ARFC in undeserving 0-2 loss

Resuming its playing calendar after the Hari Raya break, ARFC could not find its rhythm and succumbed to a 0-2 loss against HHH at Our Tampines Hub pitch.

ARFC started with this 4-5-1 line-up with Ron volunteering to be GK as Kerwin was late:

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

ARFC started strongly with incessant pressing from Raymond, Alvin, Soon and Sebastian.  Within 77 seconds of the start, their sweeper made a hasty clearance and the bouncing ball was picked up by Raymond outside the box.  Hearing Sebastian’s call for the ball, Raymond’s pass was slightly under-hit and Sebastian drove his shot high.

Rashid then hit a stinging shot with their GK stranded but could not find the target.

Guoxiong then won a foul after he was taken down by a Rugby-like tackle just outside the box.  Rashid stepped up but his curling shot was just 0.77mm wide of the right post.

Tze Ern then conjured 2 very beautifully-taken corner kicks in succession but no ARFC warriors, including Toh, could profit from it.

The opponents then scored a breakaway goal to lead 1-0 at half-time.

In the 2^nd half, ARFC kept up its pressure by chasing hard for every ball.  From one such move, Rashid sent his right foot grounder narrowly wide.

Sebastian then wasted a golden opportunity after Rashid and Alvin combined superbly down the right.  From Rashid square ball across outside the box, Sebastian could have taken a shot but he chose the wrong decision to dummy the ball after hearing a shout for the ball. 

The opponents then scored another breakaway goal to lead 2-0.

Javier then produced a mazy dribble and run down the right side and beat their defenders.  His low ball across goal reached Alvin who was totally unmarked at the far post.  Everybody, including those watching from the library, was already shouting ‘GOAL’ but Alvin inexplicably side-footed the ball wide, ala Raheem Sterling’s miss against Chelsea. Stunning miss that already stunned everyone!

Despite strong runs from Raymond and Guoxiong at the right flank, ARFC could not find a goal and lost 0-2.

Voting results:

Rashid – 11

Guoxiong – 11

Tze Ern – 8

Ron – 7

Soon – 3

Toh – 1

Raymond – 1