Sebastian's pair of penalties in vain in ARFC's 2-3 defeat

 Playing under hot weather against a young but not-so-sporting team called Chubby Alonso, ARFC suffered its first defeat in 2022 after falling 2-3 at the Compassvale SS pitch on 24 Apr at 3 pm.

 

ARFC welcomed back Eng Lai and Hee who made their first appearance in their new jerseys for the ARFC Open team. 

 

ARFC was severely hit by the late withdrawal of How Meng who was struck down by Covid19.

 

ARFC took to the pitch with this 4-4-2 line-up:

 

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

 

 

After some close exchanges, ARFC found itself 2 goals down.  0-2

 

ARFC did not give up and Kerwin threatened with several long throws which were not capitalised by ARFC.  Particularly, one long throw actually struck the cross-bar and bounced out.

 

At the 20^th min mark, ARFC then made changes with Alvin and Chun Haw replacing Hee and Guoxiong, with Kerwin switching to left midfield.  Eng Lai and Ron also took over from Elvis and Toh at the heart of the defence too.

 

The substitutions soon reaped dividends within 3 mins.  

 

Chua, who was impressive throughout, took a quick throw-in to Sebastian.  Sebastian then passed to Chun Haw who did a very clever flick ball with his right foot for the on-rushing Weilit who had charged into the box from his right midfield position.  Weilit killed the ball with a great first touch, moved in and was brought down by their left-back, giving the referee no choice but to point to the spot.   

 

Sebastian stepped up and with his usual penalty routine, slammed the ball to the usual spot, i.e bottom left corner of the goal frame. 

 

1-2 and this was Sebastian’s 120^th ARFC goal.

 

Chun Haw then met Kerwin’s missile-like throw-in but his glancing header was just 0.23 mm wide of the right post.

 

Derrick then came up with a fantastic block with his feet after their striker was clean through.

 

In the second half, Chun Haw replaced the tired Sebastian at centre mid and partnered Soon.  Within minutes, Chun Haw pinged a long diagonal ball ala Jordan Henderson down the right flank for Kerwin.  Kerwin reached the ball but his cross just eluded Alvin, who had made a brilliant run into the box, by about 0.99 mm!

 

The opponents then scored a break-away goal to lead 3-1.

 

Strangely enough, the opponents then engaged a provocative act by making uncalled for remarks at our fiery GK Derrick, even though they were already leading and having the upper hands in the match.  Their unsporting act nearly caused the match to be abandoned but thankfully good senses prevailed and the match proceeded.

 

Alvin then won a foot race with their hugely-impressive Eurasian defender and with their GK charging out, Alvin deftly lobbed the ball over their GK.  The ball looked to be ending up in the net till their covering defender made a last-ditch clearance.  Unlucky!

 

With 7 mins to go, Sebastian made a quick a throw-in to Hee who expertly trapped the ball and enticed their defender to close in.  Hee took a quick step forward and he was duly bundled over in the box, giving the referee the easiest of decisions to award another penalty.

 

Again, Sebastian took the penalty and the end result and destination of the ball were the same, i.e hit low and hard to the bottom left corner of the goal frame which gave their GK no chance at all.

 

2-3 and this was Sebastian’s 121^st ARFC goal.

 

ARFC tried to grab the equalising goal but to no avail despite valiant efforts from the team.

 

Man-of-the-Match has to be Tze Ern who did very well at left back and managed to repel their attacks and often faced with 2 speedy opponents at the same time.