Powered by a virtuoso performance from Derrick, ARFC finally snapped its unwanted 6-match losing streak (an ARFC record in itself!) by romping to a thumping 8-0 victory over our hapless opponents at Fuchun SS. The long-overdue win was witnessed by Anna (Elvis’ wife), Tracie (Guoxiong’s soon-to-be wife) and Sebastian who was out with his crocked left knee.
Prior to the match, Sebastian emphasized the importance of defending as a team as ARFC’s collective defending was not up to the mark as some goals conceded in the 6-match losing streak could have been prevented. The midfielders were urged to help out more instead of always looking to score. The advice worked a trick as all midfielders and strikers put in more effort to help out ARFC’s brilliant defenders. The return of Jinzhong also provided a boost to the team.
As both guest players, Yeong and Chuan, were late, ARFC started with only 10 warriors in this line-up:
Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Talisman Derrick
Centre-mid: Unpredictable Blackburn
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Speedy Hee
Striker: Powerful Alvin (captain)
Once the match got underway, it is soon no doubt that ARFC would win this match as the opponents were clearly not in the class of ARFC. However, ARFC warriors were still cautious as there were at least 2 or 3 matches (during the 6-match losing streak) where the opponents were way too inferior to ARFC but yet ended up as victors. Hence, it was important that ARFC quickly got its 1st goal to settle its nerves.
The opening goal duly arrived in the 17th min. Blackburn, who had his best match in months, held the ball from left to central and laid the ball to Derrick who was lurking on the right flank. Derrick delivered a first-time through ball to Alvin who needed no second invitation to score his 116th ARFC goal with a cool finish. 1-0
Just mins later, Guoxiong nearly scored his 11th ARFC goal when he was put through by Derrick. However, his well-hit shot struck the cross-bar and bounced to safety. Unlucky!!
ARFC doubled its tally 7 mins later. Soon, who put in yet another Mascherano-type performance, sent Derrick galloping through down the right flank. Without breaking his stride, Derrick’s cross was expertly volleyed home by Alvin for his 117th goal. Brilliant build-up goal!! 2-0.
After some missed chances, ARFC got its 3rd goal in the match. Alvin, who had an excellent match, floated in a hanging cross from the left flank. Despite not being the tallest of players, Yeong timed his jump to perfection, ala Olivier Bierhoff, and planted his header beyond the keeper’s reach for his ARFC debut goal. 3-0 and this is the half-time score.
In the 2nd half, ARFC did not let up and continued its quest for more goals. Just mins into the half, Soon’s high through ball down the left flank had Derrick facing their keeper one-to-one. Despite being closed down by their defender, Derrick displayed great composure by waiting for the keeper to commit before lifting the ball into the empty net for his 23rd ARFC goal. 4-0.
Alvin and Hee then pressured their defender into a mistake which led to Hee firing in a powerful right-foot shot that was turned over the bar by their keeper for a corner.
Alvin was then denied his hat-trick when he was put through by Derrick’s no-look pass but he blasted over the bar.
Derrick scored his 2nd goal in the match when Chuan’s forceful cross from the right eluded everyone. Derrick picked up the loose ball on the left bye-line and tricked his way through and squeezed the ball under the diving body of their keeper for his 24th ARFC goal. 5-0.
Hee then showed his world-renowned speed when he pressured their keeper to a mistake but was cruelly upended by him. Unfortunately, the referee did not blow for an obvious penalty.
Blackburn then exchanged a neat one-two with Hee which had Blackburn powering into the box but his shot was fired wide.
Toh then got into the scoring act. Receiving a throw-in from the right, Toh looked to have lost his footing but quickly regained possession within 0.7 seconds. Without hesitation, Toh unleashed a stiff left-foot grounder that screamed goal on its journey towards goal. True enough, the ball nestled nicely into the bottom corner for his 38th ARFC goal. 6-0. If I’m not wrong, this could be the 1st-ever left-foot goal by Toh who always scored with his head!!
Chuan was then rewarded with his industriousness when he scored his debut ARFC goal. Derrick’s high ball from left was superbly brought down by Chuan’s killer first-touch ala David Platt. With a nice flow, Chuan thundered the ball past their despairing keeper. 7-0.
Derrick was then denied his hat-trick. Off Alvin’s corner, Derrick’s acrobatic scissors kick was blocked.
Yeong then produced a wonder goal. Holding the ball up nicely in the central area, Yeong spread the ball out wide to Hee at the right flank. Hee’s aimed square cross was then cheekily flicked home by Yeong’s back-foot ala Clarence Seedorf’s recent Champions League goal for AC Milan against Man Utd. Brilliant goal!! 8-0.
This was a match where ARFC could have bettered its record victory of 14-0 with a little more luck. Blackburn was real unlucky with at least 4 golden chances. Hee could have also scored a couple. Alvin and Derrick could have also at least netted a hat-trick.
Nevertheless, the best thing that emerged from this match is the clean sheet. The last time that ARFC kept a clean sheet was on 26 Dec 2009 when we won 1-0 in a rain-soaked match. For this, special mention mist be given to the midfielders for helping out the defence though I must say our defence had also done very well.
Man-of-the-Match goes to Derrick though Soon, Darren and Blackburn did very well too. Our new players Yeong and Chuan also showed that they are players who could add much value to ARFC.
This is also ARFC’s 188th victory and Yeong’s 2nd goal was ARFC’s 1070th goal in its illustrious history.
Later in the evening, Sebastian called up D2D organizer and was informed that Huat FC had defeated Unido FC 2-1 which meant that ARFC qualified for the knock-out stage of the cup as group winner via goal-difference. For this, special thanks to Huat FC and HUAT AH!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment