Derrick realises his life-long dream with his "tie shoelace" goal in 5-2 victory

Resuming its playing calendar after almost a month of hibernation, ARFC chalked up a decisive 5-2 win over the OVA under-35 team at their homeground.

ARFC was supported by Lingzhi and Rio, Ron’s wife and son respectively, and Darren’s son Reyes. 

ARFC started with this 5-4-1 line-up:

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

It did not take long for ARFC to polish off its rustiness.  In the 7^th min, a superb floating corner from Alvin saw their defender meeting the ball but only succeeded in heading the ball backwards.  Darren was the biggest beneficiary when he stole in from the far post to simply nod the ball home for his 11^th ARFC goal. 1-0

ARFC doubled its lead 7 mins later.  Living up to his unpredictable nature, Blackburn fizzed a brilliant diagonal grounder down to the left.  Weilit, who was having a good time as an university freshman, dashed in from deep, faced their GK alone and beat him for his 14^th ARFC goal. 2-0

ARFC then made a raft of substitutions.

In the 37^th min, the opponents gifted ARFC a goal.  After a quick pressing by Alvin, their defender panicked and passed the goal back to their GK.  However, his misplaced backpass found Javier instead who gleefully passed the ball into the empty net.  3-0 and this was Javier’s 3^rd ARFC goal.

With 77 seconds to go before the half-time whistle, Ron tried a speculative lob from half-way line but the ball just sailed 0.77 cm over the bar. Unlucky.

In the 2^nd half, ARFC notched its 4^th goal in the match through a penalty after their defender needlessly handled the ball after strong pressure from Alvin.

Derrick sprinted all the way from his GK position and took the penalty.  Slowly walking up and just about 0.77 mm from the ball, Derrick bended down, pretended to tie his shoe-lace and “ton-jo’ the ball down the middle.  Even though their shell-shocked GK got both hands to the ball, he could not prevent it from trickling over the goal line.  4-0 and it was Derrick’s 106^th ARFC goal.

ARFC was then indebted to Derrick in quick succession.  Within 2 minutes, Derrick produced two one-on-one saves to preserve a clean sheet.

However, the opponents soon pulled 2 goals back. 4-2

Chua then prevented the opponents from scoring another goal when he made a stunning recovery block.

From Alvin’s corner, the ball flew to the far post when the unmarked Toh incredulously headed wide.

Alvin then continued his 300-goal curse when he missed 2 golden chances which were laid on the platter for him.

Rashid then calmed proceedings when he conjured a world-class left-footer to the left side.  Abdullah sprinted in from deep, reached the ball ahead of their on-rushing GK and headed the ball over him for his ARFC debut goal. 5-2

Voting results:

Derrick – 6

Chua – 6

Weilit – 6

Ron – 4

Guoxiong – 2

Darren – 2

Elvis – 2

Eng Lai – 2

Alvin – 2

Toh – 1

ARFC goal scorers for 2017

Chun Haw - 15 goals
Alvin - 12 goals
Haron - 12 goals
Wayne - 10 goals
Toh - 8 goals
Kenny - 7 goals
GuiGui - 4 goals
Darren - 4 goals
Blackburn - 3 goals
How Meng - 3 goals
Sebastian - 3 goals
Raymond - 3 goals
Derrick - 2 goals
Guoxiong - 2 goals
Khim - 2 goals
Ron - 2 goals
Soon - 1 goal
Weilit - 1 goal
Eng Lai - 1 goal
Jinzhong - 1 goal
Tze Ern - 1 goal
Daniel Fonseca - 1 goal

ARFC Results for 2017

Open Team:

P - 26
W - 18
D - 3
L - 5
GF - 83
GA - 52

Veteran Team:

P - 4
W - 3
D - 1
L - 0
GF - 21
GA - 7

Combined results:

P - 30
W - 21
D - 4
L - 5
GF - 104
GA - 59

ARFC Top 10 scorers (as at 31 Dec 2017)

1. Alvin - 300 goals
2. Haron - 247 goals
3. Blackburn - 155 goals
4. Hee - 107 goals
5. Derrick - 104 goals
6. Sebastian - 104 goals
7. Toh - 98 goals
8. Kenny - 79 goals
9. Soon - 75 goals
10. Robin (ex-player) - 69 goals

ARFC Veteran Team extends unbeaten run with 3-0 win at Floating Platform

Playing its 5^th veteran match and for the first time at the Floating Platform, ARFC Veteran Team posted a comprehensive 3-0 victory over LFC Masters FC.

With this triumph, ARFC Veteran Team is now unbeaten in the 5 matches that it has played thus far.  

ARFC Veteran Team was supported by the families of Ron, Toh, Darren and Tze Ern.  Derrick’s new beau also turned up to support.

ARFC Veteran Team started with this line-up:

GK – Derrick

RB – Chua

Sweeper – Eng Lai

Stopper – Huiming

LB – Kiat

RM – Tong

CM – Sebastian (Captain)

CM – Tjioe

LM – Darren

SC – Daniel

SC – Haron

Subs:

Alvin

Toh

Tze Ern

Ron

Soon

ARFC fired the first salvo in the 3^rd min when Daniel drilled in a low grounder but could not trouble their GK.

Sad to say, Daniel soon pulled up with a calf injury and plated no part in the match.

Darren, who was probably the Man-of-the-Match with Tze Ern, crossed from left but no one was there to put the ball into the net.

From Sebastian’s corner on the right, Toh just managed to glance his header wide.

Tze Ern then volleyed the ball just slightly over the bar.

Sebastian then found himself galloping down the left flank and squared to Haron who looked to score.  However, he showed a rare moment of hesitation and the ball was cleared.

Haron then sprinted down the right flank but saw his square ball, meant for the unmarked Alvin at the far post, brilliantly blocked by their impressive tall botak defender.

The first half ended goalless despite ARFC Veteran Team’s domination.

From the re-start, ARFC did not waste time and continued its relentless pursuit for the goals.

Sebastian then produced a slide rule diagonal ball down the right flank and Derrick rediscovered his superb right-wing skills when he squared the ball across goal to the unmarked Alvin at the far side. With the goal at his mercy, Alvin inexplicably sliced the ball wide. Shocking miss!

From another Sebastian’s corner on the right, Derrick intercepted the ball meant for Toh when he glanced the ball away to the other side.

After few more attempts, ARFC finally opened the scoring.  After a series of passes, Darren chipped in a delightful high hanging ball into the box.  Derrick, who was standing near the penalty spot, looked to have made a header but he was bundled over by their defender, giving the referee the easiest of decisions to award a spot-kick.

Alvin stepped up and sent their GK the wrong way.  However, the eagle-eyed referee ordered a re-take as Derrick had encroached in the penalty box.

From the re-take, Alvin’s feeble spot-kick was saved by their GK.  However, Alvin quickly made amends when he chased the loose ball near the left touch-line, brought the ball inwards and passed the ball across goal.  Derrick came in from blind side to side-foot the ball home for his 105^th ARFC goal. 1-0

ARFC doubled its lead 3 minutes later. Sebastian again delivered a piercing ball to Derrick down the right flank.  Looking up, Derrick chipped the ball towards the 6-yard box and Haron used all his available neck muscles to thump home a powerful header which their GK could not keep out at all.  2-0 and this was Haron’s 248^th ARFC goal.

ARFC put the result to bed 3 minutes later. Haron was the creator this time when his cross from the right was met by Tong who swooped in from the far side and connected with a world-class flying diving header. 3-0 and this was Tong’s 25^th ARFC goal.

Tong’s last ARFC goal was back on 24 May 2009 when he scored in a 3-1 win at Deyi Secondary School.

Sebastian was then left to curse his bad luck in quick succession.

First, his brilliantly-lofted free-kick struck the cross-bar at the left side.

77 seconds later, ARFC was awarded another free-kick.  Sebastian took the free-kick again and this time round, he bended a diagonal free-kick across their GK but the ball struck the cross-bar again, albeit on the right side this time.  Super unlucky!

This was a match where the ARFC Veteran team played rather badly in the first 20 minutes.  However, it did not lose patience and showed its class with a much superior display.

Special mention goes to Derrick and Kiat for gamely stepping up to be the GK for each half.