Tjioe delivered perfect present for his Megan in 6-3 win

Playing for the first time in 2013 at the refurbished artificial pitch at Tampines SAFRA, ARFC fashioned a vintage performance to brush aside a OPOD team 6-3.

The high-energy victory was witnessed by Melissa and Joy, Hee and Kenny’s beau respectively.

ARFC also welcomed Tjioe back after the birth of his daughter, Megan. Inspired by her, Tijoe then went on to produce a performance not seen since his earlier ITE AMK days.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper - Impeccable How Meng

Right-back - Marauding Guoxiong

Sweeper - Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper - Towering Toh

Left-back - Unbeatable Darren

Left-mid - Speedy Hee

Centre-mid - Dynamic Soon

Centre-mid - Influential Sebastian

Right-mid - Nippy Kenny

Striker - Wonder Wayne 

Striker - Powerful Alvin (captain)

 

Subs:

Hard-man Tjioe

Unpredictable Blackburn

Dependable Jinzhong

Combative Ron (late)

Composed Jackson (late)

Absent:

Steely Tze Ern

Skillful Weilit

Resolute Jasper

Talisman Derrick

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Talented Chun Haw

Booming Boon

Sublime Khim

ARFC took the lead in the 7^th min. Fresh from his Man-of-the-Match performance last week, Darren again launched a scud missile-like throw-in from the left.  Under pressure from Toh, their defender took a slight headed touch to wrong-foot his own keeper. 1-0 and this was the 31^st own goal conceded by ARFC’s opponents down these years.

However, ARFC then conceded 3 goals in quick succession to trail 1-3!

Sebastian then signaled a change and in came Tjioe, Blackburn and Jinzhong for Hee, Kenny and Wayne respectively. Tjioe moved to partner Sebastian with Soon moving to the left, Blackburn paired with Alvin and Jinzhong took the right-back with Guxiong pushing to right mid.

Things took a turn immediately after the substitutions. Guoxiong launched a violent tackle on their impressive centre midfielder and before things turned nasty, both players were sensibly substituted.

ARFC regained control henceforth.

From Sebastian’s corner from the right, Tjioe rose above their keeper at almost the goal-line to glance the ball home for his 59^th ARFC goal. 2-3 and this was also Tjioe’s first ARFC goal in 2013.

After scoring, Tjioe immediately screamed “MEGAN, this is for you from daddy!!!!”

ARFC equalized after yet another throw-in from Darren. His throw-in missed everyone but Tjioe who headed against the bar. From the rebound, Alvin reacted quickest to head the ball in for his 204^th ARFC goal. 3-3

In the 2^nd half, ARFC was in total control despite being the much-older team.

ARFC took the lead 7 mins after the re-start. Wayne fizzed an excellent low ball down the left flank for Hee to chase. Hee brought the ball inwards ala Ryan Giggs and laid to Kenny. Under the watchful eyes of Joy, Kenny steadied himself, looked up and curled a delicious lob over their keeper ala Matthew Le Tissier for his 19^th ARFC goal. What a world-class goal.

With this goal, Kenny moved on level with ex-ARFC warrior Jesmond at 19 goals.

Ron then bettered Kenny’s goal in the 77^th min. From Jackson’s throw-in from the right, Ron had the luxury of time to take aim. From 37.77 metres, Ron unleashed a rising violent shot ala Steven Gerrard that flew right into the right-hand corner that gave their diving keeper no chance at all. 5-3 and this was Ron’s 2^nd goal in successive matches.

7 mins from the end, both Alvin and Hee combined to put the icing on the cake. Their very big and strong sweeper was harassed by Alvin and he tried to be clever by turning away from Alvin. Unknown to him, Hee crept up from the side using his Usain Bolt speed and stole the ball away from him who then had no choice but to bring Hee down in the box. Blackburn stepped up to sedn their keeper the wrong way for his 127^th ARFC goal. 6-3

In our voting system, Ron was deservingly voted to be the Man-of-the-Match though Tjioe came extremely close. They will be given $10 and $5 respectively.

This is the voting result derived from all 16 warriors present:

1.     Ron – 24 pts;

2.     Tjioe – 23 pts;

3.     Darren – 16 pts;

4.     Soon – 10 pts;

5.     Kenny – 9 pts;

6.     Hee – 4 pts;

7.     Alvin – 3 pts;

8.     Sebastian – 1 pt.