Sebastian nets winner in 4-3 thriller

Despite being pegged back 3 times by the determined Marine Devils, ARFC managed to emerge 4-3 winners in an enthralling match at AMK SS. 

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper – Commanding Ismail

Right-back – Dependable Jinzhong

Sweeper – Combative Ron

Stopper - Towering Toh
Left-back - Steely Tze Ern
Left mid – Speedy Hee
Right mid – Marauding Guoxiong
Centre-mid - Influential Sebastian (captain)
Centre-mid – Nippy Kenny
Striker – Unpredictable Blackburn
Striker – Powerful Alvin

Subs:

Dynamic Soon (late)

Talented Chun Haw
Eng Lai (guest player)
Ah Chua (guest player)
Dominic (guest player)

Absent:

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Skilful Weilit

Unbeatable Darren

Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Hard-man Tjioe
Impeccable How Meng
Wonder Wayne
Talisman Derrick
Sublime Khim

ARFC took a while in kicking into gear and nearly conceded a goal if not for a smart alert  save from Ismail. 

ARFC took the lead after Toh surged in to powerfully head home a precise corner from Alvin on the left. 1-0 and this was Toh’s 85^th ARFC goal, with 97.77% of those goals coming from his head.  

ARFC then conceded a bizarre goal. 1-1

ARFC then regained the lead 7 mins later. Chun Haw laid on the grounder for Sebastian who was 37 metres away from goal. Similar to what Paul Scholes and Steven Gerrard have been doing, Sebastian cracked in a fierce rising shot that struck the right post and rebounded off their GK’s shoulder. The ball rolled along the line but Kenny was quickest to hold on their covering defender to stroke home his 62^nd ARFC goal. 2-1 and what a great follow-up.  

ARFC then conceded a penalty which was converted. 2-2 

ARFC restored its lead through fortuitous manner. From the left wing, Tze Ern swung a cross-shot that somehow sailed over their GK to land nicely into the far corner. 3-2 and this was Tze Ern’s 12^th ARFC goal and his 3^rd goal in his last 4 ARFC matches. 

ARFC then conceded again. 3-3 

Tze Ern then came close when his violent shot from outside the box just clipped the crossbar. 

In the 2^nd half, ARFC played slightly better and took the lead for the 4^th time when their defender clumsily handle Jinzhong’s long-throw. Sebastian stepped up and buried the ghost of his recent penalty misses when he sent their GK the wrong way for his 98^th ARFC goal. 4-3

Eng Lai then came to ARFC’s rescue when he cleared the ball off the line.  

Kenny then almost grabbed his brace but his venomous shot struck off the post.  

Ismail then preserved ARFC’s lead when he twice slapped the dangerous ball away from their corners. 

Voting results:

Tze Ern – 10

Kenny – 7

Toh – 6

Sebastian – 5

Ismail – 5
Chun Haw – 3
Guoxiong – 3