In a totally dominant performance, ARFC demolished New Easteroids 5-2 at the rather-poor pitch at East View SS in front of 177,777 fans including Anna, Cerine, Suhana+Afiqah, lovely beaus of Elvis, Jinzhong and Haron respectively.
ARFC received a tremendous boost when ARFC Scoring Legend Haron declared in his personal blog www.ilovesuhana&afiqah.haron.sg hat he will just play in one half due to fasting. Because of that, an additional 100,000 fans turned up for the match.
Jinzhong also returned to goalkeeping after being unavailable for 2 weeks due to injury.
ARFC started with this strong line-up:
Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Sliding King Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Long-throw Specialist Norman
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Steely Tze Ern
Left-mid: Dynamic Soon
Striker: ARFC Scoring Legend Haron (captain)
Striker: Unpredictable Blackburn
Subs:
Combative Ron
Talisman Derrick
En Dian
Prior to the match, it was noted that the opponents had in their ranks a 1.97 metre centre forward and Toh was forewarned that he would be in for a good aerial duals with him. Thankfully, Toh showed his experience by containing him very well, with strong help from Darren and later on, Ron.
It did not take long for the fans to realize who the eventual winner would be as ARFC completely dominated possession. Within minutes, Haron showed quick feet ala Steven McManamam when he eluded 3 defenders by shuffling the ball between his feet. Unfortunately, he was forced out too wide by their last covering defender and could not get a good shot in.
7 mins later, Haron looked to have scored after being put through. Unfortunately, he was challenged very strongly by their burly last man but still managed to toe-poke the ball towards goal. Miraculously, their keeper stuck out a foot and deflected the ball away for a corner. Totally unlucky!
Sebastian then executed a sharp volley from 37 metres but the ball flew wide.
Ron then replaced the tiring Soon. En Dian also came in for the disappointing Blackburn, and Derrick replaced Norman.
ARFC finally opened the scoring in the 27th min. En Dian picked up a long ball down the left flank and held the ball well. Sebastian called for the ball just outside the penalty box and En Dian duly obliged. Hearing a call from Ron, Sebastian laid the ball for Ron who took a touch, looked up, and let fly a venomous shot which landed at the top left-hand corner. The shot was so powerful and precise that their goalkeeper could not keep out at all. In fact, even any world-class keepers like Neville Southall, Peter Schmeichel, Pepe Reina or David Lee could do nothing too. This was Ron’s 2nd successive goals after he opened his accounts for ARFC last week. 1-0
The opening goal settled the nerves and ARFC doubled its lead 7 mins later. Derrick was fouled at the right flank area and Sebastian took the free-kick. For the 2nd week in a row, Sebastian again found his range as his high free-kick to the far post sailed over everybody and in came En Dian to plant a looping header over their keeper at his far post ala Alan Shearer for his 5th ARFC goal. 2-0
Half-time score was 2-0 and during the break, ARFC was reminded not to be complacent and to avoid the previous match error against the same opponents.
True enough, ARFC scored its 3rd goal just 7 mins after the break. En Dian did very well to power down the right bye-line but as he was about to square the ball, he was brought down clumsily, giving the excellent referee an easy decision to award a penalty. Darren was cajoled to take the penalty and after much hesitation, he stepped forward and sent their keeper the wrong way for his 1st-ever ARFC goal. 3-0
Toh looked to have ended his goal-scoring drought (last goal on 13 June 2010) when Blackburn’s excellent corner found him. However, Toh’s powerful header hit the cross-bar. Unlucky!
ARFC turned complacent and conceded a goal. 3-1.
En Dian or Derrick then hit the post.
In the 67th min, ARFC scored its 4th goal. Derrick picked up the ball and slalomed his way just outside the penalty box. He exchanged wall-passes with En Dian and powered into the box. The ball looked to be cleared by their keeper but Derrick did not give up and stuck out his foot. Fortunately, heavens was smiling at Derrick as the keeper’s clearance hit Derrick’s foot and Derrick then rolled the ball home into the empty net for his 28th ARFC goal. 4-1
ARFC was then awarded a 2nd penalty in the match when Derrick was cruelly brought down in the box which warranted a red card for the defender who only got a caution. Norman was also coaxed to take the penalty but unfortunately, he sent his kick just 0.77 metres wide.
No worries there as even regular successful penalty takers like Sebastian and Elvis had also missed before.
ARFC then wrapped up the match with a 5th goal. Darren’s excellent cross-field ball from his position found Norman dashing in from the right flank and broke their off-side trap. Norman was then unselfish when he squared the ball across goal for Derrick to gleefully tap into the empty net for his 29th ARFC goal. 5-1. Wonderful goal in terms of movement.
ARFC then conceded an unfortunate own goal. 5-2
Once again, credit must be given to the team attendance which is a good number. Particularly, special mention must be accorded to Haron for his willingness to come for the match despite on fast and most importantly, he did not show any ill-effects of fasting as his movements and dribbles were very good. For that, his match fees would be waived.
Once again, ARFC’s defence of Guoxiong (and for a short while Norman), Darren, Toh and Elvis was really a fortress. Jinzhong also showed that he was not rusty with some very safe catches and saves, and the 2 goals conceded were totally not his fault.
In midfield, Tze Ern and Ron also provided the muscle and tenacity with their never-ending pressing of opponents, while Soon was relentless in his pursuit of opponents and any loose balls. Sebastian also showed that his set-pieces are slowly getting back into shape in this match.
Derrick also provided some flash-backs of his wing-play with some excellent dribbles that totally dazzled the crowd.
Norman also improved on his positional play while En Dian again showed why he would be a huge asset to ARFC with his clever runs and hold-up play. Also, he provided another alternative to Toh in the air with his good jumps and timing. Blackburn also improved in the 2nd half after putting in a woeful performance in the 1st half.
There is no individual Man-of-the-Match for this match as every warrior played very well.
If there is anything that ARFC should strive for, it is that we should all try to keep a clean sheet in our next match. From my records, the last clean sheet was 12 matches ago, a 1-0 win over Serangoon CSC on 16 May 2010.
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