In the last match in 2012 at Tampines SAFRA,
ARFC had its best-ever attendance in recent memory when 20 warriors turned up. The
only regular warriors who did not turn up are Hee and Ron. The match was also
witness by Guoxiong’s beau, Tracie, who is looking very pretty in her pregnant
state.
The huge turnout also saw an unprecedented
line-ups and substitutions in that an almost different team played for about 20
mins in each half. The only exceptions were of course How Meng who played the
entire match, and both Khim and Toh who played about ¾ of the match.
This is the starting line-up:
Keeper - Impeccable How Meng
Right-back - Marauding Guoxiong
Sweeper - Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper - Towering
Toh
Left-back - Unbeatable Darren
Left-mid - Sublime Khim
Centre-mid - Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid - Hard-man Tjioe
Right-mid - Dynamic Soon
Striker - Unpredictable
Blackburn (captain)
Striker - Talented Chun Haw
Subs:
ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Powerful Alvin
Talisman Derrick
Dependable Jinzhong
Wonder
Wayne
Steely Tze Ern
Composed Jackson
Resolute Jasper
Skillful Weilit
Absent:
Combative Ron
Speedy Hee
Mean-machine Hock
Long-throw specialist Norman
Precocious En Dian
Nippy Kenny
The starting caused a huge uproar as both ARFC’s leading scorers, Alvin
and Haron, were confined to the bench. The fans also started throwing 777 rolls
of toilet papers down the pitch to signal their displeasure but luckily they
soon calmed down after witnessing that both Chun Haw and Blackburn were more than
able to make up for their absences. Particularly, Chun Haw also showcased what
a huge talent he is with his effervescent display upfront.
ARFC was totally all over the opponents throughout the match. In the 7th
min, ARFC deservingly took the lead when Blackburn’s well-floated corner from
the right saw Toh reaching the ball first before their keeper came charging out
and clashed into both Toh and Tjioe with the ball coming loose. In a flash,
Chun Haw turned and lashed the ball low into the net for his 13th
ARFC goal. 1-0
ARFC doubled its lead in the 17th min. Sebastian’s no-look
reverse pass saw Guoxiong galloping down the right flank and sizzled a low and
hard ball across goal. Their keeper somehow missed the ball and Chun Haw
gratefully swept home his 14th ARFC goal. 2-0.
Some critics may say that Chun Haw was lucky to score this goal but I
think Chun Haw created his own luck when he at least made himself at the spot
in anticipation. This is the hallmark of great strikers like Ian Rush, Gary
Lineker, Haron and Alvin.
At the 20th min mark, ARFC’s line-up became this:
Keeper - Impeccable How Meng
Right-back - Resolute Jasper
Sweeper - Composed Jackson
Stopper - Dependable Jinzhong
Left-back - Wonder Wayne
Left-mid - Sublime Khim
Centre-mid - Steely Tze Ern
Centre-mid - Skillful Weilit
Right-mid - Talisman Derrick
Striker - ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Striker - Powerful Alvin
Haron came on and produced so many reverse no-look passes. Particularly,
he combined so well with Derrick down the right and it was no surprise that
ARFC’s 3rd goal came from there.
In the 27th min, Derrick and Haron exchanged eye-catching
passes before Haron found his way to the right bye-line. Haron could have tried
to be ARFC’s 1400th goal-scorer but his unselfishness showed when he
squared the ball across goal and Alvin came from the blindside to crash the
ball into the unguarded net for his 187th ARFC goal and ARFC’s 1400th
goal. 3-0!
In the 37th min came the moment of the match. From an
uncleared corner, Jinzhong executed a sharp turn and thundered in a fierce
left-foot volley ala van Persie. Unfortunately, the venomous ball struck the
cross-bar but the force of the shot was so powerful that it nearly broke the
cross-bar into 7 pieces!!
In the dying mins of the half, Haron released Derrick down the right but
the latter only produced a lame chip that was easily picked up by the keeper.
This is the line for the starting 2nd-half:
Keeper - Impeccable How Meng
Right-back - Resolute Jasper
Sweeper - Composed Jackson
Stopper - Towering
Toh
Left-back - Unbeatable Darren
Left-mid - Talisman Derrick
Centre-mid - Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid - Steely Tze Ern
Right-mid - Marauding Guoxiong
Striker - Unpredictable
Blackburn (captain)
Striker - Powerful Alvin
ARFC then conceded a free-kick from probably their only shot on target.
1-3
ARFC continued to dominate proceedings and chances were aplenty though
not capitalized.
In the 65th min mark, ARFC again made a raft of substitutions
and the line-up is now this:
Keeper - Impeccable How Meng
Right-back - Dependable Jinzhong
Sweeper - Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper - Towering
Toh
Left-back - Wonder Wayne
Left-mid - Sublime Khim
Centre-mid - Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid - Hard-man Tjioe
Right-mid - Skillful Weilit
Striker - ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Striker - Talented Chun Haw
Sebastian nearly scored 7 mins into the half. Picking up an half-cleared
ball from a corner, Sebastian faked a shot with his right foot but his
left-footer curling ball just went 0.007 m wide of the goal.
ARFC regained the 3-goal cushion courtesy of some great work by both
Tjioe and Wayne down the right. Both of them swooped in and pressured their
left-back into giving away possession down the right by-line. Tjioe moved in and cut the ball back to Khim
who came in from deep. This time round, Khim showed Sebastian how it is done
when he faked to shoot with his left foot, fooled their defender and then planted
the ball into the bottom left-hand corner with his right foot for his 49th
ARFC goal. 4-1.
With his goal, Khim moved on level with Jeffrey on 49 ARFC goals.
ARFC again created so many chances that I lost count. In the last kick
of the match, Chun Haw notched his consecutive hat-trick for ARFC. Jinzhong
whipped a cross-field ball from right all the way to Khim on the left. Without
breaking stride, Khim lobbed in a ball that sailed over their defence line.
With the ball bouncing towards their keeper, Chun Haw showed his hunger and
devoured the ball by dashing in and plant a looping header over their keeper
for his 15th ARFC goal and 2nd ARFC hat-trick. 5-1
Every warrior played very well and Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to
both Soon and Khim.
However, I want to pay special tribute to ARFC’s defence led by Elvis
and comprising Toh, Guoxiong, Darren, Ron, Jasper, Blackburn and at times Wayne
and Tze Ern. With these unsung heroes and their “silent contribution”, ARFC
would never have a steady platform to attack and attack.
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