Playing for the first time at Bartley SS, ARFC fell victim to the softest-ever penalty decision awarded by any referee in the world by going down 0-1 to the energetic Samalongkok.
Before the match, ARFC was hit by very poor attendance and Sebastian’s attempts to call up many guest players were futile. Thankfully, Brandon kindly agreed to be keeper for the first time for ARFC.
ARFC started with this 4-4-2 line-up:
Keeper: Brandon
Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Speedy Hee (captain)
Centre-mid: Steely Tze Ern
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Wonder Wayne
Striker: Unpredictable Blackburn
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Subs:
Minghui (guest player – late)
Yao Yang (guest player – late)
Absent:
ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Combative Ron
Talisman Derrick
Sublime Khim
Dependable Jinzhong
Dynamic Soon
Hard-man Tjioe
Long-throw specialist Norman
Precocious En Dian
Nippy Kenny
It was a credit to Brandon for standing in for ARFC and he went on to produce a great performance which kept ARFC in the match.
As early as the 7th min, the opponents looked to have scored until Brandon produced a last-grasp agile save to prevent the ball from crossing the line. Wonderful goal-keeping.
Brandon then went on to produce another couple of fantastic saves.
At the other end of the pitch, Alvin, Blackburn and Hee worked tirelessly to harass their defenders while Wayne, Tze Ern and Sebastian tried their best to close down spaces.
Particularly, Alvin was very impressive with his penetrative runs down the left flank as the opponents simply could not keep up with his pace and power. On one occasion, he squared the ball across goal but no warrior was there to capitalize.
In the 17th min, Alvin’s well-floated corner was met by Toh who headed the ball against the cross-bar. The rebound was nearly latched on by Wayne but the opponents managed to clear the ball away.
In the 27th min, Sebastian picked up a cleared ball about 27 metres away from goal. However, his volley lacked power and was easily gathered by their keeper.
In the 2nd half, things were still even and ARFC warriors were clearly tiring. Thankfully, the famed ARFC defence led by Elvis held firm and the opponents were totally unable to make a break-through.
Things took a drastic turn in the 67th min with the divine help from the referee. In a scramble ball tussle in the penalty area, both Tze Ern and their striker tried to go for the ball at the same time. Both missed the ball but Tze Ern clashed legs with the striker. Incredibly and to the amazement of the world wide world, the referee blew for a phantom foul and awarded a penalty!!
I think it’s safe to say that even the opponents did not expect the penalty call and they then scored from the spot. 0-1.
I must say that this penalty is one of the world softest-ever penalty seemed since I started playing football.
Undeterred, ARFC did not allow their heads to drop and instead tried to fashion an equalizer. All warriors somehow found extra energy from nowhere and Alvin was most impressive when he tried his very best to conjure up an equalizer with his several piercing forays down the flanks with Hee supporting him ably.
In the 77th min, ARFC won a free-kick at a vantage position outside the box and Sebastian stepped up but only disappointed the fans when his curling shot was easily gathered by their keeper.
With 7 mins left, Alvin broke clear with a quick clever touch that took him away from their defender. Unluckily, their keeper dashed out quickly and block Alvin’s rasping shot with his legs.
Despite much effort, ARFC could not come up with an equalizer and lost 0-1.
This is the match where every warriors including the 3 guest players played with lots of effort and it was really unfortunate that the efforts were undone by the poorest referee decision ever since World Cup 1930.
Brandon was really colossal as keeper, Elvis led his defence of Toh, Guoxiong and Darren very well, and ARFC’s midfielders all tried their best to close down space. Up front, Hee and Blackburn really impressed.
This leaves me with Alvin. I think it’s safe to say that Alvin put in one of his best performances for ARFC and the only thing lacking was a goal from him. For that, Alvin is the Man-of-the-Match though Brandon came close.
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