ARFC crushed Team Orange 8-3

Playing in front of 107,777 fans, ARFC crushed Team Orange 8-3.

The additional 30,000 fans were mainly there to witness the 2nd official appearance of dynamic Soon as words got around that he was a great bargain at $77 million. As a result of the huge surge in the number of fans, jams were spotted as far back as the PIE and Mustaffa Centre.

Prior to the match, versatile Kiat pulled out due to unknown reasons. Fortunately, speedy Hee turned down his hot date with Andrea Fonseka and turned out for ARFC.

Line-up is hence as follows:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Influential Sebastian
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Left-foot wizard Bernard
Right-mid: Hardworking Tong
Centre-mid: Hard-man Tjioe
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Speedy Hee
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Unpredictable Blackburn

No subs.


ARFC wasted no time in seizing the initiative and it was no surprise when Alvin opened the scoring. In the 7th min, influential Sebastian’s delightful long and high ball from the right found Alvin breaking free. He turned his marker inside-out and beat the keeper for his 45th ARFC goal.

Just minutes later, ARFC went 2-0 up. Hardworking Tong’s precise cross from almost the right bye-line was expertly headed home by Alvin. Wonderful and Peter Crouch should really learn from him.

In the 27th min, talisman Derrick, who would be out for at least 2 months due to his torn right ligament, turned up to lend his support and he was immediately treated to a delicious hat-trick from Alvin. Soon threaded a ball to Hee on the left who sprinted clear and passed the ball to Blackburn. Hearing a call for the ball, Blackburn teed up nicely for Alvin who used his outside foot and shot home for his hat-trick. It was an almost perfect hat-trick as he had scored with his right foot and head but not the left-foot.

The icing on the cake came in the 37th min. Toh was crudely fouled just 7 metres outside the penalty box. Before anyone could move, Blackburn pushed everyone aside and attempted to curl the ball towards the left-hand corner. The ball took a wicked deflection off their defender’s head and wrong-footed the keeper for his 67th ARFC goal.

Blackburn’s goal also reached a milestone as it was ARFC’s 800th goal in its illustrious history!!

Just mins before the end of the 1st half, Soon dribbled all the way into the box and beat their keeper for his 2nd ARFC goal, thereby justifying the faith shown by the ARFC fans in turning up to support him.

5-0.

In the 2nd half, ARFC did not let its guard down. 7 mins from the re-start, Alvin lobbed the ball over the keeper and Tong dashed in from the blind-side on the right and cushioned the ball home for his 21st ARFC goal!!

Team Orange pulled a goal back after their free-kick was headed home by their forward as no one was tracking him. 1-6.

Undeterred, ARFC pressed on and got its 7th goal of the match. Hee looked up and saw Tong lurking on the right. His high ball to Tong appeared to be in no danger until their panicky defender dashed in from don’t-know-where and head past their keeper for a comical own-goal. 1-7.

ARFC was not done yet. In the 77th min, Alvin got his 4th goal of the match after he was put through. His initial save was well-saved by their keeper but Alvin reacted the fastest to side-foot the ball into the empty net. This is his 48th ARFC goal.

Jinzhong then pulled off 2 world-class one-on-one saves to keep the score down. His saves were all the more commendable as he has virtually nothing to do for the whole match yet maintain his alertness.

Hee then attempted to do one better than Alvin’s worst miss in ARFC’s history when he hit the post from 2.7 metres and with no one around him at all!! With the miss, it is now the 2nd-worst miss in ARFC’s history.

With mins to go, some of Team Orange’s players suddenly pleaded with the referee to end the match early to end their suffering. They were persuaded to carry on.

This proved to be a distraction to ARFC as suddenly Toh and amazingly Soon gifted 2 goals to them after their ball was intercepted. 3-8.

Speaking to the gathering PRC dancers from Dragonfly, Alvin was ecstatic at his 4-goal feat. “I hope the 4 goals will make-up for my horrendous miss last week. To show my sincerity, any ARFC warrior and their family members can take my taxi FOC for the next 7 days.”