Playing a 7 am match for the first time since ARFC was formed in June 1991, ARFC put up a polished display to edge out a good Ballisters Fc team on 27 Dec 2025 at Tampines SAFRA.
Due to the early kick-off, many ARFC warriors could not make it and hence, ARFC has no choice but to call up several guest players.
Kudos to all for waking up so early to play!
ARFC took to the pitch with this 4-5-1 line-up:
Jersey No.: | Name | Position |
xx | Sunny | Goalkeeper |
16 | Marauding Guoxiong | Right back |
98 | Impeccable How Meng | Sweeper |
5 | Energetic Kerwin | Stopper |
78 | Steely Tze Ern | Left back |
26 | Rampaging Raymond | Right mid |
4 | Dynamic Soon | Centre Mid |
7 | Influential Sebastian (captain) | Centre Mid |
19 | Skillful Wei Lit | Centre Mid |
10 | Sublime Khim | Left Mid |
xx | Chong Ghee | Striker |
Substitutes: |
2 | Remarkable Rashid | |
xx | Frankie | |
xx | John | |
xx | Hong | |
Missing In Action: |
3 | Astute-reading sweeper Elvis | |
6 | Unbeatable Darren | |
9 | ARFC Scoring Legend Haron | |
13 | Talisman Derrick | |
14 | Combative Ron | |
15 | Towering Toh | |
17 | Nippy Kenny | |
20 | Composed Eng Lai | |
23 | Talented Chun Haw | |
28 | Hard-man Tjioe | |
31 | Wonder Wayne | |
66 | Vintage Chua | |
99 | Powerful Alvin | |
xx | Divine Delon | |
Both teams started gingerly as they were sizing each other out.
In the 7th min, from a quick counter attack, the opponents shocked ARFC when they scored with a shot from outside the box. 0-1.
ARFC then suffered a huge blow when Chong Ghee limped out after appearing to have pulled his right hamstring and thigh. ARFC then made an enforced change with Frankie coming in at right back, pushing Guoxiong up to right mid with Raymond switching to a striker position.
Thankfully, the change paid handsome dividends for ARFC 7 mins later.
When their right back received a ball down his side, it appeared to be no danger until Soon, in his usual trademark style, chased from his midfield position and closed in on their right back. Their right back then made a back pass to their GK and from nowhere, Raymond demonstrated high match intelligence and anticipation when he charged in. Raymond then reached the ball ahead of their GK and managed to nip the ball through the legs of their GK into the empty net.
1-1 and this was Raymond’s 30th ARFC goal, with 23 of those goals coming from ARFC Veterans matches.
The remaining proceedings of the first half saw both teams conjuring some half chances but both teams did not manage to make a breakthrough.
ARFC then made some changes with both Sebastian and Khim requesting to take a break, to be replaced by Rashi and John respectively.
In the 2nd half, ARFC fielded Hong as striker and he made an immediate impact.
ARFC passed the ball from right back to right mid and Soon won the ball in the midfield tussle and passed to Raymond. Without even looking up, Raymond heard a call from Hong and instinctively threaded a through pass ala Sebastian Veron for Hong. Killing the ball with a great first touch, Hong sped clear of their covering defender before bending the ball past their despairing GK. 2-1 now!
Just 2 mins later, ARFC was then indebted to Sunny when he produced a world-class low save to keep out a certain goal from the opponents.
ARFC extended the lead when John brought the ball all the way from his centre midfield position, glided past a few opponents before drilling in a diagonal high ball into the far post. 3-1.
John then notched a brace when he exchanged exquisite wall passes with Hong before slotting home. 4-1.
Sebastian then switched Kerwin to be striker with Hong dropping to stopper.
Not satisfied, John grabbed his hat trick just 3 mins later. After passing the ball to Kerwin, John continued his run which was perfectly read by Kerwin. From Kerwin’s return ball, John sprinted past their defence, drew their GK out and duly placed the ball home. 5-1 and what a hat trick from John!
ARFC then proceeded to miss 3 clear chances with Hong, John and Kerwin all guilty of those misses.
The referee then awarded a rather soft penalty to the opponents after their fast and tricky right winger was harshly judged to be have been brought down in the box. The same opponent stepped up but his penalty save was expertly kept out by Sunny who dived low to his left. Alas, the opponent scored from the rebound after none of our defenders covered the rebound in time. Unlucky but what a brilliant save from Sunny! 5-2 now.
Straight from the kick-off, ARFC scored again. Raymond touched the ball to Rashid who showcased his magical left foot when he floated a perfectly-weighted high ball to just outside the box to Kerwin. Kerwin, who is now such a classy player now, dashed in ahead of their covering defender, took down the ball with a sublime touch and lofted the ball over their GK for his 12th ARFC goal. Superb! 6-2
This was a match where every ARFC warriors played very well with their passes, movements and closing down of opponents, epitomised by a great sliding tackle from How Meng when defending in the first half. Guoxiong, Kerwin and Sebastian also came up with a few blocks from their attempted long shots. Tze Ern and Frankie were virtually flawless as full backs, and Raymond and Khim showed grit and guile respectively. Rashid’s passing was as classy as always, and Wei Lit chipped in with some good passes. Hong and John added much speed and movements, and Soon showed that ARFC still needed him and his endless and relentless pressing of opponents. How Meng and Kerwin were awarded joint Man-of-the-Match with their reading and composed display as centre back pairing, with Kerwin also scoring a late goal.
Credit must also be given to the strong opponents who displayed great sportsmanship and went toe-to-toe with ARFC. Unfortunately, they were missing several good players in their ranks.
