ARFC Veteran Team ran riot in 9-0 win over Westminster

Playing its 2^nd veteran match, ARFC Veteran Team produced a scintillating performance to destroy Westminster 9-0 at the pristine Rainforest pitch.

ARFC Veteran Team was supported by Yan Xiu (wife of Huiming) and Reyes (son of Darren).

Boon also made his first appearance for ARFC since dinosaur age, while Chua and Raymond made belated appearances for the Veteran Team.

ARFC Veteran Team started with this line-up:

GK – Derrick

RB – Kiat

Sweeper – Eng Lai

Stopper – Darren

LB – Tong

RM – Raymond

CM – Sebastian (Captain)

CM – Ron

LM – Khim

SC – Blackburn

SC – Haron

Subs:

Boon

Chua

Toh (special appearance as he was conned by Derrick)

David (late)

Huiming (late)

Soon (late)

It did not take long for ARFC Veteran Team to stamp its authority in the match with Sebastian, Khim, Ron and Raymond controlling the midfield totally.

Sebastian could have opened the scoring in the 5^th min but he shot narrowly wide after being set up by him just outside the box.

In the 7^th min, Blackburn and Haron combined superbly with a nice and simple one-two which saw the ball richochet to Raymond in the box. Despite the opponents calling for off-side which was not true at all, Raymond simply placed the ball home for his 8^th ARFC goal. 1-0 and this was Raymond’s first ARFC goal in 2017, with his last goal occurring on 24Jul 2016. 

7 mins later, Blackburn and Haron again combined brilliantly and the latter played in a beautiful through ball to Ron who ran in from deep.  Faking a shot that saw their GK committed and beaten, Ron went around their GK before calmly slotting the ball home for his 12^th ARFC goal and 1^st ARFC goal in 2017. 2-0 and the last time Ron scored for ARFC was on 2 Nov 2015.

7 mins later, Blackburn pinged a grounder to the right flank and Raymond, who was in red hot form, saw Haron peeling away to the far post and squared the ball across goal. Haron had the easiest of task and he obliged with the left foot grounder. 3-0 and this was Haron’s 244^th ARFC goal.

Tong then clipped the crossbar with a dipping shot. Unlucky!

Tong and Chua then had a few good scoring opportunities but they were wasted.

In the 2^nd half, Blackburn played in Toh whose shot then bounced off he right post before nesting in the net. 4-0 and this was Toh’s 96^th ARFC goal.

Darren, who was a monster at left midfield, then created ARFC’s 5^th goal.  Though he could have shot himself, Darren unselfishly laid the ball to Eng Lai who was free in the box.  After Eng Lai’s fierce shot was blocked by their covering defender, Sebastian instinctively rifled the ball into the roof of the net for his 104^th ARFC goal. 5-0.

Blackburn then robbed their sweeper of the ball and faced their GK one-to-one.  However, he tried to be too clever when he chipped their GK when a simple placing shot would suffice. Their GK blocked the chip and from the rebound, Blackburn then kneeled the ball over.

Eng Lai’s corner from the right was half-cleared by the opponent. Raymond then headed the ball back into and near the penalty spot and Haron showed his predatory instinct when he back-headed the ball which sailed over their GK for his 245^th ARFC goal. 6-0.

Darren then powered down the left flank ala Ryan Giggs and his cross to Haron saw the latter’s venomous shot being tipped over for a corner.

From the resulting corner from Eng Lai, their GK only managed to flicked the ball backwards and Toh swooped in at the far post to score with his assuring header for his 97^th ARFC goal. 7-0.

Haron then demonstrated his vision and class when from the left mid position, he simply ton-joe a diagonal grounder to the right flank.  Derrick dashed in and reached the ball ahead of their on-rushing GK, and rolled the ball past their GK for his 103^rd ARFC goal. 8-0.

Derrick’s goal was also his first goal for ARFC for the past 3 years. His last goal for ARFC was on 23 Nov 2014.

Haron then put the icing on the cake with his hat-trick. Though Kiat was fouled in the box, the referee played advantage and Haron quickly thumped home for his 246^th ARFC goal. 9-0.

Haron’s hat-trick was his 13^th hat-trick for ARFC which netted 44 goals. 

Incredulously, this was the 2^nd successive match for the ARFC Veteran Team where hat-trick was scored. Jeffrey also scored a hat-trick in ARFC Veteran Teams first match in Aug 2017.

I think the ARFC Veteran Team really played a very simple game with so many simple yet beautiful passes.

It was great to see David, Huiming, Kiat, Tong and Boon turning back the years with solid performances.

Chun Haw nets ARFC's 2000th goal with a hat-trick in 3-1 victory

Courtesy of Chun Haw’s inspiring hat-trick, ARFC came from behind to defeat FC Tebing 3-1.

ARFC was supported by Lingzhi (Ron’s beau) and also Pauline, Rachel and Reyes , Darren’s family. Kenny’s heavily-pregnant wife Joy was also there to support.

ARFC started with this line-up:

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

Despite controlling the proceedings of the match, ARFC fell behind after the opponents scored with their first foray into ARFC’s box! 0-1

ARFC then almost equalised 7 mins later. After Wayne was fouled, Sebastian stepped up and curled a vicious free-kick that looked destined for goal until their GK stuck out a strong arm to tip the ball over for a corner. 

From the resulting corner, Toh headed against the far post. Unlucky!

ARFC then owed Derrick a huge gratitude when the opponents picked up a stray back pass and was facing Derrick one-on-one.  Probably put off by Derrick’s looks, the opponent’s placed shot was somehow kept out by Derrick who got down in an instant to divert the ball for a corner.  Simply world-class save! 

Wayne was then fouled again near the left touch-line. Surprising everyone on and off the pitch, Chun Haw side-footed a low free-kick which evaded the wall and squeezed into the near post of their GK.  1-1 and this was Chun Haw’s 63^rd ARFC goal.

In the 2^nd half, Wayne sent Kenny through but the latter just couldn’t find the net and shot wide to GK’s right.

ARFC then finally went ahead in the 57^th min.  Blackburn’s corner from the left was glanced by the leaping Jinzhong and the ball looked headed out for a goal-kick.  Chun Haw had other ideas though and he sprinted to the ball and kept it in play.  He then faked a right-foot shot, fooled their defenders before firing a left-footer beauty through a seas of defenders for his 64^th ARFC goal. 2-1.

Chun Haw then put the result to bed 7 mins later.  From Blackburn’s free-kick, after yet another foul on Wayne, Chun Haw ran in from deep, beat their off-side trap and simply drilled the ball past their despairing GK for his hat-trick. 3-1 and this was Chun Haw’s 65^th ARFC goal.

Significantly, Chun Haw’s goal was also ARFC’s 2000^th goal since it started in Jun 1991.

With this hat-trick Chun Haw has now scored 6 hat-tricks (18 goals) for ARFC, putting him on level grounds with Blackburn.

Voting results:

Chun Haw – 9

Soon – 9

Darren – 5

Wayne – 5

Derrick – 4

Kenny – 2

Chua – 1

Sebastian – 1

Alvin hit 4 goals in 6-2 landslide victory

In high spirits after brushing the tough challenge of the Korean team FC Goguryo aside, ARFC comprehensively dismissed the challenge of E’Valor 6-2.

ARFC started with this line-up:

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

In the 9^th min, ARFC opened the scoring after Chun Haw latched on to Blackburn’s corner and hit a fierce shot that was handled on the line by their defender.  Alvin stepped up to send their GK the wrong way from the spot.  1-0 and this was Alvin’s 295^th ARFC goal.

ARFC doubled its lead 9 mins later.  From a quick counter-attack, Kenny left their defender eating dust when he raced down the left flank and hit a precise ball to Alvin.  Though Alvin only managed to connect with his shoulder, their GK was somehow caught off-guard and could not keep out the ball though he got a touch to it.  2-0 and this was Alvin’s 296^th ARFC goal.

In the 2^nd half, ARFC quickly pulled ahead just 2 mins from the re-start.  Chun Haw continued his impressive performance when he dribbled past several opponents down the left, cut inside their covering defender before dispatching a rocket to the top left corner.  World-class goal! 3-0 and this was Chun Haw’s 62^nd ARFC goal, putting him on level terms with Tjioe.

ARFC then inexplicably conceded 2 soft goals.

In the 67^th min, Larry won the ball in the middle of the park and delivered a brilliant through ball to Alvin. With a powerful burst of speed, Alvin bored down on their GK and the end result is beyond reasonable doubt. 4-2 and this was Alvin’s 297^th ARFC goal and 27^th ARFC hat-trick.

In the 77^th min, Wayne received a through ball from Blackburn on the right, put the ball between the opponent’s legs and headed towards goal.  Though Wayne could have scored himself, he was unselfish and squared the ball to the onrushing Alvin who gleefully tapped the ball into the empty net. 5-2 and this was Alvin’s 298^th ARFC goal.

With his goal, Alvin has scored a remarkable 90 goals just from his 27 ARFC hat-tricks alone.

In the 80^th min came the goal and move of the match.  Alvin picked up the ball in the middle of the pitch and fizzed a ball down the left flank for the overlapping Darren.  In a Roberto Carlos-like move, Darren sprinted down the left flank before crossing a dangerous-looking ball.  Hearing a shout from behind, Wayne then dummied the ball and Larry simply thumped home his 2^nd ARFC goal. 6-2.

Voting results:

Kenny – 8

Soon – 6

Alvin – 6

Chua – 6

Darren – 4

Chun Haw – 4

Eng Lai – 1

Wayne – 1