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.