ARFC started its Silver League campaign on
a winning note after notching a comfortable 6-1 victory over Moulmein CSC.
ARFC officially welcomed back Kenny after
his horrendous knee injury and more good news were to follow with Kenny netted a
fine double in his come-back match. His goals were witnessed by his beau Joy
who simply bring joy (pun intended) to Kenny. With his goals, pace and guile,
Kenny is just like a new $77 million signing for ARFC.
Elvis also made his appearance after
fatherly duty.
Special credit to Derrick also for
volunteering to be keeper after both custodians, Jinzhong and How Meng, dropped
out of the match.
This is the starting line-up:
Keeper - Talisman Derrick
Right-back - Marauding Guoxiong
Sweeper - Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper - Combative
Ron
Left-back - Unbeatable Darren
Left-mid - Sublime Khim
Centre-mid - Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid - Influential Sebastian
Right-mid - Unpredictable Blackburn
Striker - Powerful
Alvin (captain)
Striker - Speedy Hee
Subs:
Hard-man Tjioe
Nippy Kenny
Absent:
ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Towering Toh
Composed Jackson
Dependable Jinzhong
Wonder
Wayne
Skillful Weilit
Resolute Jasper
Impeccable How Meng
Talented Chun Haw
Steely Tze Ern
Mean-machine Hock
Long-throw specialist Norman
Precocious En Dian
ARFC started brightly with some crisp passing but was unable to find a
break-through.
Tragedy struck in the 7th min when the opponents scored with
their first attempt on goal after breaking ARFC’s off-side trap.
ARFC responded immediately with Guoxiong almost doing a Rafael da Silva moment
(goal against QPR the night before) when he let fly a powerful shot from almost
the same distance and spot as Rafael but his missile just missed the stanchion
by a mere 0.77 cm.
Hee was next to miss when he turned superbly but his low diagonal shot
was just 0.77 cm wide of the right post.
Alvin became the next culprit when he was put clear by Hee and faced
their keeper one-on-one. To the amazement of the whole world, he sliced his
shot wide and for that incredible miss, he received the “hair-dryer treatment”
(worse than Alex Ferguson’s one) from both Ron and Blackburn.
To the warriors’ credit, they did not allow their heads to drop due to
the misses and duly equalsied in the 17th min.
As usual, ARFC’s best player of all time Khim was the architect when he
delivered a precise ball to Alvin at the left. Alvin sent in a low cross and
Hee continued his great form when he ghosted in from deep and lifted the ball
over their keeper ala Thierry Henry for his 87th ARFC goal. 1-1
ARFC doubled its lead 77 seconds later courtesy of yet another scud
missile-like throw-in from Darren. His throw-in bounced deep into the 6-yard
box and their keeper somehow pushed the ball onto the cross-bar. The rebound
fell kindly to Alvin who simply touched the ball in for his 189th
ARFC goal. 2-1
Kenny then announced his return with a bang. From Blackburn’s throw-in,
Khim trapped the ball ala Dennis Bergkamp and instead of shooting, he laid the
ball to Kenny who ran in from deep ala Paul Scholes and thundered in a violent
shot that went right through the palms of their keeper for his 12th
ARFC goal. 3-1
Hee had a chance to score but his weak hit was cleared off the line.
In the 2nd half, Ron took over from Derrick but it was
short-lived after his finger was injured by their forward and Derrick returned
to goal.
ARFC continued pressing and demonstrated so many fantastic passing moves
and support for each other. The passing was also sharp ala Liverpool in the 80s
that the opponents were often caught chasing shadows.
It was from such a move that ARFC scored its 4th goal in the
match. After some crisp passing between Sebastian, Tjioe and Kenny, Guoxiong was
sent down the right flank. Guoxiong fizzed in a brilliant cross ala David
Beckham and Alvin stretched out his right foot and juts managed to prod the
ball home (though their keeper got a touch) for his 190th ARFC goal.
4-1
By now, the opponents were dead and buried and it was just a matter of
time before ARFC grabbed more goals.
Kenny then capped his come-back with his 2nd goal of the
match. From Tjioe’s ball, Kenny simply unleashed a powerful shot that dipped
over their keeper for his 13th ARFC goal. 5-1 and with this goal,
Kenny move up on level terms with Elvis at 13 goals.
From Derrick’s goal-kick ala Pepe Reina, Alvin won the challenge with
their “Yakubu-like” stopper who was taller and much bigger than our Toh.
Sprinting clear, Alvin scored with his outside right foot for his 191st
ARFC goal. 6-1
This was also Alvin’s 18th hat-trick for ARFC.
Kenny had chance to notch his first-ever hat-trick for ARFC from a
free-kick just 0.77 cm outside the box for a foul on him. However, his
scorching shot went to row Z.
This was a match where every warrior played very well and it would be
unfair to single out any warrior for Man-of-the-Match award. This was truly a
team performance.
