ARFC concedes last-grasp goal to draw 2-2

Playing again on another 1pm match at the exact field as last week, ARFC failed to build on its victory after conceding a last-grasp goal to draw 2-2 against Court FC, a very determined Chinese team.

ARFC was watched by Rachael, newly-minted partner of Derrick.

ARFC also welcomed back Elvis and Darren.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper - Is (Haron’s BIL)

Right-back - Resolute Jasper

Sweeper - Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper - Towering Toh (captain)

Left-back - YY (guest player)

Left-mid - Nippy Kenny

Centre-mid - Unbeatable Darren

Centre-mid - Unpredictable Blackburn

Right-mid - Talisman Derrick  

Striker - Speedy Hee

Striker - Powerful Alvin

 

Subs:

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Jiawei (trialist)

Absent:

Talented Chun Haw

Combative Ron

Steely Tze Ern

Composed Jackson

Influential Sebastian

Dynamic Soon

Sublime Khim

Impeccable How Meng

Skillful Weilit

Dependable Jinzhong

Marauding Guoxiong

Wonder Wayne

Hard-man Tjioe

Booming Boon

ARFC was missing all the recognized centre midfielders for probably the first time in its illustrious history. Hence it was no surprise that ARFC started off slowly and was dominated by the opponent from the start but the ARFC managed to repel their attacks without much worry. For this, Darren deserved most credit as he worked tirelessly in the middle of the park.

Although ARFC managed to prevent the opponents from taking the lead in the early exchanges, ARFC was also unable to carve out any real openings.

Poor refereeing decisions almost led to a free for all brawl but the teams managed to calm their players down and the captains had a quick talk with the referee. Fortunately, the game was able to resume and for the rest of the game, there was no ugly tackles dished out. Kudos to both team’s sportsmanship.

Jiawei and Haron came on for both Derrick and Alvin respectively.

ARFC conceded from a penalty 0-1.

Kenny almost supplied an immediate response with a rocket-like shot ala Robin van Persie.  However, their keeper made himself big and managed to block off the goal-bound attempt. 

The score at halftime was 0-1.

In the second-half, Blackburn moved to left back and Kenny took his place in centre-mid with Alvin also joining Haron in spearheading the comeback.

The break did wonders as ARFC came out of the dressing room with all guns blazing. 

Within minutes from the restart, Jiawei floated in a corner and Haron came flying in trying to connect with the ball ala Sami Hyypia but was wrestled to the ground, giving the referee the easiest of decisions to point to the spot. Blackburn stepped up and possessing the coolness of Andreas Brehme and power of Ruud Gullit, blasted the ball home that almost burst the net for his 129^th ARFC goal. 1-1

ARFC took the lead in the 77^th minute after Kenny was fouled outside the box. Despite being a trialist, Jiawel showed tremendous courage to shrug off all regular ARFC set-piece takers to take the free-kick.  Jiawel did not disappoint as he expertly dispatched the ball that curled past their wall, dipped a little and nestled nicely into the bottom corner of the goal ala David Beckham that left their keeper clutching thin-air. 2-1 and this was Jiawei’s ARFC debut goal.

However, ARFC’s joy was short-lived as with virtually the last kick of the match, the opponent stabbed the ball home following a corner to force a 2-2 draw.

These are the voting results:

Kenny – 13 pts;

Haron – 12 pts;

Darren – 10 pts;

Toh – 9 pts;

Elvis – 6 pts;

Blackburn – 5 pts;

Jasper – 3 pts;

Derrick – 2 pts.

Congratulations to Kenny & Haron for winning $10 and $5 respectively.