Alvin's 24th ARFC hat-trick snapped 3-match winless streak

Playing at an unearthly kick-off time at 9pm, ARFC ended its 3-mach winless streak with a comprehensive 5-3 victory over Westminister.

ARFC was supported by Derrick who turned up with beer as he is working his way back to full fitness. Derrick also went to fetch Chun Haw and Weilit from their homes. What a wonderful and dedicated commitment to ARFC!

ARFC was hit by the 11^th-hour withdrawal of Ismail due to work. Thankfully, Chun Haw and Wayne agreed to stand in as GK for each half respectively.

Keeper - Talented Chun Haw

Right-back - Unbeatable Darren  

Sweeper - Combative Ron

Stopper - Towering Toh

Left-back - Wonder Wayne

Left mid - Speedy Hee

Right mid - Unpredictable Blackburn

Centre-mid - Hard-man Tjioe

Centre-mid - Influential Sebastian (captain)

Striker - Nippy Kenny

Striker - Powerful Alvin

Subs:

Dynamic Soon (slightly late)

Skilful Weilit

Guohui (guest player)

Absent:

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Commanding Ismail

Steely Tze Ern

Impeccable How Meng

Talisman Derrick

Marauding Guoxiong

Dependable Jinzhong

Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Sublime Khim

ARFC went ahead within 5 mins. Kenny robbed their sweeper, broke clear and bore down on their goal. Spotting Alvin running in from the left, Kenny unselfishly paid the ball to Alvin who duly placed the ball with his outside right foot for his 254^th ARFC goal. 1-0

Kenny, who had an inspiring match, turned provider yet again for Alvin. Wayne’s glided pass saw Kenny running down the left wing. Kenny again spotted Alvin’s run from the right and produced an inviting ball across goal and Alvin needed no second invitation to crash in his 255^th ARFC goal. 2-0

Wayne then put the result to bed with his first goal for ARFC in 2015.  From Blackburn’s corner on the right, Alvin put in a shot that was blocked on the line. Wayne reacted quickest and smashed home a jumping shot. 3-0 and this was Wayne’s 13^th ARFC goal, moving him on level terms with Elvis.

Wayne then conjured a stunning sliding block to deny a clean shot from the opponent.

From the left, Weilit passed to Sebastian who was at the middle and continued his run. Sebastian’s slide-rule pass pierced right through their defence but Weilit inexplicably shot over with just the keeper to beat.

ARFC then conceded a goal from the corner. 3-1

In the 2^nd half, ARFC continued its dominance in the match.

Sebastian passed to Alvin on the left centre area and peeling away to the right. Alvin read his move perfectly and chipped the ball into the box, right in front of Sebastian. Sebastian took a touch, volleyed in but the ball was blocked for a corner.

From the corner, Toh, who recovered from his seemingly drunken stupor (caused by Derrick’s inviting beer) but put up a better performance, capped his display by ghosting in and thumping home an emphatic header from Sebastian’s laser-like corner from the right.  4-1 and this was Toh’s 82^nd ARFC goal.

Alvin then grabbed his 24^th career hat-trick for ARFC. Soon won the ball on the right and passed to Toh who had stayed up from a corner. Toh then cut in the ball to his left and passed to the lurking Alvin who simply just beat their keeper for his 256^th ARFC goal. 5-1

Sebastian then found Kenny with yet again a Jamie Redknapp-like grounder and Kenny drew their keeper out before squaring the ball to his left.  Chun Haw converted but was controversially ruled off-side. Unlucky!

Guohui then found Weilit unmarked on the left but Weilit‘s placed grounder was pushed out by their keeper.

Darren, who once again did not let a fly pass through him, created a golden chance for Soon who unfortunately lifted his shot onto the bar!

The opponents then pulled 2 goals back to lose 5-3.

Voting results:

Kenny – 11

Alvin – 8

Toh – 4

Wayne – 3

Sebastian – 3

Chun Haw – 3

Ron – 2

Darren – 1

Tjioe – 1

ARFC in unlucky 2-2 draw

Playing against OVA under-40 team where almost all their players actually looked below 25, ARFC was really unlucky to draw 2-2 at the Victoria School pitch.

ARFC was supported by Lingzhi, Ron’s capable wife.

To a suggestion, ARFC played in an unarthodox 3-4-3 formation as follows:

Keeper - Commanding Ismail

Stopper - Unpredictable Blackburn 

Sweeper - Combative Ron

Stopper - Towering Toh

Left wing-back - Unbeatable Darren

Rigt wing-back - Speedy Hee

Centre-mid - Dynamic Soon

Centre-mid - Influential Sebastian (captain)

Striker - Nippy Kenny

Striker - ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Striker - Powerful Alvin

Subs:

Skilful Weilit (late)

Talented Chun Haw (late)

Wonder Wayne (slightly late)

Absent:

Steely Tze Ern

Hard-man Tjioe

Impeccable How Meng

Talisman Derrick

Marauding Guoxiong

Dependable Jinzhong

Astute-reading sweeper Elvis 

Sublime Khim

ARFC threatened almost immediately. From the left flank, Alvin picked up Kenny whose rocket just clipped the bar and over. Unlucky!

7 mins later, a flowing move saw Blackburn passed to Kenny and then to Alvin while Soon continued his run from deep. Alvin spotted Soon's run and put him through, leaving the opponent's defence in tatters.  With their keeper to beat, however, Soon could not keep his place-shot down and put the ball to row Z.

ARFC finally opened the scoring. Blackburn's corner was met by Toh whose majestic leap saw him headed the ball back into the 6-yard area. With their defence in sixes and sevens, Alvin reacted quickest when he leaped and kneed the ball home for his 253^rd ARFC goal goal. 1-0

Ismail then showed what he is made of when he dashed out quickly to thwart their striker who was through. 

The opponents then scored en equalizer. 1-1

ARFC regained the lead through fortuitous manner. From a cleared high ball to about 47 metres out, Sebastian executed a sepak takraw-like kick with his inside right foot to send the ball back into the penalty box. The ball took a heavy bounce and their keeper then misjudged the flight of the ball after a little pressure from Haron. The end result? The ball bounced over the keeper for Sebastian's 97^th ARFC goal. 2-1

In the 2nd half. ARFC began to tire but still conjured several chances.

First, Darren's left-wing cross went to the far post and Alvin nodded the ball back to the danger area just outside the 6-yard box. Wayne took a march from their defender but his fierce shot rattled off the post! Unlucky!

Alvin was then next to be unlucky when his shot bounced off the cross-bar.

The opponents then grabbed their second equalising goal to draw 2-2.

Voting results:

Ron - 10

Darren  -10

Alvin - 7

Soon - 5

Kenny -5

Toh - 3

Sebastian – 2

ARFC's 1st-ever match at Floating Platform ends in 0-0 stalmate

Playing at the Floating Platform for the very first time, ARFC missed a slew of chances to draw 0-0 with JNWA.

ARFC was supported by family members as follows:

·      Suhana

·      Afiqah

·      Ariq

·      Caren

·      Kaizaree Jade-Eden

·      Olivia

·      Olivia’s mother

·      Reyes

·      Sharon

·      Weiyu

·      Weiyou

·      Melissa

Derrick also turned up in his clutches. Super committed!

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper - Commanding Ismail

Right-back - Marauding Guoxiong

Sweeper - Towering Toh

Stopper - Impeccable How Meng

Left-back - Unbeatable Darren

Left-mid - Speedy Hee

Centre-mid - Dynamic Soon

Centre-mid - Influential Sebastian (captain)

Right-mid - Nippy Kenny

Striker - ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Striker - Powerful Alvin

Subs:

Hard-man Tjioe

Unpredictable Blackburn 

Skilful Weilit

Talented Chun Haw

Wonder Wayne

Steely Tze Ern

Eng Lai (guest player)

Supporter:

Talisman Derrick

Absent:

Combative Ron

Dependable Jinzhong

Astute-reading sweeper Elvis 

Sublime Khim

ARFC fired the first salvo but Sebastian’s free-kick was way too central.

Soon then won the ball and spread to Kenny down the right, and continued his run from midfield. Despite both Haron and Alvin calling for the ball, Kenny play an intelligent cut-back for Soon ala Paul Scholes who fired over.

Hee then harassed the ball off their right-back. Alvin moved in menacingly into the box and squared for Haron who was free. Unfortunately, Haron dragged his left-foot shot wide.

From Sebastian’s high hanging corner, the ball sailed over their keeper but Toh somehow headed wide.

Kenny’s superb right-wing cross eluded every one at the far post but Alvin could only smack his header against the cross-bar.

At the 22^nd-min mark, ARFC made a slew of changes as follows:

Keeper - Commanding Ismail

Right-back - Marauding Guoxiong

Sweeper - Eng Lai (guest player)

Stopper - Towering Toh (captain)

Left-back - Unbeatable Darren

Left-mid - Skilful Weilit

Centre-mid - Talented Chun Haw

Centre-mid - Hard-man Tjioe

Right-mid - Steely Tze Ern

Striker - Unpredictable Blackburn 

Striker - Wonder Wayne

Subs:

Influential Sebastian

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Speedy Hee

Dynamic Soon

Impeccable How Meng

Powerful Alvin

Nippy Kenny

Wayne teed up Weilit who could only shot wide.

Chun Haw then chipped in a high through ball which saw Tze Ern dashing in from his own half. Their keeper charged out and hit his clearance against Tze Ern. The ball went out though.

Ismail then took a hit at his head after charging bravely. Thankfully, he was fine though Derrick was preparing to take over his place…..

In the 2^nd half, Guoxiong requested to take a rest as he was feeling a bit under the weather. ARFC lined up in this:

Keeper - Commanding Ismail

Right-back - Steely Tze Ern

Sweeper - Impeccable How Meng

Stopper - Towering Toh

Left-back - Unbeatable Darren

Left-mid - Speedy Hee

Centre-mid - Talented Chun Haw

Centre-mid - Influential Sebastian (captain)

Right-mid - Dynamic Soon   

Striker - Nippy Kenny

Striker - Powerful Alvin

Subs:

Wonder Wayne

Unpredictable Blackburn

Skilful Weilit

Hard-man Tjioe

Eng Lai (guest player)

Marauding Guoxiong

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Soon took a nock at his knee and was replaced by Tjioe.

ARFC was then indebted to Tze Erm who cleared the ball off the line.

Tjioe then exchanged wall-passes with Kenny, took a fierce shot but the ball bounced off the left-hand post.

Kenny was next to try but his long shot was off the target.

ARFC then earned a penalty after their sweeper handled the ball when Alvin was trying to go round him.  Sebastian stood up but his diagonal waist-height spot-kick was palmed away. A rare penalty miss from Sebastian!

At the 67^th min mark, ARFC made these changes:

Keeper - Commanding Ismail

Right-back - Eng Lai (guest player)

Sweeper - Towering Toh (captain)

Stopper - Wonder Wayne

Left-back - Unbeatable Darren

Left-mid - Skilful Weilit

Centre-mid - Dynamic Soon

Centre-mid - Hard-man Tjioe

Right-mid - Steely Tze Ern

Striker - Unpredictable Blackburn 

Striker - ARFC Scoring Legend Haron  

Subs:

Talented Chun Haw

Marauding Guoxiong

Influential Sebastian

Speedy Hee

Impeccable How Meng

Powerful Alvin

Nippy Kenny

Ismail then produced a great save.

ARFC was in the ascendency now and could have snatched a winner right at the death. From relentless pressure, Toh laid a perfect grounder for Sebastian who was just inside the box. When all were already shouting “goal”, Sebastian’s side-footed placing was too near their keeper who kept the ball out! Lousy finishing.

The last time ARFC was involved in a goalless draw was way back on 31 May 2009 at Sengkang SS when we played against Renaissance.

At this time, voting results are not available as some ARFC warriors had yet to vote. Will update again.