Wayne nets winner in thrilling 4-3 victory

In a very tense and exciting match, ARFC held off the strong challenge of a very youthful and determined CPC to win 4-3.

As usual, Ron’s wife Lingzhi turned up to lend her support though sources revealed that she was always there to ensure that Ron did not “false declare”.

17 minutes before kick-off, ARFC suffered a huge blow when first-choice GK and regular penalty-saver Derrick had to pull out due to dead leg.

ARFC started with this line-up:

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

Both sides started cautiously trying to dominate play with the younger and fitter opponents quicker at every 2^nd ball.  However, they simply could not find a way past ARFC’s formidable defence led ably by Ron.

In the 15h min, future ARFC captain Chun Haw took over from the tiring Tjioe.

Within minutes, the substitution move reaped dividends off a quick counter-attack started by Darren.  After regaining possession down the left, Darren immediately passed the ball to Chun Haw. With a quick look-up, Chun Haw put in a deft delicious-looking slide-rule pass to Kenny who ran in from behind to beat their off-side trap.  With Kenny’s pedigree, the end result is a forgone conclusion as Kenny curled a world-class bender to the far corner of the net. 1-0 and this was Kenny’s 78^th ARFC goal.

In the 35^th min, ARFC was dealt a bad card as the referee somehow awarded an extremely harsh and strange penalty against ARFC.  Even though stand-in GK Wayne got a touch to the spot-kick, he could not keep out the goal. 1-1

In the 40^th min, Haron, who replaced the hardworking Alvin, almost marked his Hari Raya celebration with a goal. With a gaping goal and their GK already beaten, Haron showed the ill-effects of his fasting and feasting when he inexplicably fell at the last moment. Unlucky!

3 mins into the second half, ARFC regained its lead. After a clever inter-change of passes between Wayne and Chun Haw on the left, ARFC earned a corner taken by Alvin.  Though Alvin’s corner was not hit high enough, Toh stole in at the near post to flick the ball in with his right foot to notch his 94^th ARFC goal. 2-1.

ARFC then extended its lead with yet another corner.  This time round, Tze Ern’s corner from the left was floated beautifully to the far post and Chun Haw nipped in, leaped the highest and thumped the ball home with his forehead for his 56^th ARFC goal. 3-1.

ARFC then went to sleep and conceded 2 quick goals. 3-3

In the 69^th min, ARFC once again demonstrated its prowess at corner kicks. The corner kick from Alvin led to a melee in the box and Wayne reacted quickest when he tipped the ball into the net. 4-3 and this was Wayne’s 26^th ARFC goal.

However, Wayne’s goal led to a fracas as he was kicked deliberately and belatedly by the opponent who had already planned to kick him even before the corner kick was taken. To make matters worse, the same opponent even provoked and goaded ARFC warriors to hit him.

The match was then called off by the inept and incapable referee who probably had played a big part in the frustration felt by both teams.