ARFC in brilliant comeback 4-4 draw

In a friendly match against a “tough-and-hard” Malay team, ARFC displayed tremendous team spirit and determination in drawing 4-4 after trailing 0-4 at one stage!

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper             -           Talented Chun Haw

Right-back       -           Jasper

Sweeper           -           Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper            -           Towering Toh

Left-back         -           Unbeatable Darren

Left-mid          -           Weilit

Centre-mid       -           Combative Ron

Centre-mid       -           Unpredictable Blackburn  

Right-mid         -           Marauding Guoxiong

Striker              -           Talisman Derrick

Striker              -           Powerful Alvin (captain)

Subs (all late):

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Speedy Hee

Wonder Wayne

Dynamic Soon

Absent:

Steely Tze Ern

How Meng

Influential Sebastian

Hard-man Tjioe  

Sublime Khim 

Dependable Jinzhong

Mean-machine Hock

Long-throw specialist Norman

Precocious En Dian

Nippy Kenny

The match was quite even from the start but the opponents struck first from a quickly-taken free-kick. In all fairness, however, the referee had told ARFC’s wall to move back but the opponent took the free-kick before the referee blew his whistle. Bad call!  0-1

Alvin then wasted a golden chance when Hee, not the first time, robbed their left-back of the ball and squared the ball across. Alvin rounded the keeper and prodded the ball towards the empty goal. Their defender then came from Mars and cleared the ball away with a sliding move. Unlucky!

ARFC was punished when they scored again. 0-2 is the half-time score.

ARFC went further behind when the opponents scored 2 more goals. 0-4

ARFC looked dead and buried and another hiding appeared on the cards.

Such moments are when heroes rise and shine, and what better candidates than the impeccable Soon and scoring legend Haron to begin the come-back.

In the 60^th min, Haron exchanged a classic one-two with Soon, broke free and fired in his 182^nd ARFC goal. 1-4

5 mins later came a reversal of roles for Soon and Haron. Haron laid the ball on the platter for Soon who simply whipped the ball home for his 45^th ARFC goal. 2-4 and this was also ARFC’s 100^th goal in the year 2012!

In the 70^th min, from a quick throw-in, Alvin held off their covering defender, turned him in a classic Alvin move and fizzed the ball across goal for Haron to come in from blind side and side-footed the ball home for his 183^rd ARFC goal! With the brace, Haron reminded everyone what a predator he has been and still is!

5 mins later, Derrick delivered a cross-field pass down the left channel for Alvin to chase. Alvin dribbled the ball all the way to the left by-line, cut back and sent in a delicious far-post ball which saw Chun Haw coming in from deep and thrashed the ball into the net for his 8^th ARFC goal. 4-4!

In fact, ARFC could have snatched the winner right at the dead. From a break-away move, Alvin headed to Derrick who in turn first-time headed to Haron. Haron wriggled free but his stinging shot was saved by their keeper. Unlucky but what a great team move.

Man-of-the-Match is definitely Soon who totally changed the game after coming in with his never-ending energy and covering of ground. This came after his 36-km run in the same morning!

Derrick becomes first ARFC keeper to save 2 penalties in a match!!

ARFC was supposed to play a friendly match on 28 Oct 2012 at 3 pm at Pasir Ris Sec but not for the first time, the organizer again cocked up and cancelled our match. Alvin then gave a tongue-lashing at the organizer who then hastily arranged a friendly match at 5 pm at Victoria JC.

Alvin then quickly called up ARFC warriors and just managed to form a team.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper             -           Talisman Derrick

Right-back       -           Marauding Guoxiong

Sweeper           -           Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper                        -           Towering Toh

Left-back         -           Glen (guest player)

Left-mid          -           Speedy Hee

Centre-mid       -           Steely Tze Ern

 Centre-mid      -           Combative Ron

Right-mid         -           Unpredictable Blackburn  

Striker              -           Wonder Wayne

Striker              -           Powerful Alvin (captain)

Subs:

Weilit

Jasper

Unbeatable Darren (late)

Troy (guest player)

Absent:

How Meng

Influential Sebastian

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Dynamic Soon

Hard-man Tjioe  

Sublime Khim 

Dependable Jinzhong

Mean-machine Hock

Talented Chun Haw

Long-throw specialist Norman

Precocious En Dian

Nippy Kenny

  

ARFC was clearly ill-prepared for the last-min switch and was not helped by the big international size field. Furthermore, the opponents, JSSL Arsenal, was well-coached and their players were all either in their teens or early twenties.

ARFC trailed 0-2 at half-time.

In the 2^nd half, ARFC came out fighting and was determined not to damage ARFC’s reputation. Troy’s wonderful shot came off the post

Weilit nearly scored after being put through by Alvin. Before Weilit can pull the trigger, their fast defender came from nowhere, produced a sliding tackle la Mark Lawrenson, and cleared the danger.

Weilit then had another similar chance but the outcome was the same as the earlier chance.

ARFC then conceded another goal. 0-3

ARFC could have lost by a bigger margin if not for the heroics of Derrick who, incredibly, produced TWO penalty saves in the match!! 

I am not sure if Derrick was the first ARFC keeper to save a penalty during a match ( I think Jinzhong had done so too), but I am 777% sure that Derrick is the first ARFC keeper to save 2 penalties in a match.

With this feat, Derrick is hereby automatically promoted to ARFC keeper whenever Jinzhong or How Meng is not available. Hee Hee Hee…..

Without doubt then, Derrick is the Man-of-the-Match.

ARFC drew 1-1 in abandoned match

Playing at the brand-new artificial pitch at Turf City, ARFC squandered a string of chances to draw 1-1 which was abandoned with about 15 mins to go. 

Tjioe pulled put at the 11th hour due to a medical condition but Wayne called up his friend, Long (Dragon in Mandarin), to fill up the vacancy. Long was to go on and really play like a dragon.

Specil credit to Derrick for volunteering to be keeper for 1st half, and Ron for 2nd half.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper             -           Talisman Derrick

Right-back       -           Jasper

Sweeper           -           Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper             -          Combative Ron

Left-back         -           Marauding Guoxiong

Left-mid          -            Speedy Hee

Centre-mid       -          Unpredictable Blackburn

Centre-mid       -           Influential Sebastian

Right-mid         -           Dynamic Soon

Striker              -           Wonder Wayne

Striker              -           Powerful Alvin

Subs:

Wei Lit

Towering Toh (late)

Guest player Long

Absent:

Unbeatable Darren

How Meng

Steely Tze Ern

Hardman Tjioe

Sublime Khim 

Dependable Jinzhong

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Mean-machine Hock

Talented Chun Haw

Long-throw specialist Norman

Precocious En Dian

Nippy Kenny

Just 77 seconds into the match, Hee and Alvin combined superbly down the left flank and the ball reached Wayne who was free  in the box. Alas, Wayne skied his shot. 

Alvin was then put clean through on successive occasions but he could not get clean shots in on both counts.

Blackburn was next to squander a good chance.

Wayne then latched on to a fine through ball in the right side of the box. With Blackburn unmarked in the box, Wayne did not square the ball across and his shot lack any power and easily gathered by their keeper. 

Hee and Alvin then again combined down the left flank and the ball found its way to Blackburn. Sebastian then made a galloping run into the box but Blackburn's pass was too soft and was cleared by their keeper.

With so many missed chances, ARFC finally paid the price when the opponents scored. 0-1

Guoxiong then twice came to ARFCs rescue when he first produced a stunning block, and moments later, his sliding block prevented their striker from pulling the trigger when cleaned through.

In the 2nd half, it did not take long for ARFC to put things right. From a swift counter-attack, Blackburn, playing at left-back, quickly relayed the ball to the very impressive Long. With a sudden burst of acceleration, Long eluded their right midfielder and squared to Soon near the centre circle. Soon turned and spotted Derrick making his trade-mark run from deep down the right. Soon's ball was superbly measured and Derrick sprinted in and deftly chipped the ball over their keeper which saw the ball nicely nestled in at the far post. World-class goal and this was Derrick's 57th ARFC goal. 1-1

By now, ARFC was dominating the match with some clever passing and closing down of opponents with Soon in the thick of action.

Alvin was then kicked by their keeper in the 6-yard box when challenging for the loose ball. Their keeper did not even care to apologise.

Hee was the next victim when after using his world-renowned speed to speed clear, their last-man simply hacked him down. Again, no apology at all and the inept referee did not even caution him. 

From the resulting free-kick, Blackburn skied the shot.

Long was the next to suffer a crude tackle. After bursting clear down the middle, their centre midfielder (no. 8), who was constantly looking for fight and trouble, tried to give him a violent kick at his ankle but Long was too fast for him and proceeded with the ball and won a corner. 

When Long then politely asked the No. 8 to not resort to such dirty kick, the No. 8 did not apologise at all and even retorted that it is "his right to play his way" and Long "should not question his way of playing". 

Derrick then had a "mini tiff" with their Indian player and again, I heard their No. 8 telling his Indian team-mate that he would be targeting Derrick.  

The final straw came when their so-called captain scolded the referee "chee by" loudly after a decision by the referee.

It was then Sebastian decided to abandon the match to protect the referee but most importantly, ARFC players from potentially suffering any unnecessary injuries.  

Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Guoxiong and Elvis, though I want to reserve special praise to Hee. Hee may not possess the best of first touch, but I think his work-rate, speed and harassment to opponents are certainly very useful to ARFC.

Captain Weilit nets last-grasp winner

Thankful that the rain did not cause the match to be called off, ARFC produced a successive exhilarating 4-3 victory in a friendly match courtesy of a last-grasp winner from birthday boy-cum-captain Weilit.

Despite just playing an energy-sapping match on Friday evening at Jalan Besar Stadium, Sebastian turned up at the 11^th hour. However, he paid the price for being absent for so long and can only be contented with a place on the bench.

ARFC also received another boost when Ron appeared after inking a $7 million clothing deal with Capitaland at Bugis Junction.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper             -           How Meng

Right-back       -           Jasper

Sweeper           -           Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stoppe             -           Towering Toh

Left-back         -           Unbeatable Darren

Left-mid          -           Weilit (captain)

Centre-mid       -           Hard-man Tjioe  

Centre-mid       -           Dynamic Soon

Right-mid         -           Alonso (guest player)  

Striker              -           Unpredictable Blackburn

Striker              -           Powerful Alvin

 Subs:

Combative Ron

Speedy Hee

Influential Sebastian

Wonder Wayne (late)

Absent:

Steely Tze Ern

Marauding Guoxiong

Sublime Khim 

Dependable Jinzhong

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Mean-machine Hock

Talented Chun Haw

Long-throw specialist Norman

Precocious En Dian

Nippy Kenny

Birthday boy Weilit captained ARFC for the first time but his display was slightly off-colour due to a fever before the match.  

Indeed, all starting ARFC warriors appeared to be affected by the breezy weather and were still "sleeping" when the opponents scored after just 77 seconds on the clock. 0-1

ARFC suffered another scare but How Meng caught the ball with a flying save to his right.

ARFC equalized when Blackburn was fouled outside the box and was awarded a direct free-kick by the impressive referee. Blackburn stepped over the ball and Alvin then curled the ball over and beyond the wall ala Lionel Messi for his 184^th ARFC goal. World-class goal! 1-1

Ron and Hee then replaced Elvis and Alvin respectively. Shortly after, Sebastian came on for Weilit who was clearly feeling the effects of his fever.

ARFC then conceded another soft goal. 1-2

In the 2^nd half, Wayne and Alvin partnered upfront with Blackburn taking a break. Soon also returned in place of Tjioe. Ron also switched to right back, replacing Jasper, with Elvis returning as sweeper.

Things did not improve and ARFC was again indebted to How Meng who produced yet another flying save, this time to his left.

However, ARFC gifted another goal to the opponents. 1-3

How Meng showed the world what a huge potential he has when he conjured 2 saves to keep the score down.

ARFC finally woke up in the 60^th min. First, Alonso, who is a fantastic right winger and a good friend of Sebastian, was clearly tripped near the touchline on the right. From the ensuing penalty, Sebastian drove the ball low to keeper’s right for his 83^rd ARFC goal. 2-3.

Clearly fired up, ARFC was now in the ascendency and constantly broke their off-side traps with many clever runs from deep.

From a Ron’s long direct over-head ball, Alvin gave chase and their keeper looked to have the ball cleared. To their horror, the keeper’s clearance hit Alvin’s bulging chest muscles and wrong-footed him. Alvin then had the easiest task of literally walking the ball into the net for his 185^th ARFC goal. 3-3.

By now, the opponents were “gone-case” and ARFC was clearly very and obviously dominant in the last 20 minutes.

Wayne broke clear but was held back. However, Sebastian’s free-kick was narrowly headed wide by Darren.

Alonso also made at least 2 runs from right but his crosses were overhit.

Soon then latched on to a through ball down the left flank from Blackburn. The ball looked to be heading for a goal-kick but Soon had other ideas and sprinted his way down before crossing with his left foot. Wayne showed incredible technique by deftly lifting the ball over their keeper. Alas, the ball was just 0.77 mm over the bar.

Darren was next to try his luck when he was put clean through. With Hee, Alvin, Alonso and Tjioe waiting in the box, Darren took the decision to fire in a stiff grounder at keeper’s near post which was turned away for a corner. Critics like Shebby Singh and R. Sasikumar would say that Darren should have passed the ball but in my opinion, Darren is entirely entitled to try a shot since it is rare that he had such an opportunity.

Blackburn then dribbled his way all the way from the left to the right but his hesitation resulted in a clearance from the opponents.

After several near-misses, ARFC made the break-through with a last-min goal. Alvin played a delicious ball down the right and Wayne showed superb pace by getting to the ball just right at the right touch-line. With Weilit, Alvin and Hee waiting in the box. Wayne quickly squared the ball across and Weilit took a great first touch before leashing the ball home for his 2^nd ARFC goal. Wonderful team goal! 4-3

Just 77 seconds after the re-start, the referee blew for final whistle.

Man-of-the-Match must be given to How Meng for his several superb saves. Though the same critics (mentioned earlier) would say that he had conceded 3 goals, I can safely say that all 3 goals were not his fault at all and any keeper in the world would also be unable to keep out the 3 goals. 

Alvin and Ron also produced performances that were not far off from the MOM award. 

Wayne nets winner in great team goal

Shrugging off the disappointment of last Sunday’s loss to Unido FC, ARFC picked itself up by playing out an exhilarating 4-3 victory in a friendly match.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper             -           How Meng

Right-back       -           Marauding Guoxiong

Sweeper           -           Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper                        -           Towering Toh (captain)

Left-back         -           Unbeatable Darren

Left-mid          -           Speedy Hee

Centre-mid       -           Steely Tze Ern

Centre-mid       -           Dynamic Soon

Right-mid         -           Weilit

Striker              -           Wonder Wayne

Striker              -           Unpredictable Blackburn

 Subs:

Powerful Alvin (late)

Jasper

Brenden Casanova (guest player)

Absent:

Combative Ron

Hard-man Tjioe

Talisman Derrick

Sublime Khim  

Dependable Jinzhong

Influential Sebastian

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Mean-machine Hock

Talented Chun Haw

Long-throw specialist Norman

Precocious En Dian

Nippy Kenny

Special mention to Tze Ern as this was his 2^nd match in as many days.

ARFC conceded first but leveled the score courtesy of an own goal by the opponents. 1-1 and this was the 28^th own goal conceded by ARFC’s opponents.

In the 47^th min, Guoxiong made up for his red card last week by bombing down the right flank ala Dani Alves. His cross was controlled expertly by Alvin and with such a great first touch, Alvin’s second touch saw him thumped the ball home for his 183^rd ARFC goal. 2-1

7 mins later, Guoxiong again underlined his great form in recent weeks with yet another blinding run down the right and laid the ball to Soon. Without hesitation, Soon hit a scorching long-range shot from 47.77 metres that gave their keeper no chance at all! 3-1 and this was Soon’s 44^th ARFC goal.

Brenden Casanova then replaced Elvis.

ARFC then relaxed and conceded a goal. 2-3

ARFC then conceded another goal 3-3.

From the re-start, however, ARFC immediately pulled ahead. Blackburn played a wall pass with Wayne TWICE in succession and the ball soon reached just outside the penalty area. Wayne then exchanged passes with Alvin who returned the ball to Wayne just near the 6-yard box. Naturally, Wayne thrashed the ball into the net for his 7^th ARFC goal. 4-3 and what a wonderful team goal!

With his 7^th goal, Wayne is now levelled with En Dian and Chun Haw in the ARFC scorers’ list.

Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Soon and Guoxiong.

ARFC's titles hopes diminished after 0-1 loss

ARFC’s title hopes were dealt a huge blow after losing 0-1 to the very determined Unido FC.

ARFC was supported by Jinzhong, Anna, Brenden and Kenny who is still out with his serious knee injury.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper             -           How Meng

Right-back       -           Marauding Guoxiong

Sweeper           -           Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper            -           Towering Toh (captain)

Left-back         -           Unpredictable Blackburn

Left-mid          -           Sublime Khim  

Centre-mid       -           Hard-man Tjioe

Centre-mid       -           Combative Ron

Right-mid         -           Talisman Derrick

Striker              -           Powerful Alvin

Striker              -           Speedy Hee

Subs:

Dynamic Soon

Weilit

Jasper

Absent:

Dependable Jinzhong

Unbeatable Darren

Influential Sebastian

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Mean-machine Hock

Wonder Wayne

Steely Tze Ern

Talented Chun Haw

Long-throw specialist Norman

Precocious En Dian

Nippy Kenny

Despite the presence of ARFC’s best player of all time, Khim, ARFC could not get going. Unido FC, typically, also showed more hunger for the match and won more challenges and possession.

Half-time ended 0-0

In the 2^nd half, they scored from a header. 0-1

Tempers started to flare due to the inept performance of the referee and Tjioe was cautioned.

Guoxiong was then dismissed for 2 yellow cards.

Bizarrely, the referee decided to end the match early by “saying that we behaved badly”!! However, it turned out that he was rushing to referee another match at 5pm at another pitch.

ARFC won again to close in on league title

In a league match against Team BBG, ARFC notched a tightly-contested 1-0 victory thanks to a superb goal from Blackburn.

ARFC was boosted by the lat-min appearance of both Toh and Derrick who were both doubtful for the match. ARFC was also supported by the injured Jinzhong and both pregnant ladies, Anna and Tracie.

ARFC started with this line-up:

GK - Haomin

DR - Marauding Guoxiong

Sweeper  - Astute-reading sweeper Elvis (captain)

Stopper - Towering Toh 

LB - Unbeatable Darren

RM - Talisman Derrick

CM - Combative Ron

CM - Unpredictable Blackburn

LM - Wonder Wayne

Striker - Powerful Alvin

Striker - ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Subs:

Weilit

Jasper

Influential Sebastian (only arrived in 2nd half)

Absent:

Dependable Jinzhong

Speedy Hee

Hard-man Tjioe

Dynamic Soon

Mean-machine Hock

Steely Tze Ern

Sublime Khim

Talented Chun Haw

Long-throw specialist Norman

Precocious En Dian

Nippy Kenny

Right from the kick-off, it was clear that their left-back could not cope with Derrick's mesmerising dribbles at all and constantly chopped Derrick down whenever he glided past him. After about 4 to 5 fouls, the referee finally decided to take some action by cautioning the left-back.

From the resulting free-kick, Wayne curled the ball in which saw their keeper fumbled and dropped the ball just in front of the goal-line. Alas, no ARFC warrior was on hand to capitalise.

In the 25th min, their defence failed to clear the ball which saw Blackburn, continuing his good form in recent weeks, got to the ball. Without hesitation, he thundered in a torpedo which measured at 777 km/hr and their keeper could only pick the ball up from the net. This was Blackburn's 116th ARFC goal. 1-0

In the 40th min, Ron threaded in a through ball and Alvin raced clear. Alvin was brutally fouled by their last man just outside the box but the referee did not even caution. Derrick took a very quick free-kick while the opponents were still talking with the referee by laying the ball to Alvin. Alvin controlled the ball with a killer first touch and then thrashed the ball goalwards that went in off the far post.  Alvin had already started celebrating his goal by sprinting 99 cm when the referee strangely disallowed the goal, claiming that Derrick took the free-kick from wrong position!

In the 2nd half, Guoxiong shifted to CM while Jasper took his position. Darren also made way for Weilit who played LM with Wayne dropping to LB. Haron also took a well-earned break and Blackburn partnered Alvin upfront.

The opening 10 mins of the 2nd half saw ARFC totally dominating play with Ron winning every headers and tackles in CM. Guoxiong also played like a man possessed with his powerful penetrative runs from midfield, perhaps boosted by Tracie's presence.

A flowing move started from Jasper saw Derrick, Blackburn, Alvin exchanging passes before Blackburn prodded a slight-rule ball to Guoxiong who ran in from deep. Unfortunately he could not get a clean connection to the ball.

Blackburn then struck the cross-bar when his audacious chip from 47.77 metres almost ended up in the net.

Weilit and Wayne then combined down the left with Weilit's superb curling shot flew just wide.

Jasper then came in with several crucial interceptions.

Ron then earned a well-deserved break and was replaced by Darren. Soon after, Guoxiong signalled to be replaced by Sebastian.

Haron then came in for Blackburn and soon was in the thick of the action. Haron and Derrick exchanged passes which resulted in Alvin breaking clear. Unluckily, his low diagonal cross grounder struck the far post.

Alvin's corner was met by Toh but his header back to the near post was missed by Derrick by 0.77 cm.

Elvis then took a nasty knock and was replaced by Ron.

Haomin showed why he is regarded as one of the brightest young keeper in Singapore with his assured safe-handling and superb long kicks.

Haron then displayed great team-work by running back to close down on their midfielder who then hurried his shot.

In the end, ARFC held out for a 1-0 win and at the same time kept clean sheet for the 2nd consecutive match.

Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Ron and Alvin.