Haron ends goal drought

Playing under Sahara desert-like weather at the brand-new artificial pitch at Turf City, ARFC shrugged off the rugged challenge of a young team 4-2 courtesy of inspired performances from Chun Haw and Alex.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Haomin (guest keeper – Home Utd U-14 keeper)

Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong  

Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper: Combative Ron

Left-back: Unbeatable Darren

Right-mid: Speedy Hee

Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon

Centre-mid: Unpredictable Blackburn

Left-mid: Wonder Wayne

Striker: Powerful Alvin

Striker: ARFC Scoring Legend Haron (captain)

Subs:

Talented Chun Haw

Alex

Jasper

Weili

Absent:

Towering Toh

Influential Sebastian

Steely Tze Ern

Sublime Khim

Hard-man Tjioe

Talisman Derrick

Dependable Jinzhong

Long-throw specialist Norman

Precocious En Dian

Nippy Kenny

Prior to the match, ARFC was hit by the double last-min absence of Khim and Derrick who pulled out due to family and work commitment respectively. As such, Soon had to take the field despite still nursing his leg injury.

Thankfully, all the young players all rose to the occasion and I can say that this was the match that all of them blossomed!

Within mins of the start and perhaps still not used to the heat, ARFC fell a goal behind. 0-1

Hee and Wayne then succumbed to the heat and were replaced by Chun Haw and Alex who made an immediate impact.

Weili then took over Haron, and Jasper replaced Ron to rest him.

Blackburn hit a shot that struck the cross-bar and out. Unlucky!

ARFC equalized 7 mins before the end of the first half. After some clever inter-exchange, Chun Haw unleashed a stinging low shot from 37 metres that their keeper could not parry out. Alex did very well to react fastest to the loose ball and prodded the ball home for his ARFC debut goal. 1-1

Alex’s goal had all the nearby horses galloping profusely into the field but thankfully, no ARFC warrior was stepped on by the horses!

ARFC then took the lead in the 2^nd half thanks to Chun Haw. He received a world-class through ball from Blackburn (or Ron?) and broke the off-side trap with his sheer pace and tenacity. With only the keeper to beat, Chun Haw calmly placed the ball to the far corner for his 5^th ARFC goal. 2-1 and Chun Haw’s goal moved him level with Wayne at 5 goals for ARFC.

ARFC scored its 3^rd goal after a fantastic quick thinking by Jasper who continued to improve. Jasper took a quick throw-in into the box which caught their defenders off-guard. The ball found its way to Haron who curled home a brilliant left-footer ala Chris Waddle to the top right corner of their keeper for his 177^th ARFC goal. 3-1.

With the goal, Haron also ended his goal drought which stretches all the way to 29 Jan 2012 when he netted in the 4-1 loss to Jaws SC in the league title-decided then.

ARFC then conceded a goal 3-2.

However, ARFC put the result to bed thanks to a brilliant piece of skill from Hee. With a cheeky back-heel ala Ryan Giggs, Hee’s ball tricked their defenders and presented Alex with a violent first-time shot that flew into the far post. 4-2 and Alex doubled his debut ARFC goals!

ARFC then closed out the match and Elvis, as usual, marshaled the defence superbly!

I want to specially praise Haomin. Given his tender age, his distribution and kicking was really good and I have personally relayed this to his Home Utd U-16 coach who is my personal friend. Like Chun Haw before him, Haomin has a bright future ahead of him if he continues to play and improve.

Next, I want to also say that Alex, Weili and Jasper have done pretty well in the recent matches. The litmus test, however, will come when ARFC plays older and better teams.