left-hand corner. Simply brilliant and world-class! 2-2 and this was Kenny’s 45^th ARFC goal.

Special mention to Ismail who charged out several times to deny the opponents by making himself very big and commanding. The only weaknesses, probably, are his goal-kick and distribution. Once these 2 weaknesses are rectified, Ismail could well be on his way to becoming ARFC’s best goalkeeper.

Voting results:

Kenny – 11

Ismail – 10

Soon – 6

Tze Ern – 5

Darren – 2

Guoxiong – 2

How Meng – 2

Elvis – 1

Sebastian – 1

Blackburn – 1

Derrick – 1