Raymond joined ARFC Hat-Trick Heroes List in resounding 6-0 victory

On the day when ARFC Veterans played its 19^th Veterans match, Raymond notched his first-ever ARFC hat-trick to propel the team to a resounding 6-0 victory over the St. Patrick’s Old Boys at their homeground St. Patrick’s School.

ARFC Veterans was once again supported by Lingzhi, Ron’s beau, and Elvis’ prince Dylan and princess Tiara.

At the request of the opponents, the match was played in 3 30-min halves.

ARFC Veterans started with this 4-4-2 line-up:

GK – Derrick

RB – Tze Ern

Sweeper – Ron

Stopper – Toh

LB – Darren

RM – Raymond

CM – Sebastian

CM – Son

LM - Hee

SC – Haron

SC – Alvin

Subs:

Chua (late)

Elvis (late)

Tong

ARFC Veterans fired the first warning shot within 77 seconds of the kick-off when Soon shot just slightly over the bar after a neat lay-off from Haron.

77 seconds later, ARFC Veterans took the lead. A long ball from Tze Ern released Raymond down the right flank and he outran their left back before fizzing in an inviting low cross from the right bye-line. Alvin was the biggest beneficiary as he scored with his first touch of the match when he tapped into the empty net after arriving at the far post. 1-0 and this was Alvin’s 312^th ARFC goal.

One thing to note was that Haron had actually pulled 2 defenders with him when he made a run towards the near post, thereby leaving Alvin unmarked at the far post. What a wonderful Mane-Salah movement!

3 mins later, ARFC Veterans doubled its lead. From yet another missile-like long throw from Darren (Robertson), Toh did extremely well when he outjumped their defender and flicked the ball goalwards and leaving their GK wrong-footed. The ball looked to be rolling into the net when Raymond dashed in to whack the ball into the net. 2-0 and this was Raymond’s 19^th ARFC goal.

Alvin then powered his way down the right flank, held off their determined left-back before squaring to Sebastian who was free. Alas, Sebastian disappointed Alvin when he put his shot narrowly wide.

Haron then picked up a good pass and let fly a volleyed shot which was just 9 mm over the bar.

Sebastian then delivered a delicious-looking high hanging cross to the far side which Toh just failed to connect cleanly with his head.

In the 2^nd 30-min half, Haron gamely took over GK leaving Derrick as the striker with Hee. Derrick soon repaid the faith when he scored just 3 mins after the re-start.

Tze Ern, who has been brilliant in recent matches, sent in a great corner from the left which saw Raymond heading the ball goalwards. With a sharp swivel ala David Platt in England’s World Cup 1990 round of 16 match against Belgium, Derrick spun and volleyed the ball through a sea of defenders. 3-0 and this was Derrick’s 108^th ARFC goal.

Tze Ern played played a nice one-two with Derrick before forcefully dribbled with the ball inwards from the left side.  The ball was then hastily cleared by their defender up in the air to the right side.  In a goal that brought back memories of Marco Van Basten’s wonder goal in the 1988 European Final against then-USSR, Raymond did not wait for the ball to drop as he simply volleyed from an acute angle to stun everyone.  The ball nestled nicely to the far left post. 4-0 and this was Raymond’s 20^th ARFC goal.

In the 55^th min came the move of the match.  Darren, who has been playing exactly like Liverpool’s Andrew Robertson, started a move from his left-back position. He passed to Sebastian and continued his over-lapping run down the left.  As the ball was rolling to Sebastian, he already started shouting for Darren before putting in a slide-rule grounder down the left flank. Hee let the ball run through to Darren who then put in such a good low cross to Raymond who had by then arrived at the right far post.  Raymond did not disappoint as he guided the ball into the unguarded net for his 21^st ARFC goal and his first-ever hat-trick for ARFC!!!  5-0

Raymond’s latest scoring feat also enabled him to enter the elite ARFC’s Hat-Trick Heroes List.

With these goals, Raymond is now on level terms with ex-ARFC players, Hock and JiongJiong at 21 goals.

Raymond is also the leading scorer for ARFC Veterans with 14 goals.

In the last 30-min half, ARFC Veterans slightly lost its shape for a few mins due to complacency.  However, Soon, Elvis, Ron, Tong and Chua managed to help preserve ARFC Veterans’ lead.

Darren then won a penalty for ARFC Veterans when he was brought down inside the box after yet another run upfield.  He dusted himself off the ground before sending their GK the wrong way with his spot-less penalty. 6-0 and this was Darren’s 19^th ARFC goal, putting him at same level as ex-ARFC left-winger Jesmond.

Darren was then substituted.

Alvin then again powered down the left wing and cut the ball back to Sebastian. However, his 2 shots were blocked by the opponents.

In the 87^th min came the miss of the match. From a high delivery by Sebastian to the far left post, Haron did incredibly well to head the ball back across goal to the right side. Despite being totally unmarked, Derrick inexplicably miscued in front of the gaping goal and the chance was lost.

ARFC Veterans then closed out the match for a comprehensive 6-0 victory.

ARFC destroyed Bison in dominating 7-0 win

Inspired by Darren’s flying performance as left-back ala Scotland’s captain and Liverpool left back Andrew Robertson, ARFC demolished the experienced Bison 7-0 on a night match at My Tampines Hub on 31 Mar 2019.

ARFC started with this 4-4-2 line-up:

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

ARFC came out flying and the opponents were totally engulfed by the slick passing of Khim and Sebastian as well as incessant pressing by Guoxiong and Tze Ern. Hee also worked tirelessly by closing down their defenders at every opportunity.

It was no surprise then that ARFC took the lead in the 7^th min. From his leftback position, Darren passed the ball to Sebastian who then switched play to Tze Ern. Hearing Guoxiong’s call for the ball at right mid, Tze Ern chipped the ball down the right flank.  Guoxiong dashed in from deep ala Andrei Kanchelskis and squared to Haron who had already taken up position in the box.  Though the ball was slightly behind Haron, Haron still managed to arch his body a bit and sliced the ball home despite being closed down by their defender. 1-0 and this was Haron’s 263^rd ARFC goal.

ARFC doubled its lead 2 mins later.  Tze Ern swung in a brilliant hanging corner from the right and Toh rose the highest to meet the ball powerfully downwards towards goal. The ball was blocked and ricocheted to Khim whose shot was also blocked. Khim then had the vision to lay the ball to Darren who then calmly shot through the seas of defenders for his 18^th ARFC goal. 2-0

ARFC extended its lead 7 mins later. Again, Darren played a crucial role when embarked on yet another overlapping run.  Exchanging wall passes with Khim, Darren delivered a low cross into the box which saw Haron stretching his leg out to place the bal into the unguarded net.  3-0 and this was Haron’s 264^th ARFC goal.

From yet another superb corner from Tze Ern, the ball was half-cleared to Sebastian who was positioned just outside the box.  However, Sebastian was torn between a placed shot or a chip, and the result was a hesitant shot just slightly over the bar.

Kenny then came on for the tiring Hee, with Weilit replacing Khim as well.  Jinzhong also took the place of Toh while Guoxiong made way for Soon.

Immediately, Kenny missed an easy chance when he shot wide with the goal gaping.

However, Kenny made amends when he was brought down about 37 metres away from goal. Free-kick specialist Sebastian took u position, took a good look at any potential gap and curled a David Beckham-like free-kick over their 7-men wall.  Despite their GK making a last-ditch attempt to reach the ball, he could not prevent the ball from hitting the net.  4-0 and this as Sebastian’s 109^th ARFC goal.

His rewards for scoring?  A nice breather for Rashid to take his place.

Kenny continued to miss another 3 chances which was very rare for his pedigree.

Kenny then chipped a high hanging cros from the right which was met by Darren’s head.  Every ARFC warriors had already started to shout for a goal but their GK had other ideas as he eagled-spread himself to keep out Darren’s header.

ARFC then scored its 5^th goal in the match about 5 mins from the first half.

Rashid simply hit a deliciously-looking ball down the left to Kenny who easily sped past their right back before swinging in a low cross into the box. Haron then gleefully rolled the ball into the empty net for his 265^th ARFC goal. 5-0

This was also Haron’s 16^th hat-trick for ARFC which netted 53 goals.  Wonderful achievement.

In the 2^nd half, ARFC maintained its performance and did not let up at all.

In the 57^th min, ARFC scored its 6^th goal in the match with another piece of vision and precision from Sebastian.

Spotting Derrick’s run from deep on the left, Sebastian threaded an inch-perfect perfectly-weighted grounder between their right back and sweeper for Derrick to latch on into the box near the 6-yard box.  Before their GK could reach the ball, Derrick lifted the ball over their GK, and walked the ball into the net for his 107^th ARFC goal. 6-0.

Derrick’s goal was his first for ARFC since his last goal on 14 Jan 2018 in a 5-2 win over the Victoria Old Boys team.

ARFC was not done. In the 77^th min, Weilit mesmerized their right back with several slick step-overs before passing to Soon.  Looking up, Soon heard Sebastian’s call for the ball and tapped the ball to him outside the box.  This time round, Sebastian kept his cool and nonchalantly lifted the ball over their GK and just under the crossbar for his 110^th ARFC goal. 7-0

Rashid then hit a couple of long-range shot but to no avail.

Towards the end, the frustrated opponents resorted to many late and dangerous tackles on ARFC warriors, particularly one on Weilit and Derrick.   Thankfully we did not react to such provocative acts.  Kudos to all!

Kudos to Haron for being the 2^nd half GK after notching his hat-trick.

Voting results:

Darren – 12

Haron – 11

Sebastian – 8

Soon – 6

Rashid – 4

Tze Ern – 3

Hee – 2

Guoxiong – 2

  

Haron's 15th ARFC hat-trick key to ARFC Veterans' 5-3 win

Playing its 18^th veteran match against SRC Veterans at the Padang, Haron powered ARFC Veterans to a 5-3 victory and thereby maintaining its 100% record in 2019 (3 wins out of 3)

Due to initial poor responses, ARFC Veterans had to call up 4 guest players and 1 ARFC warrior to bolster its ranks.

Special credit goes to Ron who gamely turned up despite nursing a niggling heel injury.  Ron even lasted the whole match!  What a gem!

ARFC Veterans started with this 4-4-2 line-up:

GK – Sunny (guest player)

RB – Andy (guest player)

Sweeper – Ron

Stopper – Toh

LB – Darren

RM – Derrick

CM – Sebastian

CM – Tze Ern

LM - Hee

SC – Haron

SC – Alvin

Subs:

Sunny (guest player) – late

John (guest player) – late

Wayne (ARFC warrior) – late

ARFC Veterans drew first blood within 177 seconds when Haron intercepted a poor pass across goal by their defender, and duly slotted home his 260^th ARFC goal. 1-0

However, ARFC Veterans went to sleep and conceded an equaliser 5 mins later.

ARFC Veterans then woke up and restore its lead 7 mins later.  Darren ping a long ball down the left and Alvin’s movement was great as he powered down the left.  Cutting the ball down to his favoured right foot, Alvin heard Haron’s call and sent in a inviting ball to the danger area between the penalty spot and 6-yard box.  Haron swooped in and planted a world-class diving header past their despairing GK. 2-1 and this was Haron’s 261^st ARFC goal.

Things got even better for Haron as he completed his hat-trick 7 mins later.  Tze Ern, who had a monster of a match, swung in a corner from the left. The ball was half clear high up into the air.  Toh then cushioned the ball down perfectly with an over-the-shoulder kick. The ball fell down nicely near the penalty spot and Haron executed his look-alike Fandi Ahmad-like bicycle kick that stunned all the opponents.  3-1 and this was Haron’s 262^nd ARFC goal.

This was also Haron’s 15^th hat-trick for ARFC which yielded 50 goals in total from those 15 hat-tricks.

However, Haron is still way behind Alvin’s all-time record of 27 hat-tricks which netted 90 goals.

In the 2^nd half, ARFC Veterans continued to press and soon extended its lead. From the left mid position, Tze Ern begun his solo run which took him past 3 opponents and all the way to the left bye-line.

Looking up and with no more space to go, Tze Ern produced a fantastic left-foot cross ala John Barnes all the way into the box.  The ball took a bounce near the penalty spot and Hee then came in from the blind side to head past their GK who despite getting a touch to the ball, was unable to prevent the ball from crossing the goal-line.  4-1 and this was Hee’s 108^th ARFC goal and first-ever ARFC Veterans goal!

Hee almost grabbed his brace when he met a delicious-looking cross from Darren but his powerful header smacked against the cross-bar.  Unlucky!

ARFC Veterans then put the result to bed in the 57^th min. Sebastian’s free-kick was blocked and the ball rolled back to him.  With a nonchalant look, Sebastian simply sliced the ball through their defence for Derrick to run in from deep.  Derrick just managed to reach the ball before 77 mm from the touchline on the left and sent in a low cross that eluded their GK, leaving Darren with the easiest of task to roll the ball into the empty net. 5-1 and this was Darren’s 17^th ARFC goal.

ARFC then eased up a bit and conceded 2 goals to win 5-3.