ARFC in unlucky draw

In its D2D League 2nd match, ARFC was really unlucky not to notch a victory over the formidable The OC when it squandered a host of chances to draw 1-1 in front of 77,777 fans which included Anna at MacPherson SS.

Prior to the match, Tjioe withdrew due to high fever and tonjilsjiyltollis on Saturday night (I also don’t know what is that but sounds like the stupid Greek Liverpool defender’s name). Worst to come was when Jinzhong pulled out on Sunday at around noon time, citing work commitment. Luckily, we managed to call up 3 guest players, Raymond, Sze Meng and Yao Yang.

ARFC started with this 4-4-2 line-up:

Keeper: Sze Meng (guest player)
Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Combative Ron
Right-mid: Long-throw specialist Norman
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Raymond (guest player)
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)

Subs:

Wonder Wayne
Yao Yang (guest player)

Absent:

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Dependable Jinzhong
Hard-man Tjioe
Precocious En Dian
Unbeatable Darren
Sublime Khim
Speedy Hee
Nippy Kenny
Talisman Derrick
Steely Tze Ern
Talented Chun Haw

Credit must be given to Wayne who turned up early and despite nursing a high fever.

ARFC was quickest off the blocks and was powered by Raymond’s incisive runs down the left flank which their right back could not handled.

ARFC could have opened the scoring in the 7th min after some good work down the left flank by Raymond and Alvin. The ball rolled to the centre just outside the box and hearing a shout from Blackburn, Soon dummied the ball but Blackburn shot hit row Z.

7 mins later, off Sebastian’s corner, Raymond connected with a powerful header but their defender cleared off the line. Unlucky!

7 mins later, Raymond repeated the act. From Alvin’s corner, Raymond again rose like a fish and headed powerfully towards the top right-hand corner. Just when the whole stadium is expecting a goal, their keeper produced a top-draw save to push the ball out for a corner. Totally unlucky!

From their first shot, The OC opened the scoring in the 27th min. 0-1

ARFC could have equalized mins later. From a quick counter-attack, Blackburn laid the ball nicely for Soon in the box but Soon also shot into row Z, sparking furious reaction from Blackburn.

Just mins before the end of 1st half, Blackburn lofted the ball into the 6-yard box where Alvin tried to execute a stooping header but failed to connect. In hindsight, Alvin could have just steered the ball using his foot.

In the 2nd half, Ron volunteered to be keeper and Sze Meng took over the left-back position with Yao Yang at left mid and Raymond moved in to partner Sebastian as Soon was carrying a minor knee injury. Wayne moved up to join Blackburn in attack.

Sze Meng and Yao Yang combined very well at the left side and thereby easing the team.

Wayne then conjured up a chance but could not take it.

Raymond and Yao Yang then combined down the left and from the cross, Blackburn and Wayne both dummied which saw the ball rolled nicely into the path of Norman. However, Norman could not connect the ball well enough and produced a weak shot which was easily gathered by their keeper.

ARFC finally got its reward with 7 mins left on the clock. From Norman’s corner, Toh flicked the ball on and there was the unmarked Raymond who was determined to score with his header with his 3rd chance. He jerked his body back, summoned all his 777 neck muscles and headed the ball powerfully into the net for his 4th ARFC goal. 1-1

I think this is a match where ARFC played very well despite some limitations in terms of players.

Special credit must be given to Elvis’ defence of Toh, Guoxiong, Ron, Sze Meng and Sebastian (replaced Elvis when he went off injured) who constantly kept the opponents at bay.

Man-of-the-Match is given to Blackburn though I must say Raymond came close.