A bad day at the office......
The Classics were severely hit by absenteeism on a glorious day with the temperature hitting 22 degrees at times. Chris Arcari was making his 200th. appearance for the Classics in the match. The first half was evenly matched with chances at both ends. Moody almost took the lead with their first attack which ended with a rasping shot which was heading just inside the post before Dave Moore stuck a leg out and somehow deflected the ball away for a corner. The best effort from the Classics came from Gene Crowley which just grazed the top of the crossbar. Alfie Deglan had several efforts but none found the back of the net as his luck was just not in. The Classics were not playing with their usual rhythm and seemed disjointed at times and this performance could be likened to the big dipper at Blackpool; after the initial climb on 'The Big One' there was only one way to go!

The second half followed the same pattern as the first with chances at both ends. Legs started to tire as the game wore on and Moody used their superior numbers to fine effect with their intelligent substitutions which helped to chisel away at the Classics defence who were doing tremendously under difficult circumstances. With Jimmy Butler, Chuck McGill and Daryl Lawrie forced to plough a lone furrow through the field at times, they too were overworked and suffered fatigue bouts. The midfield also found it hard to work up a tempo and if Billy Bunter had been one of the Classic's strikers he would have ended up a skeleton being fed by them. The only goal of the game came with 15 minutes remaining. A left wing attack left the Classics defenders at sixes and sevens and the ball was centred to an unmarked forward who was standing on the six yard line. He fired the ball high into the roof of the net to record a rare defeat for the Classics. Minutes later Moody broke through again and a one-on-one was ended when the Classics keeper dived to his right to push the ball away for a corner kick.

The threat was always there to grab an equaliser but it just wasn't to be their day. As the minutes ticked away the Classics became as desperate to score as a 20 stone bird in Gabby's Country Cabaret at 3 am in the morning! The result had the club statestician looking through the past records. He came up with the following: the last time the Classics lost was on 30th. September 2012 in a 6-1 defeat at Serbia United after they had taken the lead through Jim Eden; the last home defeat goes back to 19th. February 2012 when Chilliwack visited and went away with a 3-1 victory, with Gordie Macklin getting the lone goal for the homesters. At this rate the trophy room will be echoing at the end of the season! In the final analysis, Port Moody were good value for their win but it could have equally been a 4-4 game if all the chances at both ends had been taken.

This depressing result needs to be ended on a note of humour. Fisher Crockett, who was awarded the crap award, handed a bag to the manager at the end of the game. It contained the drawing below but I am flummoxed as to where these vicious rumours start! I wanted to keep this quiet but, believe it or not, I've just had to sell all my relatives on eBay this week to pay the gas bill for my caravan.

Stats
GK: D. Moore
200th Appearance: C. Arcari
Crap Award: F. Crockett