Monday, November 11, 2013

How Meng nets debut ARFC goal

In a friendly match played under very cool weather despite a one pm kick-off time, ARFC recovered from last Sunday’s spanking by defeating TGIK 5-3.

The score-line seemed to point to a closely-fought match but in reality, ARFC could easily have scored at least 10 goals in the match. Just a rough estimation, ARFC peppered at least 20 shots at their goal. Kenny alone accounted for 5 to 6 shots, I think.

ARFC was once again supported by Melissa (Hee’s super-beautiful muse) and Tze Ern’s son who is aiming to take over his father soon.  

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper           -           Impeccable How Meng
Right-back     -           Dependable Jinzhong (captain)
Sweeper         -           Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper          -           Towering Toh
Left-back       -           Unbeatable Darren
Left-mid         -           Skillful Weilit
Centre-mid    -           Unpredictable Blackburn
Centre-mid    -           Dynamic Soon
Right-mid      -           Steely Tze Ern  
Striker                        -           ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Striker                        -           Powerful Alvin (captain)
  
Subs:

Resolute Jasper
Influential Sebastian
Combative Ron
Wonder Wayne
Nippy Kenny
Speedy Hee (late)
Talisman Derrick (late)

Absent:

Talented Chun Haw
Marauding Guoxiong  
Sublime Khim
Composed Jackson
Hard-man Tjioe
Booming Boon
Jiawei


ARFC was sloppy in its play and was nearly punished after 2 of their inviting crosses were just missed out by their out-stretching strikers.

ARFc was then indebted to How Meng who pulled off a fantastic one-on-one save to deny their striker who was somehow left free to take a vicious shot.

A slew of substitutions then galvanised ARFC and it did not take long for ARFC to grab the opening goal.

Sebastian’s floating corner from the left eluded their keeper who charged out but grabbed thin air. Wayne read the ball perfectly and he charged in to the back post to powerfully glance the ball home for his 9th ARFC goal. 1-0 and Wayne’s goal allowed him to level with Ron and Yoong (ex-player).

Toh was then denied by Soon moments later. Sebastian’s corner from the right was connected powerfully by Toh but the ball was stopped by Soon who was standing just in front of the goal. Unlucky!

Wayne then swept the ball across goal but Haron narrowly failed to reach the ball.

ARFC doubled its lead with Wayne the architect. His left-wing cross-field ball was chested down beautifully by Derrick. Before the ball touched the ground, Derrick sliced in a outside right-footer half-volley into the net, leaving their keeper dazed and rooted to the spot! 2-0 and this was Derrick’s 69th (his favourite position) ARFC goal –equaling Robin’s previous ARFC record.

After scoring, all ARFC warriors chanted “tkb! tkb!tkb!” and within 7 mins, about 17,777 tkbs turned up at the field as they thought they were wanted by ARFC warriors. 

In the second half, ARFC continued its dominance and Ron came close with a powerful rising shot that simply rose too high.

ARFC then conceded a penalty. 2-1

ARFC won its own penalty after their defender was harshly adjudged to have pushed Hee in the box. A slight touch and tug maybe, but certainly not a penalty.

Regardless, How Meng was cajoled by Sebastian to take the penalty and he duly drove the ball right through their keeper for his debut ARFC goal. 3-1

ARFC then conceded another goal. 3-2

Alvin then struck the cross-bar from Sebastian’s corner on the right.

Toh was next to try his luck but his shot was wide.

ARFC regained its 2-goal cushion after a quick-thinking by Derrick. ARFC won a free-kick just outside the box and while they were busy forming the wall, Derrick toe-poked the ball through to Alvin who, from just outside the 6-yard box, placed the ball past their keeper for his 212th ARFC goal. 4-2

Alvin’s reward for scoring? To be replaced by Haron.

The opponents then scored another break-away goal. 4-3

ARFC was then denied a stone-walled penalty when Haron latched onto a ball, skipped past their defender and was clumsily upended. However, the referee simply waved away ARFC’s violent protests.

ARFC then chalked up its 5th goal in the match with virtually and literally the last kick of the match. Blackburn belied his advancing years by chasing after a long loose ball right till the touchline near the right. He looked up and pulled the ball back for the on-rushing Haron whose first-touch fooled their covering defender into committing to a sliding block. With ample time, Haron nonchalantly chipped the ball over their keeper from about 7.7 yards for his 199th ARFC goal. 5-3.

Immediately after the ball hit the net, the referee blew for the full-time whistle.

These are the voting results:

Derrick – 23 pts
Sebastian – 21 pts
Wayne – 16 pts
How Meng – 13 pts
Ron – 10 pts
Tze Ern – 9 pts
Haron – 7 pts
Darren – 5 pts
Elvis – 3 pts
Alvin – 1 pt

Congratulations to Derrick and Sebastian for winning $10 and $5 respectively.


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