Playing under extreme humid and hot weather at Bedok North SS, ARFC comprehensively dismissed the challenge of Unido FC with a score-line of 4-1.
The victory was witnessed by Anna (wife of Elvis), Lingzhi and 2 children (family of Ron) as well as about 70,000 Thais who fled from Bangkok due to the flood.
Special mention must be given to Soon who gamely took the field despite the injury. Bravery is the only word that can be used to describe him when he even chipped in with 3 headers despite all of us asking him not to challenge for high balls.
ARFC started with this 4-5-1 line-up:
Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Talisman Derrick
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Steely Tze Ern
Centre-mid: Combative Ron
Left-mid: Wonder Wayne
Striker: Powerful Alvin (captain)
Subs:
Dynamic Soon
Unpredictable Blackburn
Talented Chun Haw
ARFC Scoring Legend Haron (late)
Absent:
Hard-man Tjioe
Speedy Hee
Sublime Khim
Long-throw specialist Norman
Precocious En Dian
Nippy Kenny
ARFC did not warm up its engine enough and was under a bit of pressure at the start. No decent chances were created which was partly due to the deployment of just one striker.
But when the first real chance came, ARFC duly opened the scoring. Darren’s long ball from left back found Alvin in the box. Despite under close heavy attention, Alvin managed to get a shot in but the ball was blocked and reached Derrick in the box. Derrick immediately dispatched a low shot which took a huge wicked deflection that wrong-footed their keeper for his 46th ARFC goal1 1-0
Derrick then asked to be replaced and Soon came in.
Blackburn then saw action when he replaced the hard-working Wayne who was putting in a decent shift at left mid. Blackburn moved up front with Tze Ern moving to left mid.
Ron then took a knock from a heavy challenge and had to leave the field with Chun Haw coming in. This is also the last piece of action from Ron.
Haron then came late on in the half by replacing Tze Ern.
Just before the half ended, Chun Haw made space down the right flank but his cross was half-cleared by their defender. Sebastian picked up the ball and narrowly missed the target by 0.77 cm with his dropping shot. Unlucky!
In the 2nd half, ARFC shrugged off its cobweb by dominating play. A great ball saw Alvin powering past their defender with a sharp turn. Alvin was pulled and tugged along the way and if he had fall, it would surely be an iron-clad penalty. However, Alvin continued his surge forward and faced their keeper one-on-one but his shot was smothered by their keeper. Unlucky but what great sportsmanship!
Mins later, Derrick showed how to win a penalty when he tricked his way past their left-back and dribbled all the way into the box. Their defender then clumsily brought him down from behind giving the referee no choice but to award a penalty.
Sebastian stepped up to drill the ball down the middle for his 82nd ARFC goal. The goal was his 3rd penalty in as many matches and was also the 100th goal scored by ARFC in the year 2011.
Haron then flashed a shot just wide after a clever lay-off from Alvin.
ARFC put the result beyond doubt when Darren unleashed yet another ball down the left flank to Alvin. Alvin held on to the ball, heard a shout from Tze Ern and then square to him. Tze Ern then showed fancy footwork when he first eluded a covering defender with a inward drag-in, faced their keeper, repeated the same trick and virtually walked the ball into the empty net!! 3-0 and this was Tze Ern’s 4th ARFC goal! His goal also reminded all warriors and fans alike that he too can score from INSIDE the box as his previous 3 goals were all long-range missile shots!
ARFC had a huge scare when their corner routine struck our cross-bar!
ARFC then responded with our own corner routine when Sebastian aimed for Derrick who was lurking inside the 6-yard box. Unfortunately, Derrick’s header struck the cross-bar!
Derrick then flicked another header over the top from Sebastian’s free-kick.
ARFC then conceded a goal. 3-1
Darren and Guoxiong then left the field shortly after each other with niggling injuries.
ARFC then put the result to bed with its 4th goal. A clever ball from Soon down the right flank saw Haron chasing after the ball. Haron turned back the “lean” years when he reached the ball ahead of their keeper, rounded him and reached the right touch-line. Looking up in a calming manner, Haron chipped the ball over their keeper and there was Chun Haw who gleefully side-footed the ball and although their keeper got a hand to it, the shot was too powerfully and the ball trickled into the goal for his 3rd ARFC goal 4-1!
Except for the first 10 mins, ARFC was in total control. Attendance was good yet again and all warriors played well.
The only negative aspect is we did not keep a clean sheet.
Credit also to the opponents for being determined and stubborn in their performances.
Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Derrick and Alvin though Tze Ern and Darren came very close.
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