Top 10 ARFC goal-scorers (as at 22 Oct 2017)

Alvin - 300 goals
Haron - 246
Blackburn - 154
Hee - 107
Sebastian - 104
Derrick - 103
Toh - 97
Kenny - 79
Soon - 74
Robin - 69

Daniel's world-class diving header goal capped 5-2 victory in ARFC Veteran Team's 3rd match

Playing its 3^rd veteran match, ARFC Veteran Team trailed twice before completing a comprehensive victory over FC Sperms at the Turf Ciy Pitch 1.

ARFC Veteran Team was supported by Jeffrey’s 2 lovely sons, Rui Heng and Yu Zhi, and Darren’s precocious son Reyes.  Jo and Tiara (wife and daughter of Kiat) and Yanxiu (wife of Huiming) only turned up after their shopping spree at Tiffany’s.

ARFC Veteran Team also welcomed Daniel for his first match for the team after he made a great sacrifice by exchanging off-day with his colleague.

ARFC Veteran Team started with this line-up:

GK – Derrick

RB – Kiat

Sweeper – Eng Lai

Stopper – Huiming

LB – David

RM – Raymond

CM – Sebastian (Captain)

CM – Soon

LM – Darren

SC – Blackburn

SC – Jeffrey

Subs:

Chua

Toh

Tong

Daniel

ARFC started off with its breath-taking pace and speed, particularly from Raymond who was a constant menace down the right flank.

Within 10 mins, ARFC earned 4 corners in succession but Blackburn’s superb deliveries were not met by anyone.

Raymond then teed up Sebastian but his curling shot was just 0.77 mm over the cross-bar.

From their counter-attack, their pacy left-winger was brought down and they duly converted their spot-kick despite Derrick getting a hand to it. 0-1

ARFC then pressed on and was rewarded with an equaliser 3 mins later.  After a series of intricate passes, Darren sped down the left flank and his cross from left wing sailed over their entire defence including their GK to nestle nicely at the far post. 1-1 and this was Darren’s 9^th ARFC goal.

Toh then came on as the striker but Jeffrey was hurt in a tackle. Immediately, Toh met Blackburn’s corner with a firm header but was just over.

Blackburn was then left to rue his bad luck when his powerful shot struck the cross-bar!

Huiming then produced a stunning world-class last-ditch block after their right-winger was about to get a shot in.

In the 2^nd half, ARFC conceded a goal almost immediately after the re-start. 1-2

The goal proved to be a blessing in disguise as all ARFC warriors seemed to put in more efforts with its passing, support and movement.

3 mins later, Darren’s cross from the left saw Raymond stealing in from the blind side to glance a brilliant header past their stranded GK. 2-2 and this was Raymond’s 9^th ARFC goal.

ARFC then took the lead for the first time in the match after a quick break-away.  Jeffrey acted as the perfect decoy as he pulled away to the left while Daniel stayed in the middle. Hearing a shout from Raymond who was running n from the right flank, Sebastian produced his trade-mark no-look pass with a perfectly-weighted grounder to put Raymond clean through.  Expectedly, Raymond did not disappoint as he slotted home his 10^th ARFC goal. 3-2

The partnership between Sebastian and Raymond reaped dividends once more when he pushed a piercing diagonal ball down the right. Raymond looked to have grabbed his hat-trick but his shot was touched by their GK to the post. Jeffrey was the biggest beneficiary as the rebound fell kindly to him about 0.77 metres from the goal-line and he simply touched the ball home for his 53^rd ARFC goal. 4-2

Jeffrey then could not get a clean connection while Blackburn squandered a good chance.

Raymond could have then assisted Sebastian but chose to shoot himself and was saved by their GK.

Kiat, who took over Derrick in goal, then came up with a brilliant and stunning one-on-one save! World-class.

Defying his age, Chua also indulged in several over-lapping runs from his left-back position and was almost rewarded with a goal.

Derrick then produced some neat dribbles down the right side and was nearly rewarded with a goal but his shot was saved.

Unperturbed, Derrick then spotted Sebastian down the right flank with a simple pass that yielded the goal of the match.  With a neat touch, Sebastian looked up and saw Tong, Jeffrey and Daniel all in the box.  With a precise chip that looked to hang in the air eternally, the ball eluded both Tong and Jeffrey but not Daniel who shocked the crowd and players alike with a majestic diving header, ala Juergen Klinsmann!  5-2 and this was Daniel 6^th ARFC goal, putting him on level terms with Eng Lai who also put in a good shift in the match.

Daniel’s last goal for ARFC was back in 10 Jan 1999 at the Blk 367 Yishun Ring Road pitch in a 4-2 victory.

Once again, the ARFC Veteran Team impressed with a very disciplined and tactical game with so many simple yet beautiful passes between the warriors. There was very good support as demonstrated by the at least 2 options for each warrior for every ball.

It was also nice to see David trying several burst to get past the opponents and Tong showing some nice little touches and passes. As usual, Soon provided the strong foundation by covering almost every blade of the pitch.

Alvin hit 300th ARFC goal landmark in 4-2 win

Taking on the Japanese team, FC Mogura, for the 2^nd time, ARFC repeated its victory with a 4-2 scoreline over them.  The previous time that ARFC played them was on 06 Sep 2015 where we beat them 3-1 at the St Wilfrid’s pitch.

ARFC started with this line-up:

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

In the 10h min, Bernard sent Alvin through down the left flank. Alvin then crossed for Wayne to tap into the net for his 30^th ARFC goal. 1-0

10 mins later, the impressive Rashid chipped a high ball over their defence and Alvin feasted on the great ball by looping over their on-rushing GK. 2-0 and this was Avin’s 299^th ARFC goal.

In the 30^th min, Bernard again sent Steven down the left and the latter duly sent the ball across goal for Wayne to easily slot home his 31^st ARFC goal. 3-0

The opponents then scored a penalty. 3-1

The opponents then pulled a goal back in the 60^th min. 3-2

ARFC then had the last laugh with Alvin’s land-mark 300^th ARFC goal.

In the 70^th min, he robbed their defender near the centre circle, beat their covering sweeper, exchanged pass with Wayne and faced their GK 2-on-1. With Wayne acting as the perfect decoy, Alvin placed the ball inside the near post for his 300^th ARFC goal!  4-2  Superb achievement!

Voting results:

Toh – 7

Soon – 6

Eng Lai – 5

Darren – 5

Wayne – 2

Alvin – 2

ARFC drew 1-1 with Boca FT at Tampines Hub stadium

Playing on the brand-new pristine et heavy artificial pitch at the Tampines Hub, ARFC produced distinct halves of performance to draw 1-1 with Boca FT.

ARFC was supported by Lingzhi (Ron’s beau) and also Darren’s entire brood - Pauline, Rachel, Reyes and Radelle.

ARFC started with this line-up:

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

ARFC started extremely well and kept in total control with its neat and unflustered passing and movements in the first 20 minutes and hence it was no surprise at all when it grabbed the lead in the 7^th min.

Sebastian then delivered a free-kick from the left but Toh missed narrowly.

From left-back, Darren passed to Sebastian, and in a typical fashion, the latter pinged a long diagonal ball down the left channel for Alvin to chase.  Their GK, who was Ismail (our MIA GK), rushed out of the box and cleared the ball away.  However, his half-clearance only reached Blackburn who then took aim at the goal with a wild diagonal ball.  Fortunately, his ball reached the right side where Guoxiong took full advantage of their dithering left-back by heading the bouncing ball ahead of their left-back before firing home a nice low shot past their GK.  Superb reading from Guoxiong!

1-0  and this was Guoxiong’s 27^th ARFC goal and also his first ARFC goal in 2017.

Strangely enough, ARFC then ceded control to the opponents after 20 minutes, most probably due to tiredness as the opponents were at least 10 years younger.

ARFC was then indebted to Derrick who once again enhanced his growing reputation as a top-notch GK for ARFC.

In the 27^th min, their striker, though in a very obvious off-side position fired in a fierce grounder that looked destined for an equaliser.  Derrick, however, had other ideas when he spread his legs wide to block the shot and stunned the watching 700 fans there. Simply world-class save!

ARFC then responded when Darren dribbled all the way upfront from his left-back position and exchanged wall passes with Eng Lai before shooting just narrowly side with his left foot. Unlucky!

In the 2^nd half, Blackburn sent Wayne scurrying clear of goal but the latter’s weak left-foot shot did not trouble their GK at all.

7 mins later, Wayne could have put the result to bed. Eng Lai’s perfect long ball from the back was surpassed by a more perfect bring-down from Wayne.  With their last man charging in, Wayne rode his tackle and burst clear and headed straight for goal. Alas, with just their GK to beat, Wayne placed the ball just narrowly over much to the chagrin of all ARFC players and supporters.

Wayne then tried to make amends when he scurried down the left flank but his delivery across goal was not anticipated by anyone. Wasted!

The opponents then grabbed the equalizer after ARFC warriors were obviously tiring.

Final score 1-1

Voting results:

Soon – 9

Derrick – 8

Guoxiong – 8

Ron – 7

Darren – 5

Chua – 3

Wayne – 2