Indra nets debut ARFC goal in hard-fought win

In worse than Sahara Desert-like weather, ARFC rounded off the month of March with an emphatic 4-0 victory over TGIK.

Special mention to both Toh and Wayne for coming despite having very little sleep due to QingMing this morning and kt last night. Derrick also deserved a praise for coming to play one half despite having a multi-million renovation deal with the sister of a certain ex-ARFC pioneer warrior.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper - Ismail

Right-back - Marauding Guoxiong  

Sweeper - Combative Ron

Stopper - Towering Toh

Left-back - YY (not to be confused with Jasper’s girlfriend)

Left-mid - Wonder Wayne

Centre-mid - Nippy Kenny

Centre-mid - Dynamic Soon   

Right-mid - Unpredictable Blackburn

Striker - Talisman Derrick

Striker - ARFC Scoring Legend Haron (captain)

Subs:

Influential Sebastian (late)

Indra (guest player – also late)

Absent:

Dependable Jinzhong

Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Resolute Jasper

Composed Jackson

Unbeatable Darren

Skillful Weilit

Precocious Chun Haw

Speedy Hee

Steely Tze Ern

Powerful Alvin

Impeccable How Meng

Hard-man Tjioe

Sublime Khim

Booming Boon

Jiawei

Derrick was soon rewarded for rushing down to play. From Guoxiong’s pin-point cross from the right, Derrick showed world-class technique to chest the ball down before calmly dispatching the ball past their bewildered keeper. Brilliant cross and shot! 1-0 and this was Derrick’s 76^th ARFC goal.

Guoxiong then made another telling contribution when he hacked the ball off the line from their corner.

Sebastian then came on for Soon who requested to be substituted due to his grueling run last night.

Sebastian then chipped in a long ball over the opponents’ defence for Derrick who could not capitalize.

Mins later, Sebastian repeated the move when his left-foot loft found Derrick racing clear. Derrick squared the ball across goal but Guoxiong shot into row Z.

Indra then came on for Wayne.

Kenny then won a free-kick when he upended just outside the box. Dusting himself off the ground, Kenny’s curling free-kick was just slightly off-target.

In the 2^nd half, ARFC took the lead within 7 mins. Sebastian intercepted a counter-attack move by the opponents just outside the box. Hearing Indra’s call for the ball, Sebastian rolled the ball to him and Indra immediately and immaculately fired the ball with his outside right foot. The sweetly-struck ball hit the right stachion and cannoned into the goal. 2-0 and this was Indra’s debut goal.

ARFC then extended its lead 7 mins later through rather fortuitous circumstances. Blackburn picked up a clearance on the left side and lifted the ball into the 6-yard box. Somehow, the ball sailed over their back-pedalling keeper and netted Blackburn’s 137^th ARFC goal. 3-0

Within seconds, ARFC out the result to bed. Blackburn was again the architect when he played Soon in. Soon ran in from deep and just reached the ball before their charging keeper. Soon lifted the ball over him and though their recovering defender made a last-ditch attempt to clear the ball, he could not keep the ball from crossing the line. 4-0 and this was Soon’s 57^th ARFC goal.

Haron then nearly scored the goal of the match.  Blackburn swung in a laser-sharp cross from the left and Haron readied and steadied himself before flying in with a thumping header. Unfortunately, their keeper made a world-class save to turn the ball over the bar.

Wayne then almost grabbed a goal when Blackburn once again crossed from the left. The ball eluded everyone and Wayne came sliding in but could not get a clean connection and the ball went over the bar. Unlucky!

Toh then came close with 2 thumping headers which flew just wide.

The opponents then tried to lob Ismail but the latter was very alert to keep out the high ball.

Ismail was to produce the save of the match 7 mins later. From a counter-attack, their nippy striker brought the ball into the box but Ismail came charging out like Peter Schmeichel to keep out his low shot. World-class save!

In the dying moments, Sebastian cleared the ball away just as their striker was going to pull the trigger.

These are the voting results:

Soon – 7

Ron – 6

Blackburn – 6

Toh – 5

Guoxiong – 2

Sebastian – 2

Kenny – 1

Derrick – 1