ARFC in hard-fought 4-6 loss to a much younger and fitter opponents

Playing under cool weather with light drizzling, ARFC put up a good fight against a much younger and fitter opponents Grande Vista but succumbed to 4-6 loss eventually.

ARFC was supported by its die-hard supporter, Lingzi (wife of Ron) as well as Tiara and Dylan.

ARFC started with this 4-4-2 line-up:

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

The opponents started quickest and ARFC soon found itself 0-2 down within 10 minutes.

However, ARFC soon got its act together and Haron signaled the start of ARFC’s revival when he volleyed from 27 metres but the ball went just 7 cm wide.

Sebastian’s precise corner from the right was then met with the forehead of Toh but his header was saved on the line by their GK.  Unfortunately, no one followed up.

Another corner from Sebastian, this time from the left, again reached the forehead of Toh but he could not get enough power behind the header.

ARFC then made a string of substitutions with Rashid, Ron and Alvin coming on for Jinzhong, Eng Lai and Haron respectively.

Rashid was the fouled on the left.  From the ensuing free-kick, Sebastian high curling ball deceived their GK who was caught cold by the ball which sailed over him to the far post. The ball struck the post but fortunately, Wayne swooped in and pushed the ball home with his well-built body.  1-2 and this was Wayne’s 35^th ARFC goal.

Blackburn then replaced Wayne who had taken a kick.

With almost his first touch of the ball, Blackburn equalized. Alvin’s corner from the left was only half-cleared to the lurking Sebastian outside the box. Instinctively, Sebastian kicked the ball back into the danger area (just near the 6-yard area) and Blackburn simply turned and squeezed the ball into the post of their GK. 2-2 and this was Blackburn’s 157^th ARFC goal.

By now, ARFC was having the upper hand and nearly took the lead for the first time on 2 occasions.

First, Blackburn passed the ball to Haron who then dummied the ball and ran in. Alvin read his move perfectly and returned the ball to Haron who just shot 9 cm wide. Unlucky but what a move that reminded all of the famous Andy Cole-and Dwight Yorke move years back.

Rashid then picked up a wild clearance from their GK and from almost the halfway point on the left, he swung the ball over their GK who showed great recovery with a quick dash back and tipped the ball over for a corner.

The opponents then took the lead again with almost the last kick of the half. 2-3

In the 2^nd half, Derrick spread himself wide and deflected a sure-goal for a corner. World-class save.

Haron almost equalized after their GK fumbled with a simple catch 3 times in one move but Haron was unable to get a nice footing for a clean shot.

The opponents then scored twice to lead 5-2.

ARFC did not give up at all and continued pressing the opponents.

From such pressing, Alvin burst clear and was upended by their right-back in the box. Khim stepped up and thrashed ball right through the middle for his 60^th ARFC goal. 3-5 now.

ARFC by now was breathing with fire and continued creating chances after chances. With first Guoxiong and then Ron anchoring the centre mid, Sebastian and Rashid were able to attack with ease.

ARFC pulled another goal back 7 mins later. From Darren’s long throw-in, the opponents were unable to clear the ball and the ball rolled out to the waiting Sebastian just outside the box.  Taking aim almost eternally, Sebastian mustered all his strength to powerfully side-foot the ball through a sea of defenders and right through the middle that gave their GK no chance at all. 4-5 and this was Sebastian’s 105^th ARFC goal.

ARFC then suffered a stroke of bad luck. Haron was clearly upended in the box but the referee failed to spot the foul.  From the counter-attack, the opponents scored.  4-6 was the final score.

Voting Results:

Rashid  - 11

Ron – 9

Khim – 8

Sebastian – 6

Darren – 4

Alvin – 1

Guoxiong – 1

Toh – 1

Chua – 1

Jinzhong – 1