ARFC in very freakish loss

In its 2nd Cup match at Woodgrove SS, ARFC conceded an extremely freakish goal to go down 1-2 to Unico FC. With the loss, ARFC's hope of qualifying for the knock-out round hangs in the balance.

ARFC was supported by Anna and Irene, beau of Elvis and Alvin respectively. Prior to the match, ARFC was rocked by the late withdrawal of Haron (swollen left eye) and Ron (work commitment). Hee also failed to recover from his right knee injury and could not make it to the match. Once again, Sebastian had to risk his still-injured left knee to take the field as there are only 11 warriors present.

ARFC started with this line-up:

GK - Weili (guest keeper)

RB - Hard-running Guoxiong

SW - Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

CB - Towering Toh

LB - Unbeatable Darren

RM - Talisman Derrick

CM - Dynamic Soon

CM - Hardman Tjioe

CM - Influential Sebastian

LM - Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)

SC - Powerful Alvin

The 1st half beloned entirely to ARFC as it took complete control of match proceeding with its neat passes, support and movements off the ball. Derrick spurned 2 good chances within 15 mins though the good point is that he had gone into the scoring position.

Toh also threatened with his aerial prowess when, from a Blackburn corner, he outjumped their defender but headed just wide.

Darren was next to miss narrowly when he connected with Sebastian's free-kick from the left but his header flew across the goal-mouth for a goal-kick.

After incessant pressuring, ARFC finally took the lead. Guoxiong brought the ball upwards from his right-back position and passed to Soon. With a clever flick over their defender, Soon burst clear down the right flank and floated in a cross to Alvin. Unmarked, Alvin did not disappoint the team, fans and Irene when he expertedly nodded home for his 114th ARFC goal. 1-0.

Just mins before the break, a rather dubious off-side decision goes against ARFC and they equalised. This is probably their only chance in the half. 1-1

In the 2nd half, ARFC continued where it started and still dominated play. However, it could not capitalised on several free-kicks and corner kicks floated in.

Disaster struck in the 57th min. Elvis made a back pass to Weili, whose kicking was nightmarish all day, who delayed his clearance. When he finally cleared the ball, their player stuck out a foot and the ball hit him and rolled into the empty net for a totally-freakish goal!!! 1-2

ARFC pressed hard for an equaliser but all efforts were futile and ARFC continued its winless streak in year 2010.

This was a match that ARFC totally did not deserve to lose. Football can be cruel and when the chances are not taken and some complacency crept in, such freak thing would happen. Also, the opponents pressed hard and challenged for every ball which is a good trait for every team.

However, the point worth mentioning is that all warriors played well, including Sebastian who can only function with his right foot due to his crocked left knee, and this defeat was really a bitter pill to swallow.

Man-of-the-Match is Derrick for winning many free-kicks as the opponent could not cope with his trickery and wing-play. Soon came close too. Credit to Tjioe as well for soldiering on despite his severe hang-over after drinking too much over Man Utd's win over Hull last night.