ARFC in unlucky 1-1 draw

Playing for the very first time on a Saturday at 9 am at St. Wilfrids, ARFC totally dominated play but could only salvage a 1-1 draw courtesy of a superb long-range missile from Derrick.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper             -           Impeccable How Meng

Right-back       -           Marauding Guoxiong

Sweeper           -           Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper            -           Combative Ron

Left-back         -           Unbeatable Darren

Left-mid          -           Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)

Centre-mid       -           Influential Sebastian  

Centre-mid       -           Dynamic Soon

Right-mid         -           Talisman Derrick

Striker              -           Talented Chun Haw

Striker              -           Powerful Alvin

Subs (all late):

Weilit

Jasper

Absent:

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Speedy Hee

Wonder Wayne

Towering Toh

Steely Tze Ern

Hard-man Tjioe 

Sublime Khim 

Dependable Jinzhong

Mean-machine Hock

Long-throw specialist Norman

Precocious En Dian

Nippy Kenny

ARFC played one of its best matches of all time and the opponents could not even get a sniff at our goal. Chances were aplenty as ARFC totally controlled play with its impeccable passing and support for each other. 

Derrick was particularly impressive down the right flank and combined very well with both Guoxiong and Chun Haw.  In the 7^th min, Chun Haw skewed his shot horribly wide after a superb chip pass from Sebastian.

Blackburn was next when he fired 2 shots wide.

ARFC nearly took the lead when Alvin found himself alone in the box but his placed shot struck the right post and bounced to safety.

Despite carving out few more chances, ARFC simply could not score.

As in a typical Liverpool performance, ARFC was made to pay for failing to convert its vast chances. From their free-kick, their short player glanced the ball over How Meng and Blackburn for a shock lead. 0-1 .

Having just came back from a 0-4 deficit in the previous match, ARFC naturally did not panic.

Sebastian missed a golden chance when he attempted to pass to Alvin inside the box from a loose ball when a shot would seem to be the better option.

ARFC equalized soon. Blackburn was fouled just inside the opponents’ half and Darren took a quick free-kick with a 77 cm pass to Derrick. Instantaneously, Derrick unleashed a rocket that went right through the out-stretched arms of their keeper for his 58^th ARFC goal. The shot was later measured at 777 km/hr.

1-1 and Derrick now moved on level terms with Tjioe on 58 goals.

In the 67^th min came the miss of the match.  The very-impressive How Meng’s long kick ala Pepe Reina saw the ball sailed over their defence and Alvin latched on to the ball in a flash. Bringing the ball goalwards, Alvin faced their keeper one-on-one but to ARFC’s horror, Alvin could only stab the ball straight into the grateful arms of their keeper.

Alvin then turned provider when he lofted a long diagonal ball from the left ala Steven Gerrard. Guoxiong came in from blind side but he hurried his shot when he had at least 77 seconds for himself. In all fairness, Guoxiong is not a striker and he had already done well by getting into the position.

Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Derrick and Blackburn though I must say Guoxiong and Jasper were very impressive as well.

ARFC in brilliant comeback 4-4 draw

In a friendly match against a “tough-and-hard” Malay team, ARFC displayed tremendous team spirit and determination in drawing 4-4 after trailing 0-4 at one stage!

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper             -           Talented Chun Haw

Right-back       -           Jasper

Sweeper           -           Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper            -           Towering Toh

Left-back         -           Unbeatable Darren

Left-mid          -           Weilit

Centre-mid       -           Combative Ron

Centre-mid       -           Unpredictable Blackburn  

Right-mid         -           Marauding Guoxiong

Striker              -           Talisman Derrick

Striker              -           Powerful Alvin (captain)

Subs (all late):

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Speedy Hee

Wonder Wayne

Dynamic Soon

Absent:

Steely Tze Ern

How Meng

Influential Sebastian

Hard-man Tjioe  

Sublime Khim 

Dependable Jinzhong

Mean-machine Hock

Long-throw specialist Norman

Precocious En Dian

Nippy Kenny

The match was quite even from the start but the opponents struck first from a quickly-taken free-kick. In all fairness, however, the referee had told ARFC’s wall to move back but the opponent took the free-kick before the referee blew his whistle. Bad call!  0-1

Alvin then wasted a golden chance when Hee, not the first time, robbed their left-back of the ball and squared the ball across. Alvin rounded the keeper and prodded the ball towards the empty goal. Their defender then came from Mars and cleared the ball away with a sliding move. Unlucky!

ARFC was punished when they scored again. 0-2 is the half-time score.

ARFC went further behind when the opponents scored 2 more goals. 0-4

ARFC looked dead and buried and another hiding appeared on the cards.

Such moments are when heroes rise and shine, and what better candidates than the impeccable Soon and scoring legend Haron to begin the come-back.

In the 60^th min, Haron exchanged a classic one-two with Soon, broke free and fired in his 182^nd ARFC goal. 1-4

5 mins later came a reversal of roles for Soon and Haron. Haron laid the ball on the platter for Soon who simply whipped the ball home for his 45^th ARFC goal. 2-4 and this was also ARFC’s 100^th goal in the year 2012!

In the 70^th min, from a quick throw-in, Alvin held off their covering defender, turned him in a classic Alvin move and fizzed the ball across goal for Haron to come in from blind side and side-footed the ball home for his 183^rd ARFC goal! With the brace, Haron reminded everyone what a predator he has been and still is!

5 mins later, Derrick delivered a cross-field pass down the left channel for Alvin to chase. Alvin dribbled the ball all the way to the left by-line, cut back and sent in a delicious far-post ball which saw Chun Haw coming in from deep and thrashed the ball into the net for his 8^th ARFC goal. 4-4!

In fact, ARFC could have snatched the winner right at the dead. From a break-away move, Alvin headed to Derrick who in turn first-time headed to Haron. Haron wriggled free but his stinging shot was saved by their keeper. Unlucky but what a great team move.

Man-of-the-Match is definitely Soon who totally changed the game after coming in with his never-ending energy and covering of ground. This came after his 36-km run in the same morning!

Derrick becomes first ARFC keeper to save 2 penalties in a match!!

ARFC was supposed to play a friendly match on 28 Oct 2012 at 3 pm at Pasir Ris Sec but not for the first time, the organizer again cocked up and cancelled our match. Alvin then gave a tongue-lashing at the organizer who then hastily arranged a friendly match at 5 pm at Victoria JC.

Alvin then quickly called up ARFC warriors and just managed to form a team.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper             -           Talisman Derrick

Right-back       -           Marauding Guoxiong

Sweeper           -           Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper                        -           Towering Toh

Left-back         -           Glen (guest player)

Left-mid          -           Speedy Hee

Centre-mid       -           Steely Tze Ern

 Centre-mid      -           Combative Ron

Right-mid         -           Unpredictable Blackburn  

Striker              -           Wonder Wayne

Striker              -           Powerful Alvin (captain)

Subs:

Weilit

Jasper

Unbeatable Darren (late)

Troy (guest player)

Absent:

How Meng

Influential Sebastian

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Dynamic Soon

Hard-man Tjioe  

Sublime Khim 

Dependable Jinzhong

Mean-machine Hock

Talented Chun Haw

Long-throw specialist Norman

Precocious En Dian

Nippy Kenny

  

ARFC was clearly ill-prepared for the last-min switch and was not helped by the big international size field. Furthermore, the opponents, JSSL Arsenal, was well-coached and their players were all either in their teens or early twenties.

ARFC trailed 0-2 at half-time.

In the 2^nd half, ARFC came out fighting and was determined not to damage ARFC’s reputation. Troy’s wonderful shot came off the post

Weilit nearly scored after being put through by Alvin. Before Weilit can pull the trigger, their fast defender came from nowhere, produced a sliding tackle la Mark Lawrenson, and cleared the danger.

Weilit then had another similar chance but the outcome was the same as the earlier chance.

ARFC then conceded another goal. 0-3

ARFC could have lost by a bigger margin if not for the heroics of Derrick who, incredibly, produced TWO penalty saves in the match!! 

I am not sure if Derrick was the first ARFC keeper to save a penalty during a match ( I think Jinzhong had done so too), but I am 777% sure that Derrick is the first ARFC keeper to save 2 penalties in a match.

With this feat, Derrick is hereby automatically promoted to ARFC keeper whenever Jinzhong or How Meng is not available. Hee Hee Hee…..

Without doubt then, Derrick is the Man-of-the-Match.