On a cool and cloudy Sunday afternoon, ARFC
started the game against a group of youngsters with 10men while waiting the
arrival of Tze Ern who decided to support his team after learning that it was
down in numbers. Kudos to him.
ARFC
started with this line-up:
Keeper - Commanding
Ismail
Right-back - Dependable
Jinzhong
Sweeper - Combative
Ron
Stopper - Towering
Toh
Left-back - Unbeatable
Darren
Left-mid - Skilful
Weilit
Centre-mid - Steely Tze Ern
Centre-mid - Dynamic
Soon
Right-mid - Talisman
Derrick (captain)
Striker - Unpredictable
Blackburn
Striker - ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Subs:
Nil
Absent:
Impeccable
How Meng
Powerful
Alvin
Nippy Kenny
Speedy
Hee
Astute-reading
sweeper Elvis
Influential
Sebastian
Wonder
Wayne
Sublime Khim
Marauding
Guoxiong
Hard-man Tjioe
Tze Ern started the game 7mins after the
kick-off. In the meantime, ARFC tried its best to control the game by playing
its passing game. However, they struggled and it showed when the opponent
scored off a counter attack and their first shot at goal. 0-1.
Not overawed by the deficit, ARFC remained
calm and continued playing its game of passing. That effort paid off when
ARFC finally got its equalizer in the 27th min. Off Weilit's cross from the
left flank, Haron received the ball at the edge of the box. With one swift
move, he released it to Soon who was running from the blind side on the right.
Soon latched on to the through ball and volleyed it low towards goal, off the
despairing hands of the keeper. 1-1 and this was Soon’s 65th ARFC
goal.
7 mins later, ARFC got the lead when a
through ball by Blackburn released Weilit who has been menacing and terrorizing
the opponents with his mazy runs throughout. Weilit beat the offside trap and
close challenge of a defender to slam the bouncing ball home for his 10th
ARFC goal. 2-1 and with this goal, Weilit is now on level terms with Ron in the
scoring chart.
The second half was delayed by about 17
mins due to heavy shower and lightning.
When the game finally kicked off, the long rest
did not seemed to help the aging bodies of ARFC as it took them a while to
continue from where they left off. The opponents though were raring to set the
record straight and they did just that 77 seconds after the restart. 2-2.
Galvanized by the equalizer, the opponents
continued attacking ARFC's goal but thanks to the astute defence and good
goalkeeping by Ismail, the score remained the same.
ARFC regained the lead in the 77th min off
a corner by Tze Ern who was showing Blackburn the right way of taking corners
instead of blaming the pitch. Tze Ern swung a swerving ball from the right
towards the front post. With all their attention on Toh and Jinzhong, Derrick took
full advantage by ran towards the ball and got the slight of touches to head it
home for his 102nd ARFC goal. 3-2.
The tempo of the game seemed to escalate
after that goal as both teams were determined to stamp their authority on each
other with relentless attacking moves.
ARFCA nearly increased its lead in the
dying minutes of the game. Off a cross from the left, Haron took two touches to
juggle the ball in the box, put it over the onrushing defender and was about to
hit the ball when Darren who joined the attack all the way from his left-back
position, came from the blind side and volleyed the ball towards goal with his
favourite right foot! The ball swerved fully and beautifully all the way
towards the top left corner and would have definitely been a contender for the
goal of the season ..... if not for the post! Unlucky!
That was the last kick of the game as the
referee blew for full time shortly after.
Voting results:
Derrick – 9
Soon – 6
Darren – 5
Ron – 5
Tze Ern – 5
Weilit – 2
Ismail – 1
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