Wayne inspires ARFC 4-1 victory over Republic Poly staff team

Playing on a rare Monday night, ARFC totally outplayed the Republic Poly staff team 4-1 after an inspirational performance from Wayne.

The match was played in an unusual 3 30-min durations as requested by the opponents.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Jersey no.	Name	Position
33	Talisman Derrick	Goalkeeper
20	Composed Eng Lai	Right-back
14	Combative Ron	Sweeper
15	Towering Toh	Stopper
6	Unbeatable Darren	Left-back
16	Marauding Guoxiong	Right-mid
4	Dynamic Soon	Centre-mid
7	Influential Sebastian (captain)	Centre-mid
2	Unpredictable Blackburn	Left-mid
66	Wonder Wayne	Striker
99	Powerful Alvin	Striker
Subs:
3	Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
9	ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
77	Dependable Jinzhong
78	Steely Tze Ern
xx	Rashid (guest player)
Absent:
5	Impeccable How Meng
8	Talented Chun Haw
10	Sublime Khim
11	Speedy Hee
17	Nippy Kenny
18	Determined Huiming
19	Skillful Weilit
21	Rampaging Raymond
28	Hard-man Tjioe
31	Vintage Chua
45	Commanding Ismail

ARFC opened the scoring in the 7^th min.  Wayne, who is probably the most-improved ARFC warrior in 2017, sped down the left flank before delivering a cross to Alvin.  Alvin took a slight touch to Soon who made a Paul Scholes-like run before side-footing the ball high into the net. 1-0 and this was Soon’s 75^th ARFC goal.

ARFC doubled its lead 7 mins later.  Alvin swung in a deep hanging cross from the left and Guoxiong, who was a constant menace down the right flank, anticipated the ball by stealing in from the blind side to nip the ball away from their defender.  With a sharp and neat swivel, Guoxiong drilled the ball into the far side of the goal for his 28^th ARFC goal. 2-0

Alvin then failed ARFC when he just couldn’t lay the ball to Sebastian who was lurking inside the box and the ball was clear.

Incredulously, Alvin repeated this but this time, he incurred the wrath of Blackburn.

ARFC then conceded a break-away goal. 2-1.

In the 2^nd 30-min half, Alvin exchanged passes with Darren before making his way to the left BY-LINE.  Latching on to Alvin’s neat cut-back from the BY-LINE, Haron showed his predatory instinct when he glided in to sweep the ball home with his left foot.  To the shock, amazement and anger of the whole ARFC and its 77,777 supporters who were watching the match live, the referee ruled that Haron was off-side!!!

Every footballer would tell you that a ball from the BY-LINE would never ever be off-side.

Sebastian then played square-pass with Rashid before swinging in a Beckham-like hanging cross into the box.  Haron read the ball but just headed wide.

In the 3^rd 30-min half, Tze Ern pressured their right-back into making an under-hit back pass to their GK.  Haron intercepted the ball and squared to Wayne who gleefully tucked the ball home for his 32^nd ARFC goal.  3-1

Derrick then made his by-now routine one-to-one save every match when he got down like Pepe Reina to keep out a certain goal.

ARFC then scored its 4^th goal in the match after some gengen-pressing which saw Darren, Alvin and Wayne facing their GK and defender only.  After a series of yo-yo passes which saw the trio pass to each other to let the opponents see stars, Wayne placed the ball home for his 33^rd ARFC goal. 4-1

Voting results:

Wayne – 8

Derrick – 8

Elvis – 5

Guoxiong – 5

Soon – 5

Eng Lai – 4

Ron – 3

Alvin – 2

Haron – 1

Darren – 1

Derrick's world-class triple save in 5-0 win

Playing the team from furniture giant Court for the first time, ARFC send them packing with a comprehensive 5-0 demolition job.  The victory, however, came at a huge cost as all ARFC warriors and family were banned from buying furniture at Courts henceforth.

As first-choice GK Derrick as late as he was entertaining PRCs, Chun Haw started in goal first. 

ARFC started with this line-up:

Jersey no.	Name	Position
8	Talented Chun Haw	Goalkeeper
31	Vintage Chua	Right-back
15	Towering Toh (captain)	Sweeper
20	Composed Eng Lai	Stopper
6	Unbeatable Darren	Left-back
2	Unpredictable Blackburn	Right-mid
4	Dynamic Soon	Centre-mid
10	Sublime Khim	Centre-mid
66	Wonder Wayne	Left-mid
9	ARFC Scoring Legend Haron	Striker
99	Powerful Alvin	Striker
Subs:
3	Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
14	Combative Ron
33	Talisman Derrick
xx	Rashid (guest player)
Absent:
5	Impeccable How Meng
7	Influential Sebastian
11	Speedy Hee
16	Marauding Guoxiong
17	Nippy Kenny
18	Determined Huiming
19	Skillful Weilit
21	Rampaging Raymond
28	Hard-man Tjioe
45	Commanding Ismail
77	Dependable Jinzhong
78	Steely Tze Ern

ARFC drew first blood after Alvin’s corner was punched away by their GK.  However, Toh was first to the rebound and headed home his 98^th ARFC goal. 1-0.

In the 33^rd min, Alvin picked up a loose ball at the half-way line and released Haron with a sublime through ball.  Haron did not disappoint as he summoned his last ounce of energy by sprinting in and dinked the ball over their advancing GK for his 247^th ARFC goal. 2-0

Chun Haw then made a few assuring catches before Derrick turned up and replaced him.

Derrick then once again showed why he is a late-bloomer as a GK when he produced a brilliant one-handed save that even drew much applause from the opponents. 

In the 57^th min, Toh was shoved to the ground by their defender rather clumsily.  Blackburn me a 77-metre sprint, brushed aside all aspiring penalty-takers and took the spot-kick. Blackburn then calmly dispatched the ball to their GK’s right for his 155^th ARFC goal. 3-0

In the 67^th min, in his typical fashion, Ron robbed the opponent from the centre half and played Chun Haw in with a world-class piercing through ball to the left.  Chun Haw then exchanged wall-passed with the increasingly-impressive Wayne before slotting home his 66^th ARFC goal. 4-0.

Wayne was then very unlucky when his Fandi-like scissor kick struck the post!

ARFC then put the icing on the cake in the 69^th min.  From Eng Lai’s laser-sharp corner, Ron swopped in and planted a firm header with much aplomb past their stunned GK for his 13^th ARFC goal. 5-0

Derrick then made the save of the season in the last min of the match.  First, he made a save and when the rebound fell to the opponents, he made a stunning recovery block.  From the 2^nd rebound, everybody thought the opponent would score but Derrick defy all logic and profound everyone in the world with a lagi stunning reaction save.  Triple-save!

Voting results:

Derrick – 12

Blackburn – 8

Soon – 5

Ron – 4

Chun Haw – 4

Toh – 3

Chua – 3

Eng Lai – 2

Khim – 1

Top 10 ARFC goal-scorers (as at 22 Oct 2017)

Alvin - 300 goals
Haron - 246
Blackburn - 154
Hee - 107
Sebastian - 104
Derrick - 103
Toh - 97
Kenny - 79
Soon - 74
Robin - 69

Daniel's world-class diving header goal capped 5-2 victory in ARFC Veteran Team's 3rd match

Playing its 3^rd veteran match, ARFC Veteran Team trailed twice before completing a comprehensive victory over FC Sperms at the Turf Ciy Pitch 1.

ARFC Veteran Team was supported by Jeffrey’s 2 lovely sons, Rui Heng and Yu Zhi, and Darren’s precocious son Reyes.  Jo and Tiara (wife and daughter of Kiat) and Yanxiu (wife of Huiming) only turned up after their shopping spree at Tiffany’s.

ARFC Veteran Team also welcomed Daniel for his first match for the team after he made a great sacrifice by exchanging off-day with his colleague.

ARFC Veteran Team started with this line-up:

GK – Derrick

RB – Kiat

Sweeper – Eng Lai

Stopper – Huiming

LB – David

RM – Raymond

CM – Sebastian (Captain)

CM – Soon

LM – Darren

SC – Blackburn

SC – Jeffrey

Subs:

Chua

Toh

Tong

Daniel

ARFC started off with its breath-taking pace and speed, particularly from Raymond who was a constant menace down the right flank.

Within 10 mins, ARFC earned 4 corners in succession but Blackburn’s superb deliveries were not met by anyone.

Raymond then teed up Sebastian but his curling shot was just 0.77 mm over the cross-bar.

From their counter-attack, their pacy left-winger was brought down and they duly converted their spot-kick despite Derrick getting a hand to it. 0-1

ARFC then pressed on and was rewarded with an equaliser 3 mins later.  After a series of intricate passes, Darren sped down the left flank and his cross from left wing sailed over their entire defence including their GK to nestle nicely at the far post. 1-1 and this was Darren’s 9^th ARFC goal.

Toh then came on as the striker but Jeffrey was hurt in a tackle. Immediately, Toh met Blackburn’s corner with a firm header but was just over.

Blackburn was then left to rue his bad luck when his powerful shot struck the cross-bar!

Huiming then produced a stunning world-class last-ditch block after their right-winger was about to get a shot in.

In the 2^nd half, ARFC conceded a goal almost immediately after the re-start. 1-2

The goal proved to be a blessing in disguise as all ARFC warriors seemed to put in more efforts with its passing, support and movement.

3 mins later, Darren’s cross from the left saw Raymond stealing in from the blind side to glance a brilliant header past their stranded GK. 2-2 and this was Raymond’s 9^th ARFC goal.

ARFC then took the lead for the first time in the match after a quick break-away.  Jeffrey acted as the perfect decoy as he pulled away to the left while Daniel stayed in the middle. Hearing a shout from Raymond who was running n from the right flank, Sebastian produced his trade-mark no-look pass with a perfectly-weighted grounder to put Raymond clean through.  Expectedly, Raymond did not disappoint as he slotted home his 10^th ARFC goal. 3-2

The partnership between Sebastian and Raymond reaped dividends once more when he pushed a piercing diagonal ball down the right. Raymond looked to have grabbed his hat-trick but his shot was touched by their GK to the post. Jeffrey was the biggest beneficiary as the rebound fell kindly to him about 0.77 metres from the goal-line and he simply touched the ball home for his 53^rd ARFC goal. 4-2

Jeffrey then could not get a clean connection while Blackburn squandered a good chance.

Raymond could have then assisted Sebastian but chose to shoot himself and was saved by their GK.

Kiat, who took over Derrick in goal, then came up with a brilliant and stunning one-on-one save! World-class.

Defying his age, Chua also indulged in several over-lapping runs from his left-back position and was almost rewarded with a goal.

Derrick then produced some neat dribbles down the right side and was nearly rewarded with a goal but his shot was saved.

Unperturbed, Derrick then spotted Sebastian down the right flank with a simple pass that yielded the goal of the match.  With a neat touch, Sebastian looked up and saw Tong, Jeffrey and Daniel all in the box.  With a precise chip that looked to hang in the air eternally, the ball eluded both Tong and Jeffrey but not Daniel who shocked the crowd and players alike with a majestic diving header, ala Juergen Klinsmann!  5-2 and this was Daniel 6^th ARFC goal, putting him on level terms with Eng Lai who also put in a good shift in the match.

Daniel’s last goal for ARFC was back in 10 Jan 1999 at the Blk 367 Yishun Ring Road pitch in a 4-2 victory.

Once again, the ARFC Veteran Team impressed with a very disciplined and tactical game with so many simple yet beautiful passes between the warriors. There was very good support as demonstrated by the at least 2 options for each warrior for every ball.

It was also nice to see David trying several burst to get past the opponents and Tong showing some nice little touches and passes. As usual, Soon provided the strong foundation by covering almost every blade of the pitch.