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.