Guoxiong and Darren shone in 4-3 win

In a friendly match played at the much smaller pitch now at Anderson SS, ARFC nearly paid for its complacency but snatched a last-gasp winner from How Meng’s header in a 4-3 win.

For the first-time ever, Sebastian cocked-up in the kick-off time as he wrongly informed the kick-off time to be at 3 pm when it should be 5 pm.  This massive and unforgiveable mistake resulted in Wayne, Alvin, Kenny and Tze Ern not being able to play, though Tze Ern and Kenny did stay on to play the first 10 mins of the match.  7777777 apologies to all.

The best part of the cock-up also demonstrated Derrick’s commitment to both ARFC and Cosy Living Pte Ltd as he had turned up on time for the 3 pm kick-off.  Upon realising Sebastian’s error, he quickly rearranged an appointment with his (PRC) client and then returned to play the 5 pm match.  Total dedication.

However, Toh, Haron and How Meng topped his dedication when the 3 of them turned up to play after a last-min SOS request from the team.

Credit to Eng Lai and Weilit too for calling up Reuben and KJ to play as guest players.

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
16	Marauding Guoxiong	Right-mid
7	Influential Sebastian (captain)	Centre-mid
4	Dynamic Soon	Centre-mid
12	Remarkable Rashid	Centre-mid
78	Steely Tze Ern	Left-mid
17	Nippy Kenny	Striker
Subs:
2	Unpredictable Blackburn
5	Impeccable How Meng
9	ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
31	Vintage Chua
xx	Reuben
xx	KJ
Absent:
8	Talented Chun Haw
10	Sublime Khim
11	Speedy Hee
14	Combative Ron
18	Determined Huiming
19	Skillful Weilit
21	Rampaging Raymond
28	Hard-man Tjioe
45	Commanding Ismail
66	Wonder Wayne
77	Dependable Jinzhong
99	Powerful Alvin

ARFC could not get used to the much-smaller pitch and struggled initially though Kenny, Tze Ern, Soon and Guoxiong worked tirelessly to close down their defenders.

In the 7^th min, Sebastian’s precise corner found Darren who just headed wide.

77 seconds later, an even better corner from Sebastian saw Toh rose unchallenged in the penalty spot area.  With so much time, Toh somehow sent his header 77cm over the bar, continuing his wretched record of not scoring since 29 Oct 2017 when he netted in a 5-0 win over Court FC at Mayflower SS.  Maybe a match should be arranged at the same venue to break his curse.

Rueben and Blackburn then came on to replace Kenny and Tze Ern respectively as the latter 2 had to go for their wedding dinners.

Rashid then played a nice ball to Blackburn who laid an even nicer ball to the path of Sebastian. However, Sebastian could not keep his placed-shot down and sent the ball to row Z.

Guoxiong, who was dominating the right flank, then crossed to Reuben who was just outside the 6-yard area.  However, his poor first touch let him down and their GK picked up the ball easily.

In the 27^th min, came something which ARFC had never witnessed before.  From Rashid’s pin-point left-wing cross, Soon leaped but headed wide. While Soon’s header miss was not surprising, what was most astonishing was that Soon went down with cramps immediately after he landed. He was replaced by Haron.

ARFC then conceded a goal. 0-1

Chua then replaced Eng Lai.  KJ also came on for Sebastian.

ARFC equalized in the 37^th min. Rashid’s lofted free-kick caused mayhem in their penalty box and after Haron challenged for the aerial ball, their defender handled the ball. Penalty!

Haron took the spot-kick and simply drilled the ball down the middle for his 255^th ARFC goal.  1-1

In the 2^nd half, Haron nearly scored when he sneaked in at the far post but planted his header just wide.

Rashid was then fouled.  As usual, Blackurn brushed aside all and sundry to take the free-kick but at least this time, he did not disappoint when he curled a ball past their wall into the top corner for his 158^th ARFC goal.  2-1

7 mins later, ARFC scored its 3^rd goal.  Blackburn’s corner from the left sailed over everyone and hit the far post.  The ball dropped to Reuben whose miscued shot was then turned in by KJ.  3-1 and this was KJ’s debut goal in his ARFC debut appearance.

Rashid then produced a jumping left-foot volley ala Robin van Persie but it was just 0.77 cm over the bar.

Reuben then picked up their GK’s goal-kick and relayed the ball to Haron who had made a clever diagonal run to the left side of the box.  Alas, Haron’s left-foot lifted shot struck the cross-bar. Unlucky!!

Inexplicably, ARFC then conceded 2 goals. 3-3 now.

With mins to go, Darren, who was totally monstrous as left-back, whipped in a left-wing cross.  How Meng, who had rushed from work, stole in and headed the ball into the net ahead of their on-rushing GK ala John Terry for his 12^th ARFC goal.  Wonder goal!!

With 7 seconds remaining, KJ nearly grabbed his brace but he just failed to connect with his header from Guoxiong’s world-class right-wing cross to the far post which eluded their GK and defenders.

Once again, Sebastian would like to apologise to all for the massive cock-up.

Voting Results:

Guoxiong – 9

Darren – 7

Rashid – 7

Chua – 6

Blackburn – 4

Sebastian – 3

Soon – 3

Toh – 2

Derrick – 1

Tze Ern – 1

Kenny – 1