ARFC's unfortunate and controversial loss

In a match refereed by the worst referee ARFC ever faced, ARFC was extremely unfortunate to lose 1-2 to Nova after a very controversial penalty awarded in almost the last kick of the match.

ARFC welcomed back sublime Khim after few weeks’ absence and versatile Kiat also made a surprise appearance. Sebastian’s wife, Caren, Khim’s wife Brenda and son Dylan were also there to lend their support.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Reliable David
Sweeper: Uncompromising Edwin
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Left-foot wizard Bernard
Right-mid: Hard-running Guoxiong
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Sublime Khim
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Unpredictable Blackburn

Subs: Speedy Hee
Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Versatile Kiat


The opponents were equal to ARFC and play was 50-50 until a very lousy off-side call by the referee which resulted in them scoring first in the 17th min.

7 mins later, ARFC nearly equalized after Sebastian broke through from the centre mid but his hesitation let the team now and the chance was gone.

However, ARFC did not take long to equalize. Toh’s chipped ball landed at Khim’s feet who fashioned a ball to Blackburn. Without breaking his stride, Blackburn unleashed a venomous volley that struck the underside of the bar and over the line, in a goal similar to Geoff Hurst’s 1966 World Cup Final goal against West Germany. 1-1 and it was Blackburn’s 71st ARFC goal.

Play was still equal throughout the match and both teams had great chances to score. For ARFC, Alvin burst through on the left flank and his shot was saved, Kiat’s follow-up was also saved and Guoxiong’s another follow-up was also saved.

David even had a well-struck 37 metres shot that was saved by their keeper.

The referee tried his best to spoil the good match and in the 2nd half, he did not even blow for off-side at all despite some very obvious off-side by the opponents.

With almost the last-kick of the match, the referee awarded the MOST softest and controversial penalty ever seen in modern football. 1-2.

ARFC was really unlucky to lose this match, thanks to the super-incompetent referee. The match also ended Alvin’s 9-match successive scoring run, nevertheless still an ARFC record itself.