Playing its 2nd match in 2022 and 29th Veterans match overall, ARFC Veterans eked out a hard-fought 4-3 win over Elites Veterans FC at the magnificent pitch at The Cage@Turf City on 13 Apr at 9 pm.
Due to the kick-of timing of the weekday match, ARFC Veterans had to call up 4 gust players.
ARFC Veterans started with this 4-5-1 line-up:
GK – Andrew (guest player)
RB – Guoxiong
Sweeper – Eng Lai
Stopper – Toh
LB – Darren
RM – Raymond
CM – Tjioe
CM – Sebastian (captain)
CM – Soon
LM – Kenny
SC – Haron
Subs:
Desmond (guest player)
Chong Ghee (guest player)
Minghui (guest player)
ARFC Veterans started quickest off the blocks and pressed the opponents incessantly. Not surprisingly, ARFC Veterans drew first blood in the 5th min.
On the left side of the pitch, Soon, Tjioe, Sebastian and Kenny squeezed the opponents with very astute positioning and pressing, similar to how Mane, Firmino, Henderson and Keita would do for Liverpool. The opponents were all at seas and conceded possession, with the ball then rolling to Haron who was lurking in the box ala Mo Salah.
Haron then allowed the ball to come to him and faced their GK. Despite their defender closing in, Haron maintained his composure and calmly placed the ball past their GK. 1-0 and this was Haron’s 273rd ARFC goals, with 14 of those goals coming from Veterans matches.
The opponents then regained its footing and from a counter-attack, they scored to level the match. 1-1
ARFC Veterans quickly regained its lead within 2 mins with a very smooth transition from defence to attack. Guoxiong, who shone all night, passed the ball from his right-back position to Sebastian in the middle of the pitch. Sebastian then switched play, ala Tiago, to Darren at left-back. Darren, who was back to his very best, then hit a long low ball to Kenny who sprinted in from his left midfield position. Their GK then rushed out and looked to almost clear the ball away, but Kenny had other ideas as he was quicker and sliced the ball into the penalty box. Raymond then dashed in from the right midfield, and with their covering defender looking to clear the ball away, Raymond summoned all his speed to reach the ball ahead of their defender, and slided the ball into the empty net. 2-1 and this was Raymond’s 25th ARFC goal.
Out of the 25 goals, this was Raymond’s 18th goal for the ARFC Veterans matches, cementing his apex position as the top scorer for ARFC Veterans team.
Kenny then hit 2 good corners from the left but on both occasions, Toh narrowly missed the headers.
Raymond then missed a great opportunity. Darren’s overlapping run to the left flan k saw him threading a fine ball to Raymond who was free in the box. However, Raymond took the wrong option when he brought the ball to his right, instead of driving down centre, and fired the ball which was palmed away by their GK for a corner. Unlucky but what a move!
ARFC Veterans then replaced both Guoxiong and Raymond with Minghui and Desmond respectively. Moments later, Chong Ghee came on for Sebastian, with ARFC Veterans switching to 4-4-2 formation as Chong Ghee partnered Haron upfront.
In the 2nd half, ARFC Veterans maintained its control of the match and extended its lead within 5 mins of the re-start. From his left midfield position Desmond received a quick ball from Sebastian and duly dished out a slide-rule pass for Kenny. In the blink of the eye, Kenny turned and sped away from their defender. Driving into the box, Kenny drilled a well-placed shot past their GK to the far post to make it 3-1.
This goal was Kenny’s 85th ARFC goal and a first for ARFC Veterans team!
The opponents then pulled a goal back. 3-2.
Kenny was then super unlucky when first, his long-range shot clipped the left of the cross-bar. 3 mins later, Soon’s pass found him but Kenny’s cannon-ball bounced off the right side of the cross-bar this time.
It was then 3rd time lucky for Kenny as he grabbed his brace with arguably the move of the match. Sebastian sold their centre mid with a body faint and dribbled past him. Receiving the ball from Sebastian, Soon spotted Raymond’s run into the central area and laid the ball to him. With such good anticipation, Kenny started to take off and Raymond read his move perfectly when he flicked the low ball right into the path of Kenny. Breaking their off-side trap, Kenny charged inwards before dispatching the ball home for his 86th ARFC goal and 2nd ARFC Veterans goal. 4-2.
Tjioe then limped off but his contributions were immersed with his hard-tackles at both centre mid and stopper when Toh was taking a break.
Chong Ghee, who played like Mane with so many closing down of and winning balls from the opponents, then followed suit when he was brutally hacked down by their left-back, injuring his ankle in the process.
With mins to go, the opponents pulled a goal back. 4-3 now.
ARFC Veterans then held on for a well-fought but certainly well-earned 4-3 victory. With this win, this was ARFC Veterans’ 23rd wins in 29 Veterans matches.
This was a match where ARFC Veterans displayed great passing moves and energy. Haron did an Firmino-like take with his clever movements and linked up play when he dropped in from deep, while Soon was his usual industrious self which was always so vital to ARFC Veterans.
Andrew also came up with very safe handling to the opponents’ speculative shots from distance. Eng Lai also overcame some early jitters with an assured marshalling of the defence, aided ably by Toh and then Tjioe. Toh was unlucky not to score with his towering headers from corners but his aerial prowess was unmatched throughout the match. Tjioe was immerse with his tackles and closing down of the opponents
The displays from Darren and Guoxiong (and later Minghui) as full-backs was almost like Andrew Robertson and TAA, particularly Guoxiong who produced so many crosses from the right, while Raymond’s penetrative runs and Chong Ghee’s relentless pressing made huge differences too. Desmond’s calm passing and positioning was good for the team, with Sebastian the glue for the team with his orchestrating of the flow, drive and tempo during the match.
This leaves me to Man-of-the-Match Kenny who was a monster throughout the match. Pace, energy, passes, shots and all, Kenny was only extremely unlucky not to score at least 4 goals in the match.
These are the top 5 scorers for ARFC Veterans’ 29 matches:
1. Raymond – 18 goals
2. Haron – 14 goals
3. Darren – 11 goals
4. Soon – 10 goals
5. Sebastian – 9 goals
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