ARFC ends 2019 with 4-1 victory

Playing its last match in 2019, ARFC struggled again at the very small Anderson SS pitch but came away with a comprehensive 4-1 win over a very young and enthusiastic Pumpsters FC.

ARFC was supported by:

Lingzhi and Rio – Ron’s family

Tiara and Dylan – Elvis’ kids

Clara – Guoxiong’s princess

Nicole – Kerwin’s beau

Germaine and Gerrard – Alvin’s children

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

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

With the small pitch, ARFC found it difficult to string together some passes.

ARFC nearly opened the scoring in the 7^th min when Kerwin’s powerful throw-in from the left caused mayhem in the box.  Ron connected with his head but could not generate enough power to put the ball into the net.

Soon then reacted quickest to a loose ball in the box but his shot was deflected over the bar.  Strangely enough, the otherwise-excellent referee made his first and only wrong call in the match when he awarded a goal-kick to the opponents.

Guoxiong’s cross from the right then saw the ball rolled its way to Sebastian on the left side.  Shaping up nicely for a shot and from just 7 metres out, Sebastian totally screwed his shot wide to miss a sitter! Unbelievable!

Sebastian’s curling free-kick looked to land into the top corner but their GK had other ideas when he tipped the ball over for a corner.

ARFC finally broke the deadlock with 2 mins to go in the half.  From a corner on the left, Sebastian floated a precise ball to the far post and Toh, who replaced Ron earlier, rose the highest to plant a header back to the near post!!  A typical ARFC corner routine and combi! 

1-0  and this was Toh’s 103^rd ARFC goals, with 100 goals coming from playing for

ARFC Open team.

With virtually the last kick of the half, the opponents equalised. 1-1

In the 2^nd half, Chun Haw fired straight from the kick-off and nearly scored but the ball was just 0.8 cm over the bar.

ARFC doubled its lead in the 50^th min.  From the left, Eng Lai hit a great corner to the far post that saw Toh once again leaping the highest to head the ball.  However, their defender blocked Toh’s header to concede a corner.

From the resultant corner, this time on the right, Wayne curled an absolute beauty that saw Tjioe charging in to challenge and pressure their defender and GK.  The ball appeared to hit their defender in the head to concede an own goal.

However, the VAR judged that the ball had already curled over the goal-line and the goal was rightly given to Wayne.  2-1 and this was Wayne’s 49^th ARFC goal.

ARFC extended its lead in the 60^th min with Sebastian again the architect after ARFC was awarded a free-kick on the right.  His free-kick was hit to the space between the 6-yard box and the penalty spot, and Alvin read the ball perfectly as he powered in to firmly plant a header past their despairing GK.  3-1 and this was Alvin’s 328^th ARFC goal.

ARFC put the result to bed 5 mins later with the move of the match. From a high ball, Chun Haw cushioned the ball down and passed to Sebastian in the middle.  Sebastian returned the ball to Chun Haw who then heard Chua calling for the ball from his right-back position.  Chun Haw duly obliged and made a run into the space on the right after passing the ball to Chua.  In the meantime, Wayne cleverly pulled their left-back with him to the right wing (almost near the line), thereby creating space for Chun Haw to run in.  Chua spotted his run and passed the ball down the right.  Picking it up, Chun Haw squared to Alvin who took a great first-touch before despatching the ball high into the net.  What a wonderful and smooth team goal!

4-1 and this was Alvin’s 329^th ARFC goal.

Weilit then almost capped his good performance when he “ole” their right-back near the touchline but rifled his shot just slightly over the bar.  Unlucky but what great skill.

Voting results:

Alvin – 13

Chun Haw – 13

Toh – 6

Ron – 4

Eng Lai – 3

Wayne – 2

Weilit – 2

Elvis – 2

Sebastian – 1

Guoxiong – 1