ARFC opens 2017 with exciting 5-7 loss

Kicking off 2017, ARFC endured a torrid afternoon in a thrilling see-saw affairs in a 5-7 loss to Maccabees FC.

ARFC was once again supported by Lingzhi, fervent and dedicated supporter of ARFC and in particular, Ron. 

Darren’s son, Rayes, was also present to continue his learning journey from his unbeatable father.

ARFC started with this line-up:

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

ARFC started very well and took the lead in the 7^th min. Darren did his son proud when he prodded a long ball down the left flank to Alvin. Reaching the ball ahead of their on-rushing GK who had sprinted out of his goal, Alvin shot under him for his xxx ARFC goal. 1-0

Bizarrely enough, ARFC then conceded 3 quick goals to trail 1-3.

Powered by How Meng, however, ARFC demonstrated their never-say-die spirit and began their fight-back.

First, Blackburn’s corner from the right sailed over Toh who dragged 3 defenders with him. The ball fell kindly to How Meng who fooled their defender with an inside-foot drag and then rifled the ball home with his left foot for his 289^th ARFC goal.  2-3

Hee then fired in a shot but was blocked by their defender’s out-stretched arm ala John Terry in the box. Incredibly, the inept referee, who had an extremely poor match, did not blow for a penalty.

The referee then made up for his mistake by finally awarding ARFC a penalty. Kenny took their left-back for a ride by fooling him 3 times with his fancy footwork and speed and was eventually brought down. Alvin stood up to send their GK the wrong way for his 290^th ARFC goal. 3-3

In the 2^nd half, ARFC took the lead for the 2^nd time. From a quick throw-in from Weilit, Haron slowly found his way into the box. He then passed to Blackburn who then “sarong” their sweeper to Haron. With a good first-touch and faced with very limited and little space, Haron sent a brilliant left-foot curler round their GK ala Thierry Henry for his 236^th ARFC goal. 4-3

ARFC then conceded a goal. 4-4

Weilit then conjured a howler. From a quick counter-attack, Kenny found his way down the right touch-line in a 3v1 move. Kenny then squared to Weilit, with Alvin behind Weilit, who could have even walked the ball into the net as their GK was exposed. However, Weilit scooped the ball over.

ARFC then trailed 4-5.

Sebastian then created the equalizer when his right corner was met by the leaping How Meng who rose like Miroslav Klose to powerfully head home his 10^th ARFC goal. 5-5

ARFC then conceded 2 late goals to lose 5-7.

Voting results:

How Meng – 14

Kenny – 9

Soon – 7

Alvin – 7

Derrick – 5

Haron – 3

Hee – 1

Sebastian – 1

Toh – 1