ARFC fell to contentious referee decision

On a hot and humid day, ARFC took the lead but fell 1-2 to Schwarstarz FC thanks to a controversial decision by the inept referee.  

ARFC was boosted by the last-min presence of Khim, Ron, Norman and the returning prodigal son Hock. Special mention to Wayne also for coming despite arriving in Singapore only on Sunday morning, and to Guoxiong for “sacrificing” his JB trip with his wife.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong

Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong

Sweeper: Unpredictable Blackburn

Stopper: Combative Ron

Left-back: Unbeatable Darren  

Right-mid: Talisman Derrick

Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon

Centre-mid:  Isaac (guest player)

Left-mid: Sublime Khim

Striker: Powerful Alvin (captain)

Striker: Wonder Wayne

Subs:

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Long-throw specialist Norman

Seh Meng

Mean-machine Hock (late)

Absent:

Steely Tze Ern

Speedy Hee

Hard-man Tjioe

Towering Toh

Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Influential Sebastian

Talented Chun Haw

Precocious En Dian

Nippy Kenny

In the opening 15 mins, chances were at a premium as both teams were sizing each other up.

ARFC fashioned the first chances after a great move down the left by Khim and Alvin. The ball found its way to Derrick on the right and his crisp low shot was parried by their brilliant keeper. Derrick latched onto the rebound but again their keeper thwarted his low shot.

Later on, Derrick and the very-impressive Isaac were constantly chopped down by their players but the poor referee did not even give verbal warning which encouraged their players to commit more fouls.

Norman and Seh Meng then came on for Derrick and Darren who graciously made way.  Later on, Haron replaced Wayne.

Guoxiong then came to ARFC’s rescue when he made a crucial interception in the box.

The half-time score is 0-0.

Hock came on and almost immediately put ARFC ahead. Khim’s sublime reverse ball was dummied by Haron and Hcok then powered into the penalty box. Unfortunately, his rustiness from almost 2 years out of football showed when he took an additional touch and when closed down by their keeper, Hock lifted the ball just over the cross-bar. Unlucky!

ARFC finally took the lead courtesy of yet another ball from Khim. The ball was reflected and Alvin then headed the ball goalwards and over their keeper. Incredibly, their keeper produced an arch-back save ala Gordon Banks against Pele in World Cup 1970, and clawed the ball out. However, the ball dropped just 0.77 mm away from the goal-line and Alvin had the simplest of chance of simply nodding the ball home in a slow-motion manner for his 170^th ARFC goals.  1-0

ARFC then conceded a goal.1-1

The turning point came in the 77^th min mark. Darren looked to be fouled at the right-back position and everyone saw that the referee had pointed the ball in ARFC’s favour and Darren and the rest were looking away.  Incredulously, the referee reversed his decision and from a quick throw-in and shot, the ball struck Darren’s out-stretched hand and a penalty was awarded and duly converted. 1-2

Soon had a chance to equalize when he was put through but his low shot was again smothered by their brilliant keeper. The referee also failed to see that Soon could have been fouled by a late sliding tackle.

Haron glanced a few headers wide and Blackburn repeatedly fired his free-kicks over the bar even though we can all see that such free-kicks would not be able to beat their brilliant keeper.

Credit, however, should not be taken away from our opponent as they played well too and is a sporting team.

Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Khim and Soon (Isaac also came close) for their commanding display in midfield.

This match also once again re-confirmed to all that Khim is the best ARFC player that the team ever has.