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.