Despite
once again hit by a slew of last-min withdrawals, ARFC still had enough in its
tank to brush aside SMS 6-2.
Credit
to both Jinzhong and Derrick for volunteering to be GK for each half.
ARFC
started with this line-up:
Keeper - Dependable
Jinzhong
Right-back - Steely Tze Ern
Sweeper - Astute-reading
sweeper Elvis
Stopper - Towering
Toh (captain)
Left-back - Unbeatable
Darren
Left-mid - Unpredictable
Blackburn
Centre-mid - Combative
Ron
Centre-mid - Dynamic
Soon
Right-mid - Talisman
Derrick
Striker - Powerful
Alvin
Striker - ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Subs:
Skilful
Weilit
Absent:
Wonder
Wayne
Speedy
Hee
Impeccable
How Meng
Influential
Sebastian
Marauding
Guoxiong
Commanding
Ismail
Nippy Kenny
Sublime Khim
Hard-man Tjioe
Immaculate Indra
Booming
Boon
Straight from the kick off, ARFC
stamped its authority by displaying a good possession game despite the searing
heat. The opponent keeper was also tested several times. However, ARFC had to
wait till the 17th min before taking the lead.
From the left, Alvin picked
up Blackburn's pass and upon looking up he saw Derrick shouting for the ball.
With a delightful cross-chip over the opponent's defence, Derrick ran on to the
bouncing ball and delightfully volleyed it (ala Van Persie) past the onrushing
keeper that saw the ball nestled nicely and smugly into the bottom left-corner
of the goalpost. 1-0 and this was Derrick’s 99th ARFC goal.
7 mins after the re-start,
ARFC doubled its lead. From the left again, Blackburn slid a beautiful through
ball which saw Haron latching on to the ball. The ball seemed quite fast initially which made Haron slowed
down his pace as he saw the keeper coming out of his line. However, noticing
that the keeper was apprehensive in taking control of the ball, Haron started
sprinting again, defying his age and ever-growing belly. Haron got to the ball
first, did a body feint and dribbled past the keeper to roll the ball into an
empty net for his 217th ARFC goal. 2-0.
In the 27th min, ARFC scored
its third goal from yet another beautiful team-play. Ron, who was commanding in
the centre of the field, got the ball and dribbled past several defenders
before passing to Haron who was at the edge of the box. With his back facing
the goal, Haron shielded the ball from the opponent's last man. Noticing that
Ron was continuing his run, Haron cheekily back-heeled the ball (ala V. Sundram
Moorthy) past the defender's legs which fell nicely for Ron. Ron took the ball
forward while brushing off a last minute challenge from a defender before
kicking it towards goal. Though Ron had somewhat miskicked the ball, the ball
still somehow trickled past the keeper, hit the bottom left goalpost before
going in. 3-0 and this was Ron’s 10th ARFC goal.
ARFC was not done though, as
it kept attacking the opponent's goal relentlessly. The score could have been
much more if not for some poor finishing.
In the 37th min, from a
through ball on the right, Haron got to the end of it first and instinctively
sent a low cross to the center of the box. Rushing in from the blind side,
Alvin gleefully slammed the ball home to put the result to bed. 4-0 and this
was Alvin’s 244th ARFC goal.
Just before half-time, Apex
received a scare when Weilit got to the wrong end of a high ball challenge.
Weilit was rushing in to head the bouncing ball just as the opponent's defender
was trying to kick it. Inadvertently, Weilit's face got into the defender's
boot which resulted in him getting a 9cm long scar (laceration) at his left
jaw. After a brief treatment on Weilit and ensuring that he was okay, the
referee blew to end the first half.
Further checks were made on
Weilit during half-time. Lesser man would have asked to see doctor immediately
but not warrior Weilit who insisted to carry on playing albeit with much pain
on the jaw. Superb bravado warrior Weilit!!
ARFC started the second half
with Derrick in goal and Jinzhong playing at right back. The change however had
somehow caused some disorientation to the team as it seemed very slow to get
its move going, unlike in the first half. The opponent seemed to notice ARFC’s
awkwardness and began attacking ARFC's goal. Derrick made several fine saves to
keep the score status quo. However, he could do little in the 57th min to stop
an unexpected long shot from the opponent who scored almost from the halfway
line. 4-1.
Frustrated at conceding the
goal and its poor play, ARFC somehow started to wake up and improve its play
slightly after that.
The crowning moment for Derrick came in the 67th min. Haron earned
a penalty for ARFC when he was fouled in the box. The defender was fuming at
the referee for giving the penalty as he claimed Haron had dived. Haron did not
care as he exacted revenge on the same person who kicked him from behind just
minutes earlier.
As planned prior to the game,
Derrick was to take this penalty. He ran all the way from his goal-line, put
the ball at the spot and rammed the ball as hard as he can. However, similar to
Ron's goal earlier, Derrick seemed to miskick his shot as the ball bounced
several times towards the keeper before going under the latter's outstretched
arms. 5-1
With this goal, Derrick has
finally scored his 100th ARFC goal and in the process became the 5th
ARFC Centurion Club member, after (in order of achievement) Haron, Alvin, Blackburn and Hee.
Sharing his thoughts after
the game, Derrick admitted that he was nervous upon taking the penalty, even
more nervous than his wedding day.
Hence, he decided to simply whack as hard as he could and luckily for
him, the kick was hard enough to creep into goal.
ARFC got another goal in the
79th min. Off a corner kick by Blackburn, the opponent tried to head the ball
away but it went behind him instead. The ball fell nicely for Soon who was near
the edge of the box, to side-foot the ball into goal for his 64th ARFC
goal. 6-1.
ARFC conceded another goal
just before full-time. The opponent swung a cross from the right by-line which
seemed to hang in the air for the longest time but still would fall nicely for
Derrick to catch. In his bid to confuse the opponent who were near him, Derrick
shouted that the ball was his and tried to punch the ball away. However, to
everyone's horror, Derrick failed to connect to the ball properly as it hit his
gloves and into goal. 6-2.
After the game, Derrick
apologised for the last goal conceded as he admitted that his punch was poor
and he had caused confusion to his own-self instead of the opponent. Derrick
likened the punch to a certain Roberto Brendan but it was pointed out to him,
that Brendan had never conceded such a goal.
Voting results:
Haron – 7
Derrick – 7
Tze Ern – 6
Soon – 3
Weilit – 3
Blackburn – 2
Elvis – 2
Alvin – 2
Toh – 2
Darren – 2
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