Sebastian nets winner in 4-3 thriller

Despite being pegged back 3 times by the determined Marine Devils, ARFC managed to emerge 4-3 winners in an enthralling match at AMK SS. 

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper – Commanding Ismail

Right-back – Dependable Jinzhong

Sweeper – Combative Ron

Stopper - Towering Toh
Left-back - Steely Tze Ern
Left mid – Speedy Hee
Right mid – Marauding Guoxiong
Centre-mid - Influential Sebastian (captain)
Centre-mid – Nippy Kenny
Striker – Unpredictable Blackburn
Striker – Powerful Alvin

Subs:

Dynamic Soon (late)

Talented Chun Haw
Eng Lai (guest player)
Ah Chua (guest player)
Dominic (guest player)

Absent:

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Skilful Weilit

Unbeatable Darren

Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Hard-man Tjioe
Impeccable How Meng
Wonder Wayne
Talisman Derrick
Sublime Khim

ARFC took a while in kicking into gear and nearly conceded a goal if not for a smart alert  save from Ismail. 

ARFC took the lead after Toh surged in to powerfully head home a precise corner from Alvin on the left. 1-0 and this was Toh’s 85^th ARFC goal, with 97.77% of those goals coming from his head.  

ARFC then conceded a bizarre goal. 1-1

ARFC then regained the lead 7 mins later. Chun Haw laid on the grounder for Sebastian who was 37 metres away from goal. Similar to what Paul Scholes and Steven Gerrard have been doing, Sebastian cracked in a fierce rising shot that struck the right post and rebounded off their GK’s shoulder. The ball rolled along the line but Kenny was quickest to hold on their covering defender to stroke home his 62^nd ARFC goal. 2-1 and what a great follow-up.  

ARFC then conceded a penalty which was converted. 2-2 

ARFC restored its lead through fortuitous manner. From the left wing, Tze Ern swung a cross-shot that somehow sailed over their GK to land nicely into the far corner. 3-2 and this was Tze Ern’s 12^th ARFC goal and his 3^rd goal in his last 4 ARFC matches. 

ARFC then conceded again. 3-3 

Tze Ern then came close when his violent shot from outside the box just clipped the crossbar. 

In the 2^nd half, ARFC played slightly better and took the lead for the 4^th time when their defender clumsily handle Jinzhong’s long-throw. Sebastian stepped up and buried the ghost of his recent penalty misses when he sent their GK the wrong way for his 98^th ARFC goal. 4-3

Eng Lai then came to ARFC’s rescue when he cleared the ball off the line.  

Kenny then almost grabbed his brace but his venomous shot struck off the post.  

Ismail then preserved ARFC’s lead when he twice slapped the dangerous ball away from their corners. 

Voting results:

Tze Ern – 10

Kenny – 7

Toh – 6

Sebastian – 5

Ismail – 5
Chun Haw – 3
Guoxiong – 3

Alvin's 25th ARFC hat-trick could not secure win

Coming back from the long weekend break, ARFC let slipped a 3-goal lead to draw 4-4 against a very sporting team E’Valor. 

ARFC also welcomed back Sebastian from his week-long trial with Brisbane Warriors. Though he was offered a 5-year A$50,000 weekly contract, he turned it down as his love for ARFC is simply just too deep. 

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper – Surinderpal Singh (guest player)

Right-back – Eng Lai (guest player)

Sweeper – Combative Ron

Stopper - Towering Toh

Left-back - Unbeatable Darren

Left mid – Skilful Weilit

Right mid – Marauding Guoxiong

Centre-mid - Steely Tze Ern

Centre-mid – Dynamic Soon

Striker – Unpredictable Blackburn

Striker – Powerful Alvin

Subs:

Influential Sebastian

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Ah Chua (guest player)

Dominic (Eng Lai’s son) 

Absent:

Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Hard-man Tjioe

Nippy Kenny

Talented Chun Haw

Dependable Jinzhong

Speedy Hee

Commanding Ismail

Impeccable How Meng

Wonder Wayne

Talisman Derrick

Sublime Khim

ARFC totally controlled the opening proceedings with Tze Ern, Soon, Guoxiong and Alvin all coming very close. Particularly, Tze Ern’s shot was just 0.77 mm over the bar after a nice chested take-down. 

ARFC was made to pay for its profligacy when it conceded a break-away goal. 0-1 

Seeing enough, Haron, Sebastian and Ah Chua came on for Blackburn, Soon and Eng Lai respectively. 

Within 77 seconds, ARFC was level. Ah Chua, who had an impressive outing at right-back, pumped the ball upfield.   With the ball taking a bounce up in the air, Haron used his big body to head the goal forward while at the same time knocked their defender down. Alvin chased the ball and clipped the ball home for his 265^th ARFC goal. 1-1 

7 mins later, ARFC took the lead with yet another tried-and-tested corner routine. Sebastian floated in a perfect ball right at the most dangerous zone between the 6-yard box and penalty spot and who else but Toh who came in and powered home a header that is totally impossible to stop. 2-1 and this was Toh’s 84^th ARFC goal.  

ARFC extended its lead with Haron turning provider again. Surinderpal launched a high ball from GK position and Haron then back-flicked the ball goalwards. Alvin chased the ball and fully utilized his Hulk-like upper body strength to hold off their covering defender. Just near the penalty spot, Alvin simply thumped the ball right through their GK for his 266^th ARFC goal. 3-1

 

This was also Alvin’s 25^th career hat-trick for ARFC which netted him 82 goals. 

7 mins after the re-start, ARFC looked to out the result to bed. Ah Chua again played the ball down the right wing. Haron unleashed his burst of speed to volley in a right-wing cross to the box. Alvin then stole ahead of their defender to glance home his 267^th ARFC goal. 4-1

Sebastian then came close with a left-foot hook-shot. Moments later, he intercepted a clearance from their GK about 47 metres out but just lofted the ball a little bit too high the bar. 

Strangely enough, ARFC conceded 3 goals to draw 4-4.

Voting results:

 

Alvin – 9

Tze Ern – 7

Haron – 6

Guoxiong – 3

Soon – 3

Sebastian – 2

Ron – 2

Toh – 1

ARFC wishes happy 50th birthday to Singapore....

On behalf of ARFC, I would like to wish Singapore a happy and prosperous 50th birthday....

May Singapore's future be as bright as now....

Tze Ern's world-class goal in 3-2 victory

On the back of the thumping 10-0 win last weekend, ARFC warriors played with spring in their steps to win 3-2 against Tebing FC at St Wilfrids.

Special mention to Ron for volunteering to be GK.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper – Combative Ron

Right-back – Ah Chua (guest player)

Sweeper – Eng Lai (guest player)

Stopper - Towering Toh

Left-back - Unbeatable Darren

Left mid – Unpredictable Blackburn

Right mid – Marauding Guoxiong

Centre-mid - Nippy Kenny

Centre-mid – Hard-man Tjioe

Striker – Vanilla Ice (guest player)

Striker – Powerful Alvin 

Subs:

 

Steely Tze Ern (late)

Astute-reading sweeper Elvis (late)

Skilful Weilit (late)

Dominic (Eng Lai’s son)

Absent:

Talented Chun Haw

Dynamic Soon

Dependable Jinzhong

Influential Sebastian

Speedy Hee

Commanding Ismail

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Impeccable How Meng

Wonder Wayne

Talisman Derrick

Sublime Khim

ARFC drew first blood in the 7^th min. Kenny’s long ball from the middle led to Ice bearing down on their GK. Their GK reached the ball first and cleared the ball away to just outside the penalty area. Guoxiong, who is back to his best, shouted for the loose ball and duly rocketed in a volley that gave their GK no chance at all.  Superb goal!! 1-0 and this was Guoxiong’s 23^rd ARFC goal, moving him level with ex-ARFC legend David. 

The opponents then equalized in the 20^th min with ARFC suffering another bad refereeing decision as their winger was miles offside. 1-1 

In the 27^th min, Darren played the ball out of the danger area to Weilit. Fresh from his one-week BMT, Weilit showed enormous upper body strength to shrug off the pulling and tugging of the opponents before threading a low ball down the left for Alvin.  In his trademark move, Alvin powered away from his marker, moved into the box and unleashed a powerful grounder.  Though their GK got his hands to the ball, the shot was too powerful that the ball went loose. Following up, Alvin simply cracked another powerful shot into the net for his 264^th ARFC goal. 2-1 

In the 50^th min, Toh’s powerful header bounced off the cross-bar. Dominic reacted quickest but his shot also hit the upright. Unlucky! 

In the 57^th min, ARFC extended the lead with a world-class goal from Tze Ern.   Off yet another ARFC attack, the opponents cleared the ball outside the box only to find the on-form Tze Ern lurking there. Before the ball hit the ground, Tze Ern let fly a first-time volley that saw the ball hit the top right hand corner, giving their exasperated GK no chance at all! 3-1 and this was Tze Ern’s 11^th ARFC goal and 2^nd successive goal in 2 matches. 

Tze Ern’s goal also meant that he is now the proud holder of ARFC’s 1800^th goal in its illustrious history.  

The opponents then pulled a goal back. 3-2 

In the 77^th min, off a Guoxiong through ball down the right, Alvin raced clear and tried to chip their GK. However, the ball hit the left cross-bar despite their GK clearly beaten. Unlucky!  

Voting results:

Tjioe – 7

Guoxiong – 6

Tze Ern – 6

Kenny – 5

Alvin – 5

Weilit – 2

Darren – 1

Elvis – 1