Eng Lai key to ARFC's 2-0 victory

Shrugging off last week 1-3 defeat by British Exiles, ARFC responded perfectly by dishing out a controlled performance with a 2-0 victory over the EDB team in a rare night match at the refurbished Serangoon Stadium.

ARFC started with this line-up:

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

Right from the first whistle, ARFC controlled the pace and rhythm of the match though the younger opponents tried its best to disrupt ARFC with their hard running and harassment.

ARFC deservingly took the lead, albeit in fortuitous manner, in the 10^th min.  Soon was the architect as he stretched backwards and won an aerial ball.  The loose ball fell to Rashid, and in his by-now trademark move, played a long diagonal ball down the right.  In an uncanny resemblance to Andrei Kanchelskis, Guoxiong reached the ball near the right by-line and heard a call from both Alvin and Wayne.  Guoxiong then mishit his cross but fortune favoured the brave when the ball somehow sailed over their GK.  1-0 and this was Guoxiong’s 32^nd ARFC goal.

From a Blackburn corner on the right and hit right into the penalty box, Eng Lai heard Sebastian’s call for the ball and dummied.  Sebastian met the ball with a half volley but could not get the shot on target as it flashed just 0.77 m wide of the post.

Complacency then set in ARFC which was indebted to Derrick who pulled off a stunning one-hand block after their striker was only left with Derrick to beat.

Soon then asked to be substituted as he took a knock and was replaced by Tze Ern.

Jinzhong, Haron and Kenny then replaced Blackburn, Alvin and Wayne respectively.

The substitutions of both strikers almost reaped immediate dividends.  Rashid played a nice low ball to Haron.  Showing great reading of the game and almost telepathic understanding with Kenny, Haron quickly played a slide-rule ball to the on-rushing Kenny.  Breaking their off-side trap, Kenny only had their GK to beat and after cutting past the GK, Kenny inexplicably passed the ball to his left when a simple shot would have hit the net.  Unfortunately, Tze Ern stopped his running and the chance was lost.

From a corner that caused a melee, Jinzhong hit a fierce shot from inside the box but the ball was reflected wide.

In the 2^nd half, Sebastian played perfectly-weighted through ball, ala Xavi, to Kenny.  However, Kenny fired over.

Derrick then came to ARFC’s rescue once more when he made a brilliant one-on-one save.

Rashid then hit a lofted pass to Soon down the left by-line.  Drawing their GK out, Soon’s cut-back looked to have reached Wayne who was free in the 6-yard box.  However, their defender made a stunning recovery block from Wayne’s tap-in at the goalline.  Unlucky!

ARFC finally doubled its lead in the 77^th min courtesy of Sebastian’s invention.  Showing Iniesta-like vision, Sebastian took out all their central defenders when he threaded a needle-like ball to Kenny right into their heart of the defence.  This time round, Kenny did not disappoint as he lifted the ball over their on-rushing GK for his 82^nd ARFC goal.  2-0.

With this goal, Kenny had edged ahead of Soon who had scored 81 goals for ARFC.

Special mention to Eng Lai who more than made up for the absence of regular stopper Toh with his commanding display.

Voting results:

Guoxiong – 10

Soon – 9

Sebastian – 5

Derrick – 5

Eng Lai – 5

Rashid – 5

Wayne – 2

Kenny – 1

Haron – 1

Chua – 1