ARFC in total disciplined and comprehensive 4-0 victory

Playing under supreme hot and humid weather conditions, ARFC easily thrashed El’ Nordeste 4-0 on the back of an inspired first-half performance.

How Meng made a rare appearance to take his place in goal.

ARFC started with this line-up: 

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

ARFC was mature enough to forget about its previous match against the same opponents who sparked off attacks on some of the ARFC warriors after trailing 4-0 in the first encounter. 

Prior to kick-off, captain of the day, Toh, made an impassion speech to all warriors not to retaliate to any “under the belt” tackle and provocation from the opponents.

ARFC took the lead in the 7^th min. Captain Toh led by example when he charged in and powered home a thumping header ala Sami Hyypia from Blackburn’s corner. The header was so powerful that it almost broke the wirst of their GK. 1-0 and this was Toh’s 8^th ARFC goal. 

ARFC doubled its lead 7 mins later.  Guoxiong, who was clearly inspired by the rare Adidas toss-coin present all the way from Japan from Sebastian (who was still out due to his long-term treatment), centred the ball to Blackburn.  Living up to his “Unpredictable” nick-name, Blackburn flicked the ball up in the air, swivelled and ridiculously hooked the ball over their GK with a sweet volley ala David Platt’s 1990 World Cup round-of-16 goal against Belgium.  2-0 and this was Blackburn’s 151^st ARFC goal.

In the 27^th min, Guoxiong chalked up another assist when he powered his way down the right flank, ala Andrei Kanchelski, and squared across goal for the on-rushing Chun Haw, who timed his run to perfection, to tap into an empty net. 3-0 and this was Chun Haw’s 45^th ARFC goal.

In the 37^th min, ARFC put the result to bed and beyond any reasonable doubt. After missing several gilt-edged chances, Kenny finally found the net with yet another long-range rocket that easily flew past their stranded and bewildered GK. 4-0 and this was Kenny’s 69^th ARFC goal.

With this goal, Kenny moved on level terms with Robin, former ARFC scoring great.

Mindful not to fall into the opponents’ same antics, ARFC were very disciplined and careful not to be agitated by the rough-house tactics of the same opponent. 

Kudos to ARFC warriors!

Voting results:

Chun Haw – 9

Guoxiong – 8

Toh – 5

How Meng – 5

Tjioe – 3

Huiming – 3

Hee – 2

Ron – 2

Blackburn – 1

Kenny – 1

Ismail's heroics preserved ARFC's 2-1 triumph

After a high of last week’s thrilling 6-5 win, ARFC put itself into yet another narrow victory courtesy of Ismail’s last-minute penalty save to win 2-1 against Winning Boy FC.

ARFC started with this line-up: 

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

Straight from the kick-off, Kenny unleashed a long-range lob which sailed over their GK’s flailing arms but the ball struck the cross-bar. Unlucky!

Bouyed by last week’s 6-5 win, ARFC played with a swagger and totally dominating play. Alas, the goal did not materialise. 

Last week’s hat-trick Chun Haw then came on and almost opened the scoring but his dipping shot struck the out-stretched arms of their GK. Unlucky!

With their first shot of the match, the opponents scored. Amazing but that’s how cruel football can be. 

Continuing his goal-scoring feat, Chun Haw then confidently converted a penalty for his 44^th ARFC goal. 1-1

In the 77^th min, Yilong showed why he was voted the Best Player in the Tiger Cup 2015 when he let fly from almost 40 metres that zipped past their bewildered GK. 2-1 and this was Yilong’s 2^nd ARFC goal. 

In the 87^th min, the opponents then earned a fortuitous penalty after the ball accidentally hit Chun Haw’s hands. Justice was done, however, when Ismail produced a superb full-length flying save to palm the ball away!! World-class save!!

Kenny then took another 7 shots but to no avail. 

Voting results:

Ismail – 11

Chun Haw – 6

Chua – 5

Soon – 5

Darren – 4

Guoxiong – 3

Tjioe – 3

Elvis – 1

Eng Lai – 1