ARFC drew 1-1 in abandoned match

Playing at the brand-new artificial pitch at Turf City, ARFC squandered a string of chances to draw 1-1 which was abandoned with about 15 mins to go. 

Tjioe pulled put at the 11th hour due to a medical condition but Wayne called up his friend, Long (Dragon in Mandarin), to fill up the vacancy. Long was to go on and really play like a dragon.

Specil credit to Derrick for volunteering to be keeper for 1st half, and Ron for 2nd half.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper             -           Talisman Derrick

Right-back       -           Jasper

Sweeper           -           Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper             -          Combative Ron

Left-back         -           Marauding Guoxiong

Left-mid          -            Speedy Hee

Centre-mid       -          Unpredictable Blackburn

Centre-mid       -           Influential Sebastian

Right-mid         -           Dynamic Soon

Striker              -           Wonder Wayne

Striker              -           Powerful Alvin

Subs:

Wei Lit

Towering Toh (late)

Guest player Long

Absent:

Unbeatable Darren

How Meng

Steely Tze Ern

Hardman Tjioe

Sublime Khim 

Dependable Jinzhong

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Mean-machine Hock

Talented Chun Haw

Long-throw specialist Norman

Precocious En Dian

Nippy Kenny

Just 77 seconds into the match, Hee and Alvin combined superbly down the left flank and the ball reached Wayne who was free  in the box. Alas, Wayne skied his shot. 

Alvin was then put clean through on successive occasions but he could not get clean shots in on both counts.

Blackburn was next to squander a good chance.

Wayne then latched on to a fine through ball in the right side of the box. With Blackburn unmarked in the box, Wayne did not square the ball across and his shot lack any power and easily gathered by their keeper. 

Hee and Alvin then again combined down the left flank and the ball found its way to Blackburn. Sebastian then made a galloping run into the box but Blackburn's pass was too soft and was cleared by their keeper.

With so many missed chances, ARFC finally paid the price when the opponents scored. 0-1

Guoxiong then twice came to ARFCs rescue when he first produced a stunning block, and moments later, his sliding block prevented their striker from pulling the trigger when cleaned through.

In the 2nd half, it did not take long for ARFC to put things right. From a swift counter-attack, Blackburn, playing at left-back, quickly relayed the ball to the very impressive Long. With a sudden burst of acceleration, Long eluded their right midfielder and squared to Soon near the centre circle. Soon turned and spotted Derrick making his trade-mark run from deep down the right. Soon's ball was superbly measured and Derrick sprinted in and deftly chipped the ball over their keeper which saw the ball nicely nestled in at the far post. World-class goal and this was Derrick's 57th ARFC goal. 1-1

By now, ARFC was dominating the match with some clever passing and closing down of opponents with Soon in the thick of action.

Alvin was then kicked by their keeper in the 6-yard box when challenging for the loose ball. Their keeper did not even care to apologise.

Hee was the next victim when after using his world-renowned speed to speed clear, their last-man simply hacked him down. Again, no apology at all and the inept referee did not even caution him. 

From the resulting free-kick, Blackburn skied the shot.

Long was the next to suffer a crude tackle. After bursting clear down the middle, their centre midfielder (no. 8), who was constantly looking for fight and trouble, tried to give him a violent kick at his ankle but Long was too fast for him and proceeded with the ball and won a corner. 

When Long then politely asked the No. 8 to not resort to such dirty kick, the No. 8 did not apologise at all and even retorted that it is "his right to play his way" and Long "should not question his way of playing". 

Derrick then had a "mini tiff" with their Indian player and again, I heard their No. 8 telling his Indian team-mate that he would be targeting Derrick.  

The final straw came when their so-called captain scolded the referee "chee by" loudly after a decision by the referee.

It was then Sebastian decided to abandon the match to protect the referee but most importantly, ARFC players from potentially suffering any unnecessary injuries.  

Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Guoxiong and Elvis, though I want to reserve special praise to Hee. Hee may not possess the best of first touch, but I think his work-rate, speed and harassment to opponents are certainly very useful to ARFC.