Haron's heroics failed to save ARFC from defeat

Resuming its tournament match after the last tournament match on 11 July 2010, ARFC took the lead first but succumbed 1-2 to the young and fit Team Kangtao at Tanglin Sec Sch.

Prior to the match, ARFC was disrupted by the last-min notice on the change in match venue from the East side (Bedok area) all the way to the west end at Tanglin SS. This change caused panic and confusion amongst the warriors as several warriors had to detour and ended up arriving just 7 mins before the start. Due to the change, many of the fanatical ARFC fans did not turn up to support as only 77 fans managed to make it there.

To make matters worse, ARFC lost the prowess of the powerful Alvin who was ruled out for the rest of the season after the doctors at SGH diagnosed that his slip disc had, well, slipped.

Thankfully, Derrick recovered from his metersalalalala injury on this right foot and Haron also made a great sacrifice to volunteer as keeper despite being on a fast.

ARFC started with a 4-5-1 line-up with Darren captaining ARFC for the very first time:

Keeper: ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Unpredictable Blackburn
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren (captain)
Right-mid: Talisman Derrick
Centre-mid: Combative Ron
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Speedy Hee
Striker: Yoong

Subs:

Wayne
Norman

ARFC dominated proceedings in the opening 20 mins with Yoong and Hee particularly impressive. In the 17th min, ARFC took the lead after Blackburn’s free-kick from the sweeper position found Yoong just outside the box. With a sharp turn, Yoong made space for himself and unleashed a stiff grounder that left their keeper rooted to the spot for his 8th ARFC goal. 1-0 and it was a fantastic strike.

ARFC warriors, however, quickly tired out with Norman replacing Derrick at right mid. Mins later, Ron’s boots gave way and was replaced by Wayne. By now, ARFC switched to 4-4-2 with Hee moving upfront and Soon moved over to left mid. Messi salivating. 2-0

Haron then produced a world-class save when he brilliantly tipped a ferocious free-kick over the bar.

7 mins later, he again produced a low diving save to parry the ball for a corner after the ball looked to have skidded into the net.

ARFC nearly doubled the lead when Sebastian’s corner kick from the right hit the cross-bar but no warriors were on hand to tap in the rebound. Unlucky!

ARFC had a couple of half chances but could not capitalize.

The turning point came when Yoong departed at half time as he had another match at Tampines SAFRA. With just one sub left and tiring quickly, it was no surprise that ARFC was under heavy pressure from the opponents.

Thankfully, Haron again showed his great goalkeeping when he kept out at least another 2 or 3 saves to preserve ARFC’s slender lead.

Upfront, Derrick pressured their keeper into spilling the ball but his curling kick from near the right touch-line just failed to trickle into the net. Unlucky!

In the 57th min, Toh then bundled the ball, and their keeper, over from Sebastian’s corner but it was correctly ruled out for a foul by the excellent referee.

ARFC then conceded 2 goals in the space of 5.7 mins. 1-2.

Towards the end of the match, Norman’s several missile throw-ins threatened to bring the match to parity but to no avail. ARFC then lost for the first time in the tournament.

Man-of-the-Match is obviously Haron who came up with several top-notch saves.