Playing its 4th Veterans match in 2022 and 31st Veterans match overall, ARFC Veterans demolished the OVA Veterans team 6-0 at the magnificent pitch at Victoria School on 10 Jul (Sunday) at 5 pm.
ARFC Veterans started with this 4-4-2 line-up:
GK – Derrick
RB – Sebastian (captain)
Sweeper – Elvis
Stopper – Eng Lai
LB – Darren
RM – Guoxiong
CM – Soon
CM – Tjioe
LM – Tze Ern
SC – Alvin
SC – Haron
Subs:
Toh
Rashid
Daniel
Strangely enough, ARFC Veterans had a nervous start in the first 7 mins and could not get a hold of the match. In fact, the OVA Veterans team, comprising several ex-SG internationals, threatened ARFC Veterans on several occasions.
ARFC Veterans soon calmed down and began asserting its authority in the match. In the 11th min, Guoxiong combined brilliantly with Soon on the right before finding Haron, who had made a superb diagonal run into the box, with a great through ball. Haron swivelled and hit a sweet right foot shot that beat their GK but their sweeper came in and cleared the ball of the line. Unlucky Haron!
3 mins later, Tjioe suffered the same fate as Haron. After being put through on goal by Haron, Tjioe beat their GK with a sliding shot but their defender again hoofed the goal-bound ball away.
5 mins later, Haron was left to rue his bad luck again when he slotted past their GK but not the covering defender who blocked the ball on the line.
Darren then nearly put ARFC Veterans ahead but from Sebastian’s laser-sharp free-kick, he planted his header straight at their GK.
Guoxiong then intercepted a pass and released Haron. However, Haron’s fierce shot was parried by their GK.
After intense pressure, ARFC Veterans finally reaped its rewards by opening the scoring in the 27th min. Rashid, who had just came on, pinged a ball down the left flank for Alvin to chase. Alvin then exchanged passes with Soon before side-footing a low curler to the far post bottom corner which their diving GK simply could not keep out. 1-0 and this was Alvin’s 347th ARFC goal.
In the second half, ARFC Veterans stepped up a gear and doubled its lead within 4 mins of the re-start.
Rashid sprayed a ball down the left flank and flying midfielder Darren sprinted down to retrieve the ball. Darren then passed to Alvin who dribbled past one defender before facing their GK. Drawing their GK out, Alvin could have scored but he unselfishly squared the ball across for Haron to gleefully tapped the ball into the empty net. What great team work! 2-0 and this was Haron’s 275th ARFC goal.
ARFC Veterans furthered extended its lead 4 mins later. GK Derrick’s long kick saw Alvin elegantly trapped the ball in the middle of the park. Spotting Soon’s run from deep on the right, Alvin threaded a slide-rule pass and powered inwards. Soon ran with the ball towards goal and with both their GK and Alvin expected Soon to square the ball across goal, Soon fooled all by cleverly placing a low ball into the near post for his 94th ARFC goal. 3-0 now.
By now, the opponents looked deflated. Tjioe capitalised on it when from near the centre circle spot, he chipped in a looping ball over their defence and Alvin simply volleyed the ball home for his 348th ARFC goal. 4-0.
Daniel then passed to Haron and together, both created mayhem in the penalty box before Alvin reacted quickest to poke the ball into the empty net and completed his hat-trick. 5-0 and this was Alvin’s 349th ARFC goal.
Alvin’s hat-trick was also his 30th ARFC hat-trick, netting him a total of 102 goals from those hat-tricks.
Tze Ern then took over Derrick as the GK, with Derrick moving upfront as striker.
Daniel then executed a fantastic mid-air cross field ball from the right all the way to the left. With an exquisite touch, Derrick brought the ball under control and tried to dribble past their right back. Derrick looked to have lost control of the ball but he somehow managed to win back the ball. Derrick was about to shoot when he was upended by the same right back.
Derrick then dusted himself off the ground and hit a “Panenka” penalty past their diving GK. 6-0 and this was Derrick’s 114th ARFC goal.
Derrick’s last goal for ARFC was also in a ARFC Veterans match on 15 Nov 2019 when we won 3-0.
With almost the last kick of the match, Derrick could have grabbed his brace. After speeding down the left flank, Derrick rounded their GK but he then inexplicably could not get a shot in! The ball was then cleared away.
ARFC Veterans then held on for its 3rd win in 4 matches in 2022.
Including this match, these were all the details for ARFC Veterans’ 30 matches since it was formed in 2017:
Year | P | W | D | L | GF | GA |
2017 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 7 |
2018 | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 29 | 21 |
2019 | 12 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 43 | 16 |
2020 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2022 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 10 |
Total | 31 | 25 | 2 | 4 | 106 | 54 |
These are the top 5 scorers for ARFC Veterans’ 31 matches:
1. Raymond – 18 goals
2. Haron – 15 goals
3. Darren – 11 goals
4. Soon – 11 goals
5. Sebastian – 10 goals
· Derrick – Assured display as GK and then won and converted a penalty as striker.
· Sebastian – Played himself as right-back to protect his left groin and right hamstring. Took up good positions on 4 occasions by overlapping to right wing but was not utilised.
· Eng Lai – Had a great outing as stopper and left-back. Came up with a few key interceptions.
· Elvis – Joint Man-of-the-Match with Darren. Commanding display as sweeper and snuffed out all danger balls.
· Darren – Joint Man-of-the-Match with Elvis. Excelled at both left-back and then left midfielder. Totally unstoppable.
· Guoxiong – Provided good covering to right-back and came up with several good balls to our strikers. Good outing!
· Soon – Harassed opponents non-stop. His goal was very clever which showed his match awareness.
· Tjioe – Controlled the midfield with some tenacious tackles. Rock solid!
· Tze Ern – Energetic performance at left midfield. Graciously played as GK for the last 20 mins.
· Haron – Good positional awareness and brilliant touches. Rewarded with a goal.
· Alvin – On fire recently and continued to be on fire for this match. His hat-trick was just rewards for his overall powerful and incisive display.
· Toh – Won all aerial balls and played like Great Wall of China as stopper.
· Daniel – Several good touches including that exquisite in the air cross field ball from right to the left.
· Rashid – Short and quick passes, interspersed with precise long balls. Played exactly like Liverpool’s Thiago.
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