Elvis and Darren shone as Alvin grabbed hat-trick in 6-0 win over OVA Veterans

 

Playing its 4^th Veterans match in 2022 and 31^st 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 11^th 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 27^th 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 347^th 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 275^th 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 94^th 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 348^th 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 349^th ARFC goal.

 

Alvin’s hat-trick was also his 30^th 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 114^th 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 3^rd 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.

 

Alvin gobbled up all 6 goals in 6-4 win

On the back of an inspirational and sensational 6-goal salvo from Alvin, ARFC emerged 6-4 victors over JMK FC in a see-saw match that saw leads exchanged on several occasions at Westwood Sec Sch on 26 Jun 2022 at 3 pm.

 

ARFC was hit by poor responses and had to call up 3 guest players.

 

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

 

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

 

 

Within 77 seconds from the kick-off, good combination play from Guoxiong, Wei Lit and Chun Haw resulted in Alvin turning sharply but was unlucky as the latter’s powerful shot smacked against the cross-bar.

 

2 mins later, a superb team pressing from Sebastian, Soon, Wayne and Wei Lit forced their defender into a hasty pass to Alvin who was lurking in the box.  Needing no second invitation, Alvin duly toe-poked the ball home for his 341^st ARFC goal.     1-0

 

5 mins later, ARFC doubled its lead.  Soon won a high ball, trapped the ball down expertly and passed to Chun Haw on the right.  Chun Haw then threaded a perfectly-weighted through ball which saw Alvin running in and drilled the ball past their despairing GK.  2-0 and this was Alvin’s 342^nd ARFC goal.

 

Kiat then came in for Sebastian, while Han (Kiat’s brother) took over Alvin.

 

7 mins later, the opponents pulled a goal back. 2-1 now.

 

Wayne then played an excellent one-two with Chun Haw, and broke clear.  However, Wayne could not get a clean connection and his feable shot was saved.

 

The opponents then levelled the score at 2-2 after a quick counter-attack caught out ARFC.  2-2

 

With virtually the last kick of the half, Sebastian delivered a corner from the right and Toh, who was back to his best at stopper, leaped and challenged their GK. Their GK spilled the ball which Toh quickly tried to poke home.   However, their GK made a quick recovery block and smothered the ball.  Unlucky Toh.

 

4 mins after the re-start, the opponents took a surprise lead. 2-3 now.

 

ARFC did not panic and continued its siege at their goal and their efforts were finally rewarded 7 mins later. 

 

KJ, who again had an excellent game, combined well with Han down the left flank.  Han’s shot was blocked and the ball rolled to Sebastian who was standing at the top edge of the penalty box. Sebastian fooled their sweeper by faking to shoot, and side-footed the ball to Alvin on his right.  With their GK at his mercy, Alvin hit a toe-poke shot which their GK got a touch but could not keep out the ball.  3-3 and this was Alvin’s 343^rd ARFC goal and 29^th ARFC hat-trick.

 

The opponents then scored a long-range screamer to regain the lead.  3-4 now and ARFC was now in danger of losing.

 

Guoxiong and Soon had other ideas though. After receiving a ball from Soon on the right, Guoxiong sent in a lovely cross to Alvin who had peeled away to the far post.  Chesting the ball down, Alvin duly rifled the ball into the roof of the net that gave their GK no chance at all.  4-4 and this was Alvin’s 344^th ARFC goal.

 

Fired up, ARFC regained the lead 3 mins later. From the left, KJ passed the ball to Wayne who held the ball up brilliantly.  Spotting Chun Haw’s run down the right wing, Wayne played a grounder to Chun Haw who hit an instant square ball across goal. Alvin ran in and side-footed the ball home for his 345^th ARFC goal. 5-4 now.

 

Next, Wayne nearly scored. After their GK blocked Alvin’s shot, the ball fell to Wayne who was moving in.  Wayne then tried to lift the ball over heir GK who read his move and caught the ball.

 

Kiat then took over Elvis as sweeper.  Elvis played his hearts out and had a good game but was tiring out.

 

ARFC then put the result to bed 3 mins later.  Kiat’s long clearance from his sweeper position saw the ball flying over their entire defence.  Both Alvin and Wayne then charged down at goal and Wayne then moved slightly away.  Alvin picked up Wayne’s gesture and placed the ball past their bewildered GK.  6-4 and this was Alvin’s 346^th ARFC.

 

His 6-goal in a match was also the 2dn time that he had done so.

 

Han was then through on ball but he inexplicably side-footed the ball into the side netting.

 

Alvin could have scored his 7^th goal in the match from Chun Haw’s excellent cross from the right.  However, Alvin outside right Alvinfoot volley was just slightly wide of the right post.

 

Man-of-the-Match has to be Alvin. His double hat-trick took his ARFC hat-trick count to 29, resulting in 99 goals from these 29 hat-tricks.

 

 

Previous matches where ARFC warriors scored 6 goals in a match:

 

·       Robin (Elvis’ elder brother) – won 14-2 on 5 July 1992

·       Robin– won 8-1 on 10 Nov 1996

·       Alvin – won 13-2 on 21 Aug 2011

·       Derrick – won 12-3 on 4 Sep 2011

·       Kenny – won 10-0 on 25 Jul 2015

·       Alvin – won 6-4 on 26 Jun 2022