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.