ARFC's 125th victory

After a 3-week hiatus, ARFC returned to its winning ways with a rather-easy 3-2 victory over Legion FC at Xin Min Secondary School.

Speedy Hee started as the keeper, with astute-reading sweeper Elvis, determined Huiming, left-foot wizard and reliable David Mak as the defenders. Sublime Khim, influential Sebastiano, hard-working Tong and Kiat Gulam were the midfielders, with unpredictable Blackburn and talisman Derrick as the forwards. Our only sub was Ryan, Kiat Gulam’s colleague and a Korean import who used to turn out for FC Seoul in his youth days. Because of his presence, several Korean babes were also present to give him physical and moral support.

Due to the 3-week break, ARFC was firing on all cylinders when the referee blew the kick-off whistle. The match was just 77 seconds when talisman Derrick broke free on the right wing and sent in a measured ball to sublime Khim just outside the penalty box. Displaying great anticipation and technique, sublime Khim met the ball first time and volleyed in the ball that somehow squirmed under the keeper’s body for a 1-0 lead and his 26th ARFC goal.

Just 7 minutes later, ARFC went 2-0 up. After a series of exchanges, hard-working Tong spotted talisman Derrick lurking on the right and sent in a beautiful ball to him. Talisman Derrick broke free, rounded the keeper and slot the ball into the empty net for his 11th ARFC goal. The Korean babes, sensing a thrashing, began chanting talisman Derrick’s name which seemed to spur him on. One Korean babe was even seen taking off her top and wave her top around.

ARFC totally dominated the match. Tragedy, however, struck in the 17th min. Speedy Hee, obviously not a keeper material, played the ball to their striker from a goal kick. The striker’s weak shot then inexplicably “sarong” Speedy Hee’s legs and pulled a goal back. The goal seemed to wake the opponents up and they began playing so much better. 1-2.

In the 27th min, their opponent equalized. Their midfielder took a long shot from 37 metres and Speedy Hee totally misjudged the flight of the ball which ended up in the net. 2-2 now.

ARFC realized that they have to lose their complacency in order to get something out of the match and began playing like they started the match. ARFC regained its lead right on the stroke of half-time. Unpredictable Blackburn, who was, well, having an unpredictable match, sent in an inch-perfect ball to talisman Derrick on the right. Bringing the ball down with a perfect touch, talisman Derrick unleashed a shot that had “goal” written all over it. True enough, the ball found the net at the bottom left-corner for his 12th ARFC goal.

In the second half, ARFC began tiring out and its cause was not helped by not having enough subs. Ryan, the Korean import, was obviously out of his depth. Nevertheless, ARFC still had a few chances but could not find the net.

In the 77th min, ARFC had to be indebted to determined Huiming who blocked a goal-bound header on the line. The opponent also had a last-min chance not taken.

The final score of 3-2 was in fact flattering to the opponent as ARFC was clearly a class above them. However, the two gifted goals to them seemed to motivate them. Furthermore, it was later realized that Ryan was in fact a basketball player from FC Seoul and not a football player!!

The defence, led by the imperious astute-reading sweeper Elvis and the doggedness of determined Huiming ala Jamie Carragher, once again stood out. Both full-backs also easily snubbed out their wingers. The midfielders also display good passing movements and unpredictable Blackburn, though guilty of losing too many balls, had several good passes and touches.

But the Man-of-the-Match clearly belonged to talisman Derrick, who obviously wanted to impress the Korean babes that he gave his all in the match. After the match, talisman Derrick was spotted exchanging numbers with Kim Hyun Hwan, the Korean babe who took off her top earlier. ………