Guoxiong scored ARFC's 2nd-ever fastest goal in 3-1 win

Watched by his son Gerrard for the very first time, Alvin was the key architect in Guoxiong scoring the 2^nd fastest ARFC goal in a hard-fought 3-0 victory a very good Musang Kings team.

ARFC had to call up Kerwin (GK) and Javier to bolster the numbers.  Thankfully, both Kenny and Sebastian also turned up at the 11^th hour.

As Kerwin was late, Darren gamely volunteered to start as GK first.

ARFC was supported By Gerrard (Alvin’s son), Dylan and Tiara (Elvis’ kids) and Clara (Guoxiong’s princess)

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

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

Straight from the kick-off, Alvin, Wayne and Guoxiong closed the opponents down speedily and forcefully, stunning the opponents in the process.  The end result? Alvin robbed their defender and cut the ball back across goal for Guoxiong to slide in and score. The excite tim? 23 seconds on the clock.

1-0 and this was Guoxiong's 33rd ARFC goal and first goal for ARFC in the year 2019.

The 23-second goal, however, was not the fastest-ever ARFC goal.

The fastest-ever ARFC goal was scored by Alvin almost 11 years ago on 11 Sep 2008 when he netted at the 17-second mark in a 7-0 demolition of Yellow Submarine.

The opponents had not recovered from their shock and nearly conceded a similar goal. This time round, the pressure came from the left from Kenny, Wayne and Alvin. With Wayne through on goal and their goal gaping, Wayne tried to backheel the ball into the empty net but failed to generate enough power and the bal was cleared off the line.

Sebastian then combined superbly with Guoxiong whose cross saw Alvin timing his jump too prematurely and the chance was lost.

The same Sebastian-Guoxiong combi almost reaped dividends 2 mins later.  From a free-kick, Sebastian passed to Guoxiong on the right and latter returned the ball to Sebastian. With a pin-point curling cross that eluded their defenders, Wayne connected beautifully but saw his flicked header flew just 0.66 mm away from the far post.

Replacing Darren, Kerwin then made a stunning quick reaction save to claw the ball away to safety.

Hee then came on for the tiring Alvin who had gave his all in the opening 20 mins.

Hee then shot wide from just outside the box.

Hee then redeemed himself with a brilliant piece of work. Receiving the ball from Guoxiong, Hee dribbled inwards and faked a left foot shot that fooled their defender. Hee cut the ball back to his right foot and duly planted a stinger past their GK for his 109^th ARFC goal. 2-0 which remained the score at half-time.

In the 2^nd half, ARFC and the opponents were even-stevens in the match with the opponents showing some nice passing and touches.  However, ARFC’s famed stingy defence, led by Elvis, held firm.

7 mins after the re-start saw the goal of the match.

From defending an attack, ARFC quickly counter-attack by switching the ball to Kenny on the right.  Spotting Alvin’s call for the ball at the left, Kenny hit a long ball that saw Alvin bursting clear. Alvin saw Javier making a darting run from deep and placed a world-class low ball diagonally into the box.  Javier then came sliding in and thump the ball home that left their GK rooted to the spot. What a Firminho-Salah-Mane classic move! 3-0 and this was Javier’s 4^th ARFC goal.

Chua then belied his age when despite a 20-metres disadvantage, he chased down the much younger left winger and cleared the ball away!  Simply brilliant!

Kenny then continued his bad luck in front of goal while playing for ARFC.

Again, the ball was switched by Kenny from right to Weilit on the left. Weilit changed passes with Alvin who laid on a similar ball to Javier earlier.  Kenny dashed into the box and with every opponents rooted to the spot and all the ARFC substitutes already shouting “GOAL”, Kenny inexplicably kicked thin air and failed to connect with the ball.

Another sweeping move nearly saw ARFC scoring. The ball was passed from left to centre and then to right which saw the ball rolled nicely to Eng Lai who was lurking inside the box on the right side.  Killing the ball with a great first touch, Eng Lai hit a sumptuous-looking and fiercely-struck ball that saw their GK palming the ball away. Unlucky for Eng Lai but what a move from ARFC!

With virtually the last kicks of the match, Wayne conjured 2 fantastic corner kick in quick succession.  First, his corner from the right sailed over every opponents and looked destined to curl into the far corner. Alas, their competent GK put a strong hand up and turned the ball over the bar to concede a corner.

Wayne took the corner again and this time round, he hit to the far post and who else but Toh came towering in.  However, Toh missed the ball by a mere 0.15mm!  The referee then blew for final whistle.

This was a match where ARFC played really well against a strong opponent.  ARFC’s play and passing was simply simple yet effective, and the teamwork was really a sight to behold.

Voting results:

Toh – 9

Elvis – 7

Chua – 6

Alvin – 4

Guoxiong – 4

Kenny – 3

Ron – 2

Wayne – 1

Soon – 1

Darren – 1

Weilit – 1