ARFC in hard-fought 4-4 draw

Playing its 2nd match in 3 days, ARFC conceded a last-min goal to allow a very talented youth team to claw back a 4-4 draw at the magnificent artificial pitch at Tampines SAFRA. With the draw, ARFC maintained its unbeaten run at the venue.

As expected, Elvis was ruled out with a serious back injury sustained during last Sunday’s match. However, credit to him as he still turned up to support, as did Jinzhong and Elvis’ beau, Anna. Robin also made his rare appearance for ARFC.

Buoyed by last Sunday’s crushing victory, the usual 77,777 ARFC fans turned up despite the late kick-off at 9 pm, thereby causing the electronic car-park system at Tampines SAFRA to crash. Surprisingly, Boon, the UOB Banker who used to dominate ARFC’s right flank, turned up to support for the last 17 mins.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Weili (guest keeper from Rendezvous FC)
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Uncompromising Edwin
Stopper: Unpredictable Blackburn
Left-back: Speedy Hee
Right-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Deadly Robin
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Sublime Khim
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: ARFC scoring legend Haron

No subs for the match.


When play started, it soon became obvious that ARFC would be in for a tough night as the opponents, led by their fast and skilful Terence, posed big problems to ARFC with their swift passing movement and runs. Having said that, ARFC is not ARFC for nothing and soon began to match them pace for pace, movement for movement despite the vast age gap of about 10 years.

ARFC feel behind in the 17th min. 0-1.

ARFC tried to equalize but was really unlucky when firstly, Edwin’s superbly-taken free-kick from 27 metres struck the wood-work and bounced clear. 7 mins later, Haron was the unlucky one when his sweetly-struck volley hit the cross-bar. Really unlucky!!!

ARFC, however, was not to be denied in the 37th min. Winning a free-kick near the centre circle, Sebastian took a quick one by chipping over their defence for Alvin to run through and beat their keeper for his 69th ARFC goal, thereby equaling Robin’s record which had previously been eclipsed by Haron and Blackburn.
Just seconds before the half-time, Khim delivered yet another sublime diagonal ball all the way from his left flank to Haron who had made a run down the right side. Bringing the ball down, Haron was not to be denied and volleyed the ball home for his 128th ARFC goal. His goal had the crowd to their feet who was still amazed by his goal-scoring instinct. 2-1.

The opponents equalized 7 mins after the re-start. 2-2.

Though tiring, ARFC continued to press for their 3rd goal and it duly arrived in the 57th min courtesy of an amateur mistake by their left-back who cleared the ball straight to Alvin who was inside the penalty box. Taking up such generous invitation, Alvin easily side-footed the ball home for his 70th ARFC goal and moved up to 3rd highest goal-scorer in ARFC’s history, after Haron and Blackburn.

ARFC got its 4th goal in the 67th min. Blackburn was the architect when he played a quick ball to Alvin who was lurking inside the box. The opponents were still dreaming but Blackburn did not ask for the wall. Alvin appeared to have lost control of the ball but his softest of touch managed to fool their keeper and the ball trickled into the net at a speed of 7 mm/hour. 4-2 now and it was Alvin’s 9th ARFC hat-trick, equaling Haron’s record but still behind Robin’s record of 10 hat-tricks.

It was after going 4-2 up that Blackburn was up to his usual antics again and began wondering about and neglected his defensive duty and position and thereby causing huge confusion for the midfield pairing of Sebastian and Soon.

A mistake by Sebastian resulted in their 3rd goal. 3-4.

With seconds remaining, their play-maker Terence scored the equalizer. 4-4.

Though ARFC should have won the match, it was no shame that it ended in a 4-4 draw. The opponents were full of running and skills and in fact, the organizer had actually predicted that ARFC would be thrashed by them as they had not been beaten at Tampines SAFRA. Their player, Terence, was one of the best, if not the best, social player that I have seen for a long, long time. In fact, the organizer said these words to me about Terence:

“Many players can’t even chase his shadows and many players had tried to fight and kick him off the park but he still came back for more with his dribbling……”

All 10 ARFC warriors (excluding keeper) deserved special mention for their commendable efforts in the match, especially for those who were limping and yet still soldiered on. My Man-of-the-Match has to be Guoxiong for his fabulous defensive work and several forays unfront.