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