"Half-ARFC" fell to The OC

Despite playing with a superior numerical advantage, ARFC still fell 1-2 to The OC at Compassvale SS yesterday.

Prior to the match, ARFC was already confirmed to be missing many key warriors due to Guoxiong’s wedding, Andrew’s birthday party the night before and many injuries sustained in last week’s heavy defeat by Team BI. ARFC was further rocked when Toh was caught in JB and could not make it back in time for the match. As such, ARFC called up an unprecedented 5 guest players for the match!!

Thankfully, Tjioe turned up despite having a strong hang-over and Hee and Derrick also made last-min appearances.


ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Weili (Rendezvous FC’s steady keeper)
Right-back: Sng (Rendezvous FC’s marauding right-back)
Sweeper: Daniel (Rendezvous FC’s vocal sweeper)
Stopper: Bob (Rendezvous FC’s central midfielder)
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Steely Tze Ern
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Speedy Hee

Subs:

Talisman Derrick
Glenn (guest player – Wayne’s friend)
Hardman Tjioe

Playing with a lousy ball on a lousy pitch, ARFC’s passes were all under-hit and the strong anti-wind direction often resulted in balls not reaching our warriors. In addition, The OC’s impressive sweeper seemed to mop up every balls played to our forwards.

ARFC had Weili to thank for when he made 2 superb one-on-one saves. With ARFC failing to conjure up decent chances, it was no surprise that the half was goal-less.

ARFC then conceded 2 goals to trail 0-2.

With 7 mins to go, Sebastian sprinted down the right flank, cut inside and beat their left-back and squared the ball to the lurking Alvin just outside the 6-yard box. Alvin eluded their defenders and was brought down, giving the referee an easy decision in awarding a penalty. The offender was shown a yellow card and as this was his 2nd yellow, he was dismissed.

Sebastian stepped up and sent their keeper the wrong way for his 74th ARFC goal.

ARFC then pressed forward in its bid to grab an equalizer but it did not come.

There is no Man-of-the-Match award to ARFC warriors as no one played well enough to deserve it. (Note: The guest players are not eligible for the MOM award.)

Speaking to the angry crowd of fans after the match, Sebastian apologized for the abject performance of the warriors. Mirroring the current state of the greatest team in the world, Liverpool FC, Sebastian said:

“We need funds to rejuvenate ARFC as our jerseys are past the sell-by date with all names, sponsor’s name, numbers all falling apart. Playing with such torn-and-tattered jerseys, it is no surprise that ARFC warriors could not raise their standards. Hence, if there is any kind millionaire soul willing enough to sponsor, please contact me immediately.”