Darren and Chun Haw shoned in 2-2 draw

Playing under humid and hot weather at the CJC pitch, ARFC fought back from 2 goals down to draw 2-2 with Football Friends.

ARFC was bolstered by the last-min appearance of Darren.

ARFC was supported by Rio (Ron’s son), Clara (Guoxiong’s daughter) and Tiara and Dylan (Elvis’ children).

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

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

Within 7 mins, Christmas came early for the opponents as ARFC gifted 2 soft goals to trail 0-2.   This was largely due to insufficient warming up for some of the ARFC warriors.

However, ARFC did not panic and quickly upped its game. 

With Blackburn as the sole striker upfront and kept on dropping back unnecessarily, ARFC was unable to really threaten their defence as there were simply on strikers upfront.

With the arrivals of all the subs, Sebastian quickly rectify the situation by removing Blackburn, Weilit, Ron and Eng Lai for Haron, Chun Haw, Rashid and Tze Ern to go back to 4-4-2. With the switch, ARFC’s team shape was more balanced and began to play its usual slick passing game.

Chun Haw, who has been in inspiring form lately, nearly pulled a goal back.  With a quick drag-back and push motion, Chun Haw burst clear of their sweeper and faced their GK one-on-one.  Unfortunately, his placed shot struck the outside of the left post and rolled out.

With almost his first touch since coming on, Haron pulled a goal back from a smooth team move.  From the right, Guoxiong passed the ball to Sebastian who was in the middle of the pitch.  Spotting Chun Haw making a run from deep, Sebastian lofted a ball down the right which saw Chun Haw quickly squaring he ball across goal.  Showcasing his predatory instinct, Haron simply stroked the ball home for his 254^th ARFC goal.1-2

Haron nearly grabbed another goal after he cleverly peeled away to the far post to meet Rashid’s precise cross from the right. Alas, Haron just managed to plant his header about 77 mm over the bar.

Just before half-time, Sebastian hit a free-kick that was headed away for a corner.  However, the referee bizarrely blew for half-time!

This strange decision marked the start of many more bizarre decisions in the 2^nd half.

ARFC came out firing in the 2^nd half and created so many chances.

ARFC equalized with yet another well-lofted ball from Sebastian.  Picking up a loose ball from just outside his own box, Sebastian brought the ball forward and heard Chun Haw’s call on the left.  With a well-measured and well-timed chip that totally took out their sweeper, Chun Haw powered clear and curled a world-class bender to the top right-hand corner that gave their GK no chance at all.  2-2 and this was Chun Haw’s 72nd ARFC goal.

7 mins later, Chun Haw was again through on goal after a through ball from Rashid.  Bearing down on goal, Chun Haw was unfairly challenged twice by their desperate defender and lost his balance.  However, Chun Haw is not like Dele Alli or Harry Kane, and he still tried to stay on his feet but his shot was devoid of any power at all.  Poor decision from the referee yet again.

The referee then topped his worst decision 7 mins later.  From Rashid’s corner which caused a mayhem, Raymond’s goal-bound shot was 7777% blocked by their defender’s hand but the referee, who was standing near the centre circle, failed to spot it!  Even their defender also sheepishly admitted it was a hand ball.

ARFC did not give up and continue to press but just could not get a break-through goal to draw 2-2.

Special credit to Darren who put up a solid defensive performance ala Paolo Maldini in his prime years.

Voting Results:

Chun Haw – 14

Raymond – 8

Rashid – 8

Sebastian – 6

Darren – 6