Chun Haw inspires ARFC's 4-1 victory

Resuming its league programme after Hari Raya Puasa, ARFC continued its winning ways by brushing aside Dark Horse 4-1 courtesy of an inspiring display from Chun Haw.

ARFC was supported by its die-hard and hardcore supporter Lingzhi, Ron’s wife.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Jersey no.	Name	Position
33	Talisman Derrick	Goalkeeper
16	Marauding Guoxiong	Right-back
3	Astute-reading sweeper Elvis	Sweeper
15	Towering Toh (captain)	Stopper
20	Composed Eng Lai	Left-back
2	Unpredictable Blackburn	Right-mid
4	Dynamic Soon	Centre-mid
8	Talented Chun Haw	Centre-mid
xx	Lucas (guest player)	Left-mid
9	ARFC Scoring Legend Haron	Striker
99	Powerful Alvin	Striker
Subs:
7	Influential Sebastian
14	Combative Ron
19	Skillful Weilit (but did not play due to ankle injury)
31	Vintage Chua
66	Wonder Wayne
xx	Larry (guest player)
Absent:
5	Impeccable How Meng
6	Unbeatable Darren
10	Sublime Khim
11	Speedy Hee
17	Nippy Kenny
18	Determined Huiming
21	Rampaging Raymond
28	Hard-man Tjioe
45	Commanding Ismail
77	Dependable Jinzhong
78	Steely Tze Ern

Possible due to complacency, ARFC simply could not get its game going and after several missed half-chances, ARFC fell behind from the opponents’ first shot on target.  0-1

Blackburn’s corner from the right the grazed their cross-bar but no ARFC warrior was on hand to latch on the loose ball.

Guoxiong’s long lofted ball from his right-back position then put Haron through but the latter’s lifted ball was not high enough and was claimed by their GK.

ARFC then made a string of substitutions which paid dividends almost instantly. 

Larry, the impressive diminutive playmaker, was the chief architect.  After receiving a ball from his elder brother Lucas, Larry played a quick return to Lucas who beat their off-side trap before firing home a stiff grounder.  1-1

ARFC then took the lead in the 27^th min via a tried-and-tested source.  Sebastian’s world-class corner ala David Beckham saw who else but Toh charging in and thumped a firm header ala Sami Hyypia to almost burst the net.  2-1 and this was Toh’s 95^th ARFC goal.

Larry then demonstrated his keen creative eyes when his slide-rule pass pierced right through the opponents’ hearts.  With only their GK to beat, however, Wayne dithered on the ball and saw his placing shot saved by their GK.

Wayne then missed another 2 golden chances.

In the 2^nd half, ARFC continued pressing for more goals but had to be indebted to Derrick who pulled off a great save.

ARFC then extended its lead with arguably its move of the match.  Chun Haw, clearly the Man-of-the-Match, fizzed a sizzling diagonal cross-field grounder to the right touchline.  Blackburn picked up the ball and squared across.  Haron trapped the ball nicely before laying for the on-rushing Larry to fire in a shot which was superbly saved by their GK.   Chun Haw followed up and drilled a high ball through a sea of defenders for his 57^th ARFC goal. 3-1

Derrick then produced the save of the season.  Spotting Derrick out of position, heir player chipped a high diagonal to Derrick’s back post.  Just when everybody was expecting a goal, Derrick took 2 steps back, stretched out his right arm and touched the ball to the cross-bar for a corner.  Totally world-class which is similar to Gordon Banks’ save against Pele in the 1970 World Cup match between England and Brazil.

ARFC then put the result to bed in the 70^th min.  Seeing Chun Haw bringing the ball menacing towards their penalty box, Sebastian made himself available just outside their penalty box.  Chun Haw read Sebastian’s intention and played a quick one-two with Sebastian who quickly returned the pass.  With a bit of luck, their defender could not clear the ball and Chun Haw then side-footed the ball home for his 58^th ARFC goal. 4-1.

With this goal, Chun Haw has overtaken ARFC’s Best player Khim’s 57 goals.

ARFC then missed a couple of chances and had to be contended with a 3-goal margin victory.

Voting results:

Chun Haw – 11

Derrick – 11

Ron – 8

Chua – 7

Blackburn – 2

Sebastian – 1

Toh – 1

Eng Lai – 1