ARFC rues missed chances in 3-3 draw

In a topsy-turvy friendly match against New Legends, ARFC missed a penalty in the last min to draw 3-3 at the rather-poor SengKang SS pitch.

ARFC welcomed back Sebastian from his ankle injury though it can be seen that his movements were still rather restricted. Khim and Toh also made last-min appearance and Hock also made his second outing since his return from the USA.

Guoxiong sat out the match due to fatigue as he was totally exhausted from 27 rounds of sex for the past week. However, he still turned up to support support a bit.

ARFC started with only 10 men due to lateness:

Keeper             -           Talented Chun Haw

Right-back      -           Combative Ron

Sweeper          -           Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper            -           Towering Toh

Left-back        -           Steely Tze Ern

Left-mid          -           Sublime Khim

Centre-mid      -           Unpredictable Blackburn

Centre-mid      -           Influential Sebastian

Right-mid        -           Talisman Derrick

Striker             -           Speedy Hee

Subs (all late):

Powerful Alvin

Mean-machine Hock

Jasper

Alex

Weili
Jackson

Marauding Guoxiong (rested)

Absent:

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Dynamic Soon

Dependable Jinzhong

Unbeatable Darren

Hard-man Tjioe

Wonder Wayne

Long-throw specialist Norman

Precocious En Dian

Nippy Kenny

Just 77 seconds into the match, Blackburn almost gave ARFC the lead when he picked up a loose ball just inside their half and instinctively let fly a half volley that sailed over their stranded keeper. Unfortunately, the ball hit the post and bounced out to safety.

Hock then came in after warming up and Derrick moved upfront to partner Hee. Derrick and Hee then combined effectively by harassing their defence non-stop.

Toh was next to be the unlucky one when his header off Hock’s corner hit the woodwork.

ARFC took the lead in the 17^th min after a great team-work goal. Hock’s corner from the right was met by Toh’s head but the ball was cleared out and picked up by Hee. Hee released Hock down the right flank and Hock send in a sizzling cross to the far post where ARFC’s best player, Khim, was lurking. Keeping eye on Toh all the way and with an advance shout-out to Toh, Khim passed the high ball with his inside right foot to just right at the edge of the 6-yard area and Toh swept the ball home with his left foot! With this goal, Toh showed that he can also score with his feet! According to ARFC’s archives, this was also the first goal scored via his left foot.

1-0 and this was Toh’s 58^th ARFC goal which moved him level with Tjioe at 7^th position in ARFC’s all-time scorers list.

ARFC then conceded a goal out of nothing. 1-1

In the 27^th min came the miss of all time since ARFC’s formation in Jun 1991. Weili chipped in a curling ball and Derrick ran in from deep and reached the home ahead of their on-rushing keeper. With their keeper beaten and no other covering defenders back, the ball was rolling nicely and safely towards goal with Derrick shepherding the ball. A goal looked to be a confirm certainty!

What happened in the next 0.77 seconds shocked the whole world and the whole universe including Planet Pluto, Planet Mars, Planet Jupiter and other planets!  With the ball just 0.77 mm from the goal-line, Derrick lashed out at the ball with the intention to thrash the ball into the net ala Jesus Navas’ recent goal against Croatia. Unfortunately, the ball somehow sailed high over the bar and out!!!

With such a shocking miss, all ARFC warriors were really and totally stunned into silence and almost immediately, ARFC conceded a goal as their feet were still glued to the ground from the shock! 1-2

Alvin then recovered later to fire a low shot against the post.

In the 2^nd half, ARFC continued to press for the equalizer and almost found one soon after the re-start. Khim showed sublime skill to trick their defender but chose to pass to Alvin when a shot would be better. But nothing to blame Khim since he has always been known to be an unselfish player and prefer to let team-mates take the glory of scoring.

ARFC finally equalized after Blackburn released Alvin who galloped down the left flank and into the box in his trade-mark move. Alvin was the brought down in the box and he dusted himself off the ground to plant the ball firmly into the net and wrong-footed their keeper for his 176^th ARFC goal. 2-2 and Alvin is now just one goal away from Haron’s 177 goals for ARFC.

Chun Haw then showed again why he could be a key player for ARFC in future with yet another clever run from deep after Blackburn throdded a nice low through ball for him. Chun Haw’s pace saw him nipped the ball ahead of their keeper and placed the ball home for his 7^th ARFC goal. 3-2 and this was Chun Haw’s 3^rd goal in as many matches.

ARFC then conceded a penalty which was converted. 3-3.

However, the faulty does not lie with the conceded penalty but rather on why no ARFC warrior stood in front of the ball off the free-kick prior to the penalty incident. Also, Derrick must be praised for getting down quickly to block out the quickly-taken free-kick and hurt his knee in the process.

ARFC had the chance to snatch a victory in the last min. Chun Haw produced yet another penetrative run into the box and was brought down clumsily. Regular penalty-taker Sebastian forgo the chance and let Alvin took it. However, Alvin’s meek effort was easily pushed out by their keeper.

Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Tze Ern (who was a colossal at left-back) and Khim.