Soon's wonder goal in 2-1 win

Coming up against a determined and hardworking Trinity, ARFC showed immerse tactical discipline and great teamwork to prevail 2-1 on 3 Aug 2019 at 3 pm at Pasir Ris Crest SS.

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

Ron’s son Rio and his friend also played their first match for ARFC.

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

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

ARFC was pegged back by the younger opponents, anchored by their nippy central midfielder, in the opening exchanges.  However, ARFC held firm and began to hit back with several good passes and chances, with Guoxiong particularly menacing down the right midfield with several good crosses into the box.

Upfront Kenny and Wayne worked tirelessly to close down the opponents.

ARFC then introduced Chun Haw in place of Chua with Guoxiong moving down to right back.  Ron then came on for Sebastian who suffered a slight injury on his foot.

Rashid and Chun Haw then began hitting long diagonal balls from their area to the opposite side.  From one such ball from Rashid, Wayne nearly scored after his touch took him past their GK.  However, Wayne could only kick thin air and the chance was lost.

The opponents then scored from a perfectly-struck freekick to lead 1-0.

Alvin then replaced Kenny while Hee then took over Tjioe.

Hee then almost scored after Rashid’s perfectly lofted cross from left flew over their entire defence to Hee who dashed in from the blind side on the right.  Alas, Hee could not get a clean header and the ball skimmed off his head and went wide.

In the 2^nd half, ARFC continued chasing an equaliser and Kenny went agonisingly close when he reached the ball ahead of their on-rushing GK on the left flank. However, Kenny’s swift ball to the centre was not met by anyone.

2 mins later, Rashid lofted a sweet ball over the top to Sebastian who ran in from left.  However, Sebastian’s attempt to lift the ball over their GK failed as the ball was not well connected.

ARFC’s equaliser finally arrived in th3 53^rd min.  From a long punt down the pitch, Chun Haw did not give up and chased after the ball.  He then reached the ball just ahead of their left-back, nicked the ball away and was clumsily upended by their left-back.

Alvin stepped up to despatch a coolly-taken penalty across their GK. 1-1 and this was Alvin’s 315^th ARFC goal.

ARFC was then indebted to Sunny who produced several great saves.

ARFC finally grabbed the lead in the 77^th min.  Sunny’s long drop kick appeared to be too far for all ARFC warriors.  Of course, Soon had other ideas as he turned on his turbo speed to glide past their left-back before lifting the ball over their GK who had dashed out unnecessarily for his 85^th ARFC goal. 2-1

ARFC then displayed great tactical awareness and discipline to repel their several attacks with Chua excelling with several interceptions.  Even Alvin also came back to his own penalty box to head away some danger balls.

With mins to go, Sunny came up with a top-draw super full-length diving save to keep out their free-kick to preserve ARFC’s hard-fought but well-deserved 2-1 victory.

Voting results:

Guoxiong – 8

Kenny – 8

Chua – 8

Soon – 8

Ron – 4

Rashid – 2

Chun Haw – 1