King Kenny's all-action display in 2-2 draw

Powered by Kenny’s all-energy and high-octane performance, ARFC took a commanding 2-0 lead at half-time against the very fast and young Allied Forces (mostly 20s) but had to settle for a 2-2 draw eventually.

For the first time, ARFC played at the magnificent Deptford Ground pitch.

ARFC started with this 4-4-2 line-up:

Jersey no.	Name	Position
33	Talisman Derrick	Goalkeeper
16	Marauding Guoxiong	Right-back
14	Combative Ron	Sweeper
15	Towering Toh	Stopper
6	Unbeatable Darren	Left-back
4	Dynamic Soon	Right-mid
12	Remarkable Rashid	Centre-mid
7	Influential Sebastian (captain)	Centre-mid
2	Unpredictable Blackburn	Left-mid
17	Nippy Kenny	Striker
99	Powerful Alvin	Striker
Subs:
9	ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
19	Skillful Weilit
77	Dependable Jinzhong
Absent:
3	Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
5	Impeccable How Meng
8	Talented Chun Haw
10	Sublime Khim
11	Speedy Hee
18	Determined Huiming
20	Composed Eng Lai
21	Rampaging Raymond
28	Hard-man Tjioe
31	Vintage Chua
45	Commanding Ismail
66	Wonder Wayne
78	Steely Tze Ern

ARFC nearly took the lead within 17 seconds.  From their kick-off, Alvin and Kenny pressured the opponents into a mistake and Kenny latched on to the ball on the right from 40 metres out.  Spotting their GK off his line, Kenny lofted a high diagonal ball over their GK.  Though the ball struck the inner side of the right post, the ball streaked across goal but not into the net.  Super-duper unlucky but what an world-class effort from Kenny.

This move sparked and invoked huge confidence in how ARFC played out the entire first-half with a totally commanding and assured display marked by some very brilliant passing, movements and pressing of the opponents.

ARFC took the lead with a flowing pass-and-move routine that stunned the opponents. First, Rashid pinged a well-measured ball to the right for Soon to give chase.  Soon held the ball well and passed inwards to Kenny who then brought the ball further inwards and away from their defender.  Before Kenny could pull the trigger, Alvin instinctively curled the ball past their rooted GK for his 303^rd ARFC goal.  1-0!!

ARF doubled its lead 7 mins later thanks to Guoxiong’s never-say-die attitude.  From a long ball down the right which looked to be a lost cause, Guoxiong simply gave chase and benefitted from an under-hit back pass from their left-back. With their GK stranded, Guoxiong simply chipped the ball over him for his 29^th ARFC goal. 2-0

This was also the first goal that Guoxiong scored for ARFC in 2018.

By now, the opponents were n sixes and sevens and simply could not cope with ARFC’s relentess pressing, ala Juergen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool side, led by Kenny.

Sebastian then picked up a loose ball from 37 metres but his precise chip was matched by a quick-pedaling GK who claimed the ball just under the cross-bar.

Derrick then came to the fore when he got down sharply to turn a fierce curling shot from their captain for a corner.

Toh was then wrongly adjudged to have fouled their defender during a Sebastian’s corner. 

In the 2^nd half, the youth and stamina of the opponents told in the end and also ARFC were tiring due to the way we played in the first half.

The opponents then scored 2 goals from fast counter-attacks moves.

ARFC nearly scored its 3^rd goal.  From Rashid’ wicked swerving free-kick, their GK dropped the ball and Alvin retrieved the ball near the touch-line.  Alvin then passed the ball to the front of the goal to Kenny but their covering defender hacked the ball away before Kenny could shoot.

With fast tiring legs, made worse by an injury to the very impressive Guoxiong, ARFC held on to a 2-2 draw which was a first draw for ARFC in 2018.

Special mention must be given to ARFC’s defence and the relentless pressing efforts from Kenny, Alvin, Guoxiong, Sebastian and Soon.

Voting Results:

Kenny – 11

Ron – 10

Guoxiong – 5

Alvin – 5

Toh – 3

Darren – 3

Sebastian – 2

Rashid – 2

Soon – 1