Ismail's heroics preserved ARFC's 2-1 triumph

After a high of last week’s thrilling 6-5 win, ARFC put itself into yet another narrow victory courtesy of Ismail’s last-minute penalty save to win 2-1 against Winning Boy FC.

ARFC started with this line-up: 

Jersey no.	Name	Position
45	Commanding Ismail	Goalkeeper
31	Vintage Chua	Right-back
3	Astute-reading sweeper Elvis	Sweeper
20	Composed Eng Lai	Stopper
6	Unbeatable Darren	Left-back
16	Marauding Guoxiong	Right-mid
4	Dynamic Soon	Centre-mid
28	Hard-man Tjioe	Centre-mid
2	Unpredictable Blackburn	Left-mid
9	ARFC Scoring Legend Haron (captain)	Striker
17	Nippy Kenny	Striker
Subs:
8	Talented Chun Haw
15	Towering Toh
66	Wonder Wayne
-	Yilong
Absent:
5	Impeccable How Meng
7	Influential Sebastian
10	Sublime Khim
11	Speedy Hee
14	Combative Ron
18	Determined Huiming
19	Skillful Weilit
21	Rampaging Raymond
33	Talisman Derrick
77	Dependable Jinzhong
78	Steely Tze Ern
99	Powerful Alvin

Straight from the kick-off, Kenny unleashed a long-range lob which sailed over their GK’s flailing arms but the ball struck the cross-bar. Unlucky!

Bouyed by last week’s 6-5 win, ARFC played with a swagger and totally dominating play. Alas, the goal did not materialise. 

Last week’s hat-trick Chun Haw then came on and almost opened the scoring but his dipping shot struck the out-stretched arms of their GK. Unlucky!

With their first shot of the match, the opponents scored. Amazing but that’s how cruel football can be. 

Continuing his goal-scoring feat, Chun Haw then confidently converted a penalty for his 44^th ARFC goal. 1-1

In the 77^th min, Yilong showed why he was voted the Best Player in the Tiger Cup 2015 when he let fly from almost 40 metres that zipped past their bewildered GK. 2-1 and this was Yilong’s 2^nd ARFC goal. 

In the 87^th min, the opponents then earned a fortuitous penalty after the ball accidentally hit Chun Haw’s hands. Justice was done, however, when Ismail produced a superb full-length flying save to palm the ball away!! World-class save!!

Kenny then took another 7 shots but to no avail. 

Voting results:

Ismail – 11

Chun Haw – 6

Chua – 5

Soon – 5

Darren – 4

Guoxiong – 3

Tjioe – 3

Elvis – 1

Eng Lai – 1

Chun Haw's 4th ARFC hat-trick secures last-grasp 6-5 win

With a brilliant hat-trick by Chun Haw, ARFC snatched a last-grasp goal from the penalty spot to seal a thrilling and exciting 6-5 win over Fun Warriors to continue its unbeaten run in the league. 

ARFC started with this line-up: 

Jersey no.	Name	Position
14	Combative Ron	Goalkeeper
18	Determined Huiming	Right-back
20	Composed Eng Lai	Sweeper
77	Dependable Jinzhong	Stopper
31	Vintage Chua	Left-back
16	Marauding Guoxiong	Right-mid
21	Rampaging Raymond	Centre-mid
8	Talented Chun Haw	Centre-mid
11	Speedy Hee	Left-mid
2	Unpredictable Blackburn	Striker
9	ARFC Scoring Legend Haron (captain)	Striker
Subs:
4	Dynamic Soon
15	Towering Toh
66	Wonder Wayne
Absent:
3	Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
5	Impeccable How Meng
6	Unbeatable Darren
7	Influential Sebastian
10	Sublime Khim
17	Nippy Kenny
19	Skillful Weilit
28	Hard-man Tjioe
33	Talisman Derrick
45	Commanding Ismail
78	Steely Tze Ern
99	Powerful Alvin

Despite dominating the match in the opening 10 minutes, ARFC found itself 2 goals down. Bizarre Affair!

ARFC pulled a goal back in the 17^th min. A superb right-wing cross from Raymond found Hee charging in from the blind side from the left to nod the ball home for his 105^th ARFC goal. 1-2

ARFC equalised 10 minutes later. A series ding-dong ping-pong in the penalty area finally culminated in Chun Haw slamming in the ball into the far bottom corner of the net. 2-2 and this was Chun Haw’s 41^st ARFC goal.

A minute before half-time, ARFC deservingly took the lead.  A wonderful exchange of passes between Raymond, Haron and Chun Haw resulted in Haron laying the ball on a platter for Wayne. With only their GK to beat, Wayne’s shot was parried by their GK but thankfully, the rebound fell kindly for Chun Haw who managed to trick their on-rushing GK before squeezing the ball to the bottom corner of the goal. 3-2 and this was Chun Haw’s 42^nd ARFC goal. 

9 mins after the re-start, Haron was bearing down on goal when he was tucked at the jersey by their last defender outside the box. A definite red-card offence but the inept referee only gave a yellow. From the resultant free-kick, Haron curled the ball past their GK but not the bar. The rebound was then headed home by Hee but he was correctly ruled off-side. Unlucky!

In the 57^th min, Toh brushed off his recent criticism by getting his first goal of 2016. Blackburn’s cross from the left found Toh lurking in the middle of the box. Proving that he is not just a master header of the ball, Toh expertly shielded the ball from two defenders and an on-coming tackle before swivelling and swept the ball home for his 86^th ARFC goal! 4-2

The opponent then pulled a goal back. 4-3.

In the 69^th min, Blackburn turned creator again when his corner from the right saw Wayne stooping low to head the ball home for his 20^th ARFC goal. 5-3.

ARFC then turned complacent and tired and conceded 2 goals! 5-5

With virtually the last kick of the match, ARFC grabbed the decisive winning goal. A lovely wall-passes between Raymond and Chun Haw saw the latter being cruelly and viciously brought down by their defender, giving the referee the easiest of the decisions to award a penalty.  Chun Haw dusted himself off the ground by sending their GK the wrong way for his 43^rd ARFC goal. 6-5. 

This was Chun Haw’s 4^th ARFC hat-trick (12 goals), a feat that put him on level terms with Sebastian in the hat-trick count.

This manner was winning mirrored that of ARFC’s thrilling 5-4 victory over Liverland FC back in 23 Oct 2011.  In that match, ARFC also conceded late goals to almost draw 4-4.  With the last kick of the match, Sebastian’s corner from the left was thumped home via a bullet header from Toh.

Voting results:

Chun Haw – 12

Soon – 10

Toh – 5

Chua – 4

Raymond – 3

Guoxiong – 3

Blackburn – 2

Hee – 2

Ron – 1