ARFC drew 4-4

In a match played under Sahara Desert-like temperature at the St. Wilfrid’s artificial pitch, ARFC conceded a last-grasp penalty to allow its opponent to claw a 4-4 draw.

Just hours before the match, ARFC suffered triple-blows when hard-man Tjioe (flu), versatile Kiat (daughter sick) and ARFC scoring legend Haron (personal commitment) all withdrew from the squad. As such, ARFC had no choice but to play with only 10½ warriors as powerful Alvin was hampered by a hamstring injury suffered few days before the match.

The starting line-up was thus: dependable Jinzhong as keeper with the usual defence of astute-reading sweeper Elvis, Towering Toh, determined Huiming and left-foot wizard Bernard. Hardworking Tong, influential Sebastian, speedy Hee and talisman Derrick formed the midfield while the half-fit powerful Alvin was paired up with unpredictable Blackburn.

ARFC easily dominated the proceedings from the word go though the opponents fought hard for almost every ball. In the 7th min, influential Sebastian and talisman Derrick combined to set up powerful Alvin in the box. Capitalising on the nervousness in the opposing defence, he calmly dinked the ball over their keeper and covering defender to nestle nicely into the bottom right corner for his 43rd ARFC goal. The goal surprised the 77,777 fans as he was clearly unfit to even run for the ball yet maintained his predatory instinct.

However, a horrible but unusual howler by dependable Jinzhong gifted them an equalizer. A direct long punt into our penalty box looked to be well-covered by determined Huiming but to the astonishment of the whole stadia, dependable Jinzhong charged out, kicked the thin air and completely missed the ball, leaving their striker with the easiest chance in the world to roll the ball in. 1-1.

The goal appeared to instill confidence and galvanise the opponents as they seemed to found extra energy and raised their game a few notches. Indeed, they went ahead in the 17th min after influential Sebastian’s pass was intercepted and they counter-attacked with a ball to their striker. Though he looked suspiciously off-side, the referee waved play on and he thus slotted in. 1-2 now!!

At this juncture, the fans started whistling and booed ARFC as they were dissatisfied with the effort put in by ARFC as the warriors were too slow in releasing the ball and lost out too often in duals for balls. Not wanting to let anybody down, towering Toh tried to wake every warrior up from their slumber with shouts and shouts.

All warriors responded positively. In the 27th min, ARFC equalized. Off a corner from unpredictable Blackburn, towering Toh’s header was handled by their defender giving the referee little choice but to point to the spot. Influential Sebastian stepped up and sent their keeper the wrong way for his 52nd ARFC goal. 2-2.

During the half-time pep talk, ARFC recognized its faults and pledged to do better for the fans as well as Yanxiu (wife of determined Huiming) and Irene (girlfriend of powerful Alvin.)

Indeed, ARFC came out firing on all cylinders and totally dictated play in the first 25 mins of the second half. Speedy Hee, who was having an impressive outing, mesmerized their defence with a Ryan Giggs-like run on the left flank and eluded 2 defenders. Once inside the box, he found powerful Alvin who duly thumped home the ball for his 44th ARFC goal. In the process, his shot also damaged their keeper’s spectacles. Amazing shot for a half-fit warrior!!!

In the 67th min, ARFC increased its lead. Again, speedy Hee was the architect as he caused havoc in their defence. The loose ball dropped to unpredictable Blackburn about 37.77 metres away. Dragging the warriors’ and fan’s memories back about 10 years, he unleashed a volley that had goal screaming all the way and true enough, the ball landed into the top right-hand corner. His wonderful goal had the commentator exclaiming that even “top keeper like Bruce Grobblearr, Neville Southall, Pat Jennings, Gary Bailey, Dino Zoff would have no chance at all!!”

All the pioneer warriors would attest that unpredictable Blackburn’s goal, his 64th ARFC goal, was typical “Blackburn in his younger days” when such goals are regular and common sight.

However, ARFC took its foot off the pedal and was punished. In the 77th min, left-foot wizard Bernard was sold a dummy by their striker who scored from inside the box. 3-4.

The day turned the worst for left-foot wizard Bernard in the dying minutes of the match when he clumsily clattered into their striker and a penalty was awarded. With virtually the last kick of the match, they converted the penalty to claim a 4-4 draw.

This was a match where ARFC gave a Jekyll and Hyde display where ARFC was very impressive in certain periods and very poor in other periods. Also, it was very rare to have so many warriors, EXCEPT determined Huiming, speedy Hee and astute-reading sweeper Elvis, performed so poorly in the same match.

Man-of-the-Match? Shared by determined Huiming and speedy Hee.