ARFC in gallant 1-1 draw with Pyay United FC (Myanmar team)

 Playing its second match in 2023 on 12 Feb 2023 at 3 pm at Mayflower SS, ARFC Open team fought hard to secure a 1-1 draw against a young and fit Pyay United FC where the players are from Myanmar.

 

Prior to kick-off, ARFC was severely hit with the withdrawals of arguably ARFC’s top 2 players in Khim and Soon (Derrick not counted as he is special breed). 

 

 

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

 

Jersey No.:	Name	Position
xx	Zhi Chong (guest GK)	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
23	Talented Chun Haw	Centre Mid
19	Skillful Wei Lit (late)	Left Mid
9	ARFC Scoring Legend Haron	Striker
xx	Syed (guest player)	Striker
Substitutes:
14	Combative Ron
66	Vintage Chua (late)
Missing In Action:
2	Remarkable Rashid
4	Dynamic Soon
5	Energetic Kerwin
8	Precocious Javier
10	Sublime Khim
11	Speedy Hee
13	Talisman Derrick
17	Nippy Kenny
18	Determined Huiming
26	Rampaging Raymond
27	Left-foot wizard Kejendran (KJ)
28	Hard-man Tjioe
29	Flying Fremont
31	Wonder Wayne
77	Dependable Jinzhong
78	Steely Tze Ern
98	Impeccable How Meng
99	Powerful Alvin

 

 

ARFC started brightly and could have taken the lead within 7 mins.

 

First, Haron was put through by Guoxiong but he lifted the ball just slightly over with their GK charging out. Unlucky but what a good move.

 

4 mins later, Sebastian missed an even better chance.  Their GK inexplicably picked up a back pass just outside the 6-yard box, giving ARFC an indirect free-kick.  Haron stopped the ball and Sebastian seemed to have telepathic understanding with Haron, and sprinted from the centre circle area, all the way into the area.  Haron read his move perfectly and rolled the ball to Sebastian, catching the opponents off-guard.  Running in at full speed and expecting to score, Sebastian somehow blasted the ball into row Z from near the penalty spot area.  What a glorious chance spurned!  Unacceptable!

 

ARFC continued its good play and finally took the lead deservingly.  From a ball played in by Wei Lit on the left, Chun Haw, who had a great match, dashed in for the ball and was cruelly hacked to the ground by their defender, giving the referee the easiest of decisions to award a penalty.

 

From the resultant penalty, Haron nonchalantly stroked the ball into the net which their GK got a hand to it but could not keep out the powerful shot.  1-0 and this was Haron’s 277^th ARFC goals, with 262 goals coming from ARFC Open team matches.

 

ARFC then had to withstand a slew of chances created by their speedy and fit players. 

 

Thankfully, Darren managed to head the ball away for a corner right at the goalline after Zhi Chong had dashed out when trying to thwart their striker.

 

ARFC also had at least 5-6 corners in the first half but could not capitlise though a few of them came close to scoring.

 

Guoxiong then came to ARFC’s rescue when he blocked a shot right at the goalline, ala Ashley Cole, after defending a corner. 

 

With the rain pouring down, it was apt that the referee blew for half-time whistle.

 

The re-start was delayed due to the heavy rain and it affected ARFC warriors when played finally resumed at 4.30 pm.

 

ARFC was caught cold, pun no intended, when play resumed as they needed more time to get warmed up again. 

 

Indeed, the opponents soon equalised after a quick counter-attack.  1-1

 

ARFC continued to give their all, and managed to match the opponents.  In fact, ARFC could have regained the lead when Toh’s clearance saw Haron breaking clear and bearing down at goal.  Their GK charged out but Haron’s deft chip was just slightly wide!  Unlucky.

 

Zhi Chong then came up with 3 -4 brilliant saves to keep ARFC in the game.

 

ARFC also wasted a few free-kicks which were connected by ARFC players but their headers were well-saved by their GK.

 

With nearly the last kick of the match, Zhi Chong produced a stunning double-saves that defied logic. 

 

This was a match where every ARFC warriors played well and kept to its shape.  The efforts put in by all were really commendable, and every warriors encouraged each other when the chips were down.

 

Kudos to all who played in this match!!