ARFC Veterans suffered undeserving 3-4 loss in its 12th match

Playing its 12^th veteran match, ARFC Veterans fell to a suprising and undeserving 3-4 defeat to the Green Team at the magnificent pitch at The Arena.

ARFC Veterans was supported Yanxiu (wife of birthday boy Huiming), Rui Hen and his younger brother (Guigui’s 2 sons) as well as Lingzhi, Rio and Avril (Ron’s family).

Most significantly, Hee returned to Singapore and made his ARFC Veterans debut,

ARFC Veterans started with this line-up:

GK – Derrick

RB – Chua

Sweeper – Eng Lai

Stopper – Huiming

LB – David

RM – Kiat

CM – Ron

CM – Sebastian (captain)

LM – Darren

SC – Alvin

SC – Hee

Subs:

Blackburn

Toh

Tjioe

Haron

Guigui

ARFC Veterans almost had a dream start just 2 mins into the match.  Kiat broke down the right and crossed into the box.  Probably threatened by the presence of Alvin and Hee in the box, their sweeper made a mess of a clearance and diverted the ball back to Hee who as just 77 mm from the goal line.  After gleefully sliding the ball home, the inept referee ruled that Hee was off-side!!  This was such a poor decision as the last touch of the ball had came from their defender.  Unlucky Hee who could have capped his debut with a goal.

ARFC Veterans then conceded a goal from a free-kick. 0-1

Blackburn, Haron and Toh then came on for Alvin, Hee and Eng Lai respectively.  Moments later, Ron asked to be substituted due to tiredness and was replaced by Tjioe.

Blackburn made an immediate impact when his wicked corner from the right caused mayhem in their box.  From the ensuing melee, Toh, Haron and Tjioe all attempted to kick the ball into the net and in the end, it was Tjioe who had the last touch when he prodded home his 64^th ARFC goal. 1-1

ARFC was then hit with a counter-attack and conceded another soft goal. 1-2

Guigui then replaced Kiat on the right while Ron came back in for Sebastian.

Guigui then had 3 attempts from right wing but could not find his teammates with his crosses.

David also made a few dribbles and forays upfront, while Darren continued his flying ability down the left wing.

In the 2^nd half, David gamely took over the GK duty from Derrick who took up his usual right wing position.

Alvin was then fouled and Sebastian’s free-kick just curled slightly wide of the far post.

After sustained pressure from ARFC Veterans, epitomised by some neat passing from the team, ARFC finally grabbed its 2^nd equaliser.

Chua, who has been impressive all day, anticipated well and won a ball. He then moved forward and passed to Haron who quickly laid the ball into the path of Alvin. Despite being closely marked by their defender, Alvin showed quick feet and thinking when he drilled the ball low into the net.  2-2 and this was Alvin’s 306^th ARFC goal and first-ever goal for ARFC Veterans.

ARFC then produced a series of intricate passing between Sebastian, Ron, Derrick, Darren, Haron and Alvin but could not find any headway.

Sebastian then released Alvin into the box but he could not get a clean shot.

Darren then put Alvin through and the latter galloped down the left byline before hitting a venomous shot that their GK just somehow managed to palm the ball way for a corner.

Derrick, Haron and Alvin were then brought down in successive occasions but the lousy referee simply waved ARFC Veterans’ penalty appeals away when he was at least 37 metres away.

ARFC then conceded another free-kick. 2-3

After yet another intense pressure, ARFC Veterans equalised for the 3^rd time in the match.  Alvin glided down the left wing and passed to Haron.  With quick thinking, Haron instinctively pushed the ball into Derrick who had arrived at the near post in the 6-yard area.  Derrick was then upended clumsily by their covering defender and this time, the lousy referee finally made the right decision and awarded a penalty to ARFC Veterans.

Alvin stepped up and drilled a low ball to their GK’s right who despite guessing the right away, could not keep out the penalty.  3-3 and this was Alvin’s 307^th ARFC goal.

ARFC Veterans continued its relentless pressing with Sebastian releasing perfectly-weighted balls into the paths of both Hee (left) and Derrick (right) on a couple of occasions but both overran the ball.

With mins to go, ARFC Veterans was hit with yet another counter-attack and conceded its 4^th goal in the match to lose 3-4.

This was a match where ARFC Veterans totally did not deserve to lose, especially since ARFC Veterans had so many chances and the opponents probably had only 4-5 chances in the match.