ARFC succumbed to 1-6 defeat by much younger, fitter and faster opponents

 Playing its 2^nd match in 2024, ARFC lost 1-6 to a much younger, fitter and fatter opponents in the form of ex-St Patrick’s Boys (no players looked to be past 24 years old) on 28 Apr 2024 at 7 pm at Our Tampines Hub (OTH).  

 

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

 

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

 

 

ARFC suffered a huge blow when Eng Lai was injured with barely 10 seconds gone!!!  Ron came on to replace him. 

 

ARFC then conceded from the opponents’ first attack from a quick counter attack.   0-1.

 

ARFC pressed hard for an equaliser and nearly found one in the 7^th min.  After Guoxiong was fouled, Sebastian whipped in a vicious free-kick that was spilled by their GK.  Though the rebound fell to Tjioe just outside the 6-yard box, Tjioe could not react in time and managed to scoop the ball over with his left foot with their GK well-beaten.  Unlucky!!!

 

3 mins later, ARFC won another free-kick but Sebastian could not get enough bend on the ball and the ball was just wide of the left-hand post.

 

ARFC then conceded another break-away goal. 0-2.

 

Elvis then produced a stunning block to deflect a certain goal to concede a corner. 

 

Nelson then came up with 2 stunning saves to keep the scoreline down.

 

0-2 was the half-time score.

 

4 mins after the re-start, ARFC was let down by a poor referee decision.  Rashid sliced a clean through ball for Haron to run in from deep.  After rounding their GK, Haron shot towards goal but the ball hit their defender’s hand.  Sadly, the referee missed a clear blatant hand ball and waved play on.

 

With the ARFC warriors still protesting and in shock, the opponents quickly broke upfield and scored their 3^rd goal.  0-3.

 

To ARFC’s credit, they did not even argue with the referee and displayed good sportsmanship.

 

Khim then fizzed in a grounder that saw Wayne breaking clear but when faced with their GK, Wayne shot just wide.

 

The opponents then scored again. 0-4 now.

 

ARFC did not give up and scored a gem of a goal.

 

Rashid intercepted a clearance form their defender and passed to Khim who was standing on the top left corner of the penalty box.  Killing the ball with a great first touch, Khim looked up, took aim before firing a world-class placed shot to the top right hand corner that gave their GK no chance at all. 

 

1-4 and this was Khim’s 66^th ARFC goal, and also his 2^nd goal in successive matches in 2024.

 

ARFC nearly pulled another goal back.  Khim floated in a perfect ball to the far post where Alvin was lurking unmarked.  Alas, Alvin could not get a clean connection with his forehead and his header was wide. 

 

With ARFC warriors all tiring by now, it was no surprise that the opponents scored another 2 goals to win 6-1.

 

Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Guoxiong (who was colossal throughout) and Darren.

 

Despite the loss, ARF actually did well and the efforts from all were really commendable.  The poor penalty call follow by their 3^rd goal really killed us.