ARFC in unlucky draw

Playing Casanova XI for the 2nd time in the league, a sense of déjà vu occurred when ARFC again missed a glut of chances to salvage a 2-2 draw.

Prior to the match, Hee unexpectedly turned up for his 1st match in months. Credit to Ron too for playing despite carrying an illness.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis (captain)
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Hard-man Tjioe
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Talented Chun Haw
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Unpredictable Blackburn

Subs:

Talisman Derrick (late)
Long-throw specialist Norman
Combative Ron
Speedy Hee

Absent:

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Steely Tze Ern
Sublime Khim
Wonder Wayne
Precocious En Dian
Nippy Kenny

ARFC was eager to gain revenge for its defeat to them earlier after playing with 10 warriors. However, ARFC spurned a number of good chances.

ARFC then fell behind after conceding yet another goal from a free-kick. 0-1

In the 2nd half, ARFC again had the upper hand but fell further behind from a penalty conceded. 0-2.

Strangely enough, ARFC was motivated by this set-back and did not give up. Particularly, Tjioe upped his game by producing a strong display to keep ARFC going. Ron’s biting tackles also proved a hit with the fans.

ARFC finally pulled a goal back courtesy of yet another proven route. Sebastian’s corner from the right was hit to the danger zone (between 6-yard and penalty spot) and there was Toh who came charging in to power home his 52nd ARFC goal with a header. 1-2. Toh’s goal also continued his rich vein of form as this is the 3rd consecutive match that he has scored.

From Darren’s powerful throw-in, mayhem was created in the crowded box and after the ball had stayed in the air for ages, Blackburn headed the ball back from the left touch-line to Alvin who was just 77 mm from the goal-line in the box. Reacted quickest, Alvin stooped low and nodded home his 154th ARFC goal. 2-2

ARFC could have snatched the winning goal on at least 3 occasions. First, Derrick dribbled in from the right and fired his shot just inches wide of the stanchion. Then, Soon failed to get a decent shot in after creating space in the box.

The miss of the match came from Blackburn. Sebastian’s lofted high ball eluded their last defender and the ball bounced nicely and slowly for Blackburn to be the hero. Alas, he was over-confident and incredibly placed the shot wide – a repeat of Haron’s miss last Sunday! In Harry Redknapp’s words, “even my grandmother would have scored”!!

Just seconds to the end, Blackburn and Derrick combined well in the box which saw the ball landed at the feet of Sebastian. However, Sebastian could not get a nice footing and only managed to fire in a meek shot which was collected by their keeper easily.

Though disappointed with the draw as ARFC had so many chances, there are some positives from the match. Firstly, the attendance was real good and hope that this can be maintained. Secondly, ARFC did not give up though 2 goals down and instead fight back and finished very strongly. With a bit of luck, ARFC could have ran out victors. Lastly, no ARFC warriors “f” each other with the various mistakes and misses which is nice to see.

The only negative aspect is that ARFC has not been keeping a clean sheet for the past 7 matches and conceded a total of 21 goals! (our last clean sheet was a 1-0 win over Macheda on 17 July 2011).

Hence, for the next match, let’s focus more on giving more support to our defenders which in my opinion has been very good all this while.

Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Elvis and Ron.