For the 1st time since 30 Oct 2011, ARFC played a proper 11-a-side soccer match against Westminister at the brand-new artificial pitch at Premier Pitch located at Tessensohn Road on 28 Dec 2011.
Watched by Anna (wife of Elvis), Sebastian conjured up a totally unorthodox line-up with all starting 11 warriors playing out of position as follows:
Keeper: Brenden (guest keeper)
Right-back: Influential Sebastian
Sweeper: Steely Tze Ern
Stopper: Unpredictable Blackburn
Left-back: Marauding Guoxiong
Right-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Talisman Derrick
Centre-mid: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Left-mid: Unbeatable Darren
Striker: Wonder Wayne
Striker: Towering Toh
Subs:
Powerful Alvin (late)
Absent:
Combative Ron
Dependable Jinzhong
Hard-man Tjioe
Speedy Hee
Sublime Khim
Long-throw specialist Norman
Precocious En Dian
Nippy Kenny
Talented Chun Haw
ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
With such an unfamiliar-looking line-up, it was no surprise that ARFC took a while to settle down and quickly conceded a goal. 0-1
ARFC launched a fight-back and in the 17th min, Sebastian’s floated free-kick into the far post area hit the upright and other warriors could not capitalize on the rebound.
ARFC equalized courtesy of a determined Wayne who was in scintillating form all night. Holding off the challenge, Wayne unleashed a shot that took a wicked deflection and wrong-footed their keeper for his 3rd ARFC goal. 1-1
ARFC again fell behind mins later. 1-2
Wayne again put ARFC back on level terms with yet another determined run into the box. With the ball up in the air following some melee in the box, Wayne out-jumped their keeper to nod in his 4th ARFC goal 2-2
Brenden then came out with 2 good saves and special mention must be given to him for firstly agreeing to play guest keeper for us at the last min and also putting up a decent performance as keeper.
Alvin then came on for the tiring Guoxiong and he was shocked to find out that he would be playing at left-back. However, he gamely accepted the position in line with the unorthodox line-up. Alvin was to put in a more than decent performance as left-back and with that performance, he has established himself as the 3rd-choice left-back, after Darren and Ron.
Wayne completed his 1st-ever hat-trick in ARFC colours in the 37th min. ARFC won a free-kick and with the opponents still lining up for the wall, Wayne played the ball off Sebastian to Derrick who was already lurking in the box. Derrick duly played a wall-pass to Wayne who then glided into the box and dispatched a stiff grounder that beat their keeper for his 5th ARFC goal! 3-2
With his hat-trick, Wayne became the 20th ARFC warrior to score a hat-trick in a match. Of the 20 warriors, these are the active ARFC warriors:
Alvin (14 hat-tricks – 47 goals);
Haron (11 hat-tricks – 37 goals);
Blackburn (5 hat-tricks – 15 goals);
Hee (4 hat-tricks – 14 goals);
Sebastian (4 hat-tricks – 12 goals);
Derrick (2 hat-tricks – 9 goals);
Tjioe (2 hat-tricks – 7 goals);
Soon, Guoxiong and Wayne (1 hat-trick each – 3 goals each)
Guoxiong then came in for Toh at striker and towards the end Soon took a hit and was replaced by Toh.
In the 2nd half, ARFC resumed to its normal positioning with Wayne taking a well-earned break.
Keeper: Brenden (guest keeper)
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: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Steely Tze Ern
Striker: Unpredictable Blackburn
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Subs:
Wonder Wayne
Unsurprisingly, ARFC took complete control of proceedings in the 2nd half but was unable to turn the domination into more goals.
Off Sebastian’s throw-in, Alvin then came up with a cheeky back-flick that unfortunately struck the cross-bar.
Tze Ern then ran onto a flowing ball down the left flank and unleashed a first-timer that flew narrowly wide.
Toh also somehow misconnected with his head from Blackburn’s corner.
Wayne then replaced Blackburn and within mins of coming on, Wayne turned creator when he played the ball out wife left to Tze Ern who also had a fantastic game. Without breaking his stride, Tze Ern chipped the ball all the way from the left wing area over their keeper for his 5th ARFC goal 4-2.
ARFC then conceded a goal from an indirect free-kick. 4-3
However, ARFC regained the lead almost immediately when Tze Ern (or Darren?) lobbed a delicious ball down the left area for Alvin to power his way into the box before calmly outside-footed the ball home with his right foot for his 157th ARFC goal. 5-3
Man-of-the-Match must be given to Wayne with Tze Ern closely behind.
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