ARFC got off to a great start in 2011 when Haron’s expertly-taken brace enabled ARFC to chalk up a well-earned 2-1 win The OC. It is also ARFC’s 1st-ever victory over the young and dynamic opponents. The triumph was witnessed by 77,777 fans including including Anna and Tracie, WAG of Elvis and Guoxiong respectively.
Prior to the start, Sebastian announced the match would be FOC if we can overcome The OC. The announcement seemed to have added some fire in some of our pot-bellies.
However, bad news greeted ARFC as both Soon and En Dian went to the wrong venue and were hence late for the match.
ARFC started with this 4-4-2 line-up:
Keeper: Talented Chun Haw
Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Nippy Kenny
Centre-mid: Hard-man Tjioe
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Speedy Hee
Striker: Powerful Alvin (captain)
Striker: ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Subs:
Dynamic Soon (late)
Precocious En Dian (late)
Long-throw specialist Norman
Unpredictable Blackburn
Wonder Wayne
Absent:
Sublime Khim
Dependable Jinzhong
Talisman Derrick
Combative Ron
Steely Tze Ern
ARFC was looking to continue its good performance from last week and to clinch 2nd place in the D2D League. In the 7th min, Alvin’s wonderfully-lofted corner kick was met powerfully by Toh. To the disappointment of everybody, Toh sent his header straight to the keeper’s arms.
ARFC was then put on the back-foot by The OC after the latter produced their slick passing and movement. However, ARFC stood firm and the defence really stood out.
ARFC conceded a goal in the 27th min. 0-1
After a “hair-drying half-time pep talk, ARFC warriors came out with fury and pegged The OC back. In the 47th min, ARFC equalized.
A ball was drilled down the left flank where Wayne did extremely well to hold on to the ball while waiting for support and for our strikers to take up positions in the box. As expected, Soon duly arrived and from Wayne’s lay-off, Soon floated in a high curling ball with his left foot and eluded every opposing defenders. Before the ball could drop to the ground, in came Haron from the right to volley in a first-time shot ala Marco Van Basten for his 166th ARFC goal. A truly world-class goal that signaled a return to form by Haron. 1-1
In the 57th min, Haron nearly added a second goal. From Sebastian’s corner, both Toh and En Dian met the ball but the keeper parried the ball out. In a flash, Haron latched on to the loose ball but inexplicably lifted the ball over the bar. Unlucky miss!
ARFC scored the winning goal in the 77th min. From Darren’s long throw-in from the left, Blackburn executed a bicycle kick ala Jurgen Klinsmann and the ball flew over the entire defence to the right. Again, Haron showed predatory instinct when he came in from the blind side and again thumped the ball low into the net ala Dirk Kuyt for his 167th ARFC goal. 2-1 and the whole stadia went delirious!
ARFC held out to notch a well-deserved and hard-fought victory.
Even though Haron was the hero with both goals, total credit must be given to the whole team for yet another team performance. Particularly, ARFC’s defence, led by Toh, was totally world-class. Elvis marshaled well and Toh was totally dominating both on the ground and in the air. Guoxiong and Darren never gave their wingers a chance at all. Soon was also very impressive with his incessant pressing and industry. Tjioe, Sebastian and later on Blackburn did their best in helping out the defence.
Hee and Wayne also did very well in the 2nd half with their covering of full-backs which is very important in maintaining the shape of the team, while Kenny, Norman and En Dian were at their usual best. Alvin tried his best to tire out their defence and should be commended, while Haron of course benefitted from the distractions provided by Alvin, Kenny and En Dian to their defence and came up with the goods.
Man-of-the-Match is given to Toh with match rating of 9.777 though both Soon and Darren came close with same rating of 9.77.
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