Soon nets ARFC's 2300th ARFC Open team goal in 2-1 win

 Playing Deaf United for the very first time, ARFC eked out a hard-fought 2-1 victory on 3 Sep 2023 at 5 pm at the very hard Pei Haw Sec Sch pitch to preserve its 8-match unbeaten run in 2023.

 

ARFC was supported by Tiara, Dylan and Gina (Elvis’ children).

 

ARFC took to the pitch with this 4-5-1 line-up:

 

Jersey No.:	Name	Position
29	Flying Fremont	Goalkeeper
66	Vintage Chua	Right back
20	Composed Eng Lai	Sweeper
14	Combative Ron	Stopper
6	Unbeatable Darren	Left back
16	Marauding Guoxiong	Right mid
7	Influential Sebastian (captain)	Centre Mid
4	Dynamic Soon	Centre Mid
2	Remarkable Rashid	Centre Mid
10	Sublime Khim	Left Mid
9	ARFC Scoring Legend Haron	Striker
Substitutes:
3	Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
15	Towering Toh
19	Skillful Wei Lit
xx	Syed (guest player)
xx	Akid (guest player) – Rashid’s son
Missing In Action:
1	Agile Zhi Chong
5	Energetic Kerwin
8	Precocious Javier
11	Speedy Hee
13	Talisman Derrick
17	Nippy Kenny
18	Determined Huiming
23	Talented Chun Haw
26	Rampaging Raymond
27	Left-foot wizard Kejendran (KJ)
28	Hard-man Tjioe
31	Wonder Wayne
77	Dependable Jinzhong
78	Steely Tze Ern
98	Impeccable How Meng
99	Powerful Alvin

 

 

ARFC totally dominated the early exchanges with Haron coming very close with a narrow miss in the 2^nd minute.

 

ARFC then squandered 5 corners in almost quick succession.

Khim then looked to have opened the scoring when he went one-on-one with their GK but the latter produced an incredulous save to deny Khim.

 

The history repeated itself 7 mins later when Khim found himself through on goal after cleverly eluding their defence’s line.  However, their GK stuck out his right foot to block Khim’s shot that seemed destined for goal. Unlucky Khim!

 

ARFC then made a string of substitutions with Elvis, Toh and Syed replacing Eng Lai, Ron and Guoxiong respectively.

 

Minutes later, Wei Lit took over from Khim.

 

ARFC was then made to pay for its profligacy when the opponents scored from a corner routine. 0-1

 

Fremont then kept ARFC in the match when the opponents a stiff grounder that took a wicked deflection off Elvis and looked to be ended up in the net.   Fremont was already heading the other way but somehow he managed to twist his body back and produced an outrageous sprawling save to his left to turn the ball away for a corner.

 

Simply world class save!!!

 

ARFC continued to press for the equaliser and Haron came close again with 2 chances while Rashi hit a curling shot but could not trouble their GK.

 

ARFC’s relentless efforts finally paid off after both Wei Lit and Rashid pressed their right back in their half.  The loose ball found its way to Soon who brought the ball inwards before calmly guiding the ball at the right bottom corner that left their GK rooted to the spot.  1-1 now and this was Soon’s 98^th ARFC goal.

 

Soon’s goal was also the 2300^th ARFC goal from Open team matches. A great milestone indeed!

 

The half ended 1-1.

 

In the 2^nd half, Khim went 3^rd time unluck when he wriggled free on the left but shot straight at their GK.

 

Syed then produced a stunning overhead kick from a corner but the ball just sailed agonisingly wide.

 

Rashid then dribbled past 2 opponents down the right but could only smack a shot against the right post.

 

Haron was next to miss when his shot went slightly off tangent.

 

ARFC finally grabbed the breakthrough in the 67^th min.

 

Rashid slalomed his way past 3 opponents before releasing Wei Lit with an exquisite slide rule pass.  Wei Lit gleefully latched on to the ball and slotted past their GK. 2-1 and this was Wei Lit’s 21^st ARFC goal, putting him on level terms with ex-ARFC warriors Hock and Jiong Jiong.

 

7 mins later, Wei Lit had a chance to double his tally after he ran in from deep to receive a through ball.  With their GK rushing out, however, Wei Lit could only lift the ball over the bar.

 

For this match, Haron played the full match and led the line extremely well and was really unlucky not to score.

 

Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Rashid and Haron.