Kenny ends 7-month goal drought with winner in 1-0 victory

Playing against the Weekenders for the successive Sunday, albeit previous match was by ARFC Veterans, ARFC missed a raft of chances before securing a laboured 1-0 victory courtesy of a brilliant goal from Kenny at the pristine SIA Sports Club pitch.

ARFC was supported by Clara (Guoxiong’s precious), Dylan and Tiara (Elvis’ lively children), Germaine (Alvin’s princess) and Lingzhi (Ron’s beau).

Credit to both Wayne and Haron for volunteering to be GK for each half. 

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

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

Strangely enough and just like last week, ARFC struggled to come to grips with the hardworking opponents who closed us down fast and challenged for every first and second balls. 

The opponents also threatened our goal but thankfully Elvis came up with several Virgil van Dijk-like interceptions and even dribbled his way out of danger zone on a couple of occasions.

Guoxiong then combined with Chun Haw with a series of one-twos that saw Guoxiong powering down the right flank.  His cross was perfect but somehow Alvin miskicked the ball and stabbed the ball wide in front of goal.

Rashid then crossed to the far post and Haron dashed in from blind side but sent his header slightly over the bar.

With chances at a premium, both teams tested each other.

Hee then requested to make way for Weilit due to tiredness.  At the 20^th min mark, ARFC then made a series of substitutions that saw Soon, Chua and Kerwin replacing Toh, Guoxiong and Eng Lai respectively, with Ron dropped to stopper.

At the 25^th min mark, Haron requested to take a breather and Kenny took his place.

At the 30^th min mark, Sebastian came on for Rashid.

The first half then ended goalless.

ARFC finally grabbed the opener within 77 seconds of the restart.   Kenny showed incredible speed of thought and action when he robbed their dithering sweeper, surged away from him before placing a sumptuous grounder past their stunned GK. 1-0 and this was Kenny’s 84^th ARFC goal.

With this goal, Kenny also ended his 7-month of goal drought for ARFC.  His last goal was on 20 Jan 2019 in a 4-3 victory over LAS FC at Mayflower Sec Sch.

Wayne then missed a few chances while Hee connected superbly with Kenny’s long hanging cross from the right but his header was saved.

Weilit then almost won a penalty when he was hacked down but the referee failed to spot the clear foul.

In the 67^th min, ARFC produced the move of the match. From his right-back position, Guoxiong passed to Sebastian who had asked for the ball.  Sebastian then sold a little dummy to the opponents by allowing the ball to go through his legs to Rashid who was behind him.  Rashid returned the pass to Sebastian who hit a slide-rule pass down the right for Kenny to dash in. Kenny then squared in to Wayne who was unmarked but Wayne sidefooted the ball just 0.77 wide of goal. Unlucky but what a smooth move ala Liverpool.

ARFC was then indebted to Guoxiong when he headed the ball off the line ala Ashley Cole in the 70^th min.

I wish to point out that I thought Kerwin’s touch and control was fantastic in this match.  He could be a potential long-term successor to Darren at left-back.

Voting results:

Guoxiong – 14

Kenny – 10

Ron – 9

Rashid – 7

Chua – 4

Weilit – 4

Elvis – 3