It was another lovely day in Gotham City Fort Langley as the Classics pitted their wits against Richmond United Olympics. The Olympics brought a strong team to McMillan Island and they got the perfect start. A left wing attack in the 7th. minute resulted in Brian Dominick whipping over a centre which eluded the Classics keeper and fell perfectly for one of the Olympics forwards to hammer in the first goal. Chuck McGill was given a starting place in the front line and he gave the fans a good laugh when he did his impersonation of the 'dying swan' ballet when chasing a loose ball. He ended up flat on his face and CBC TV reported that evening that an earthquake was recorded which registered 5.2 on the Richter Scale but it cannot be confirmed whether the two incidents are related.

Five minutes later the visitors were two to the good. This time the blame must go down to Dave Moore who was again standing in for regular keeper Garry Hackel who has gone on his annual siesta to Mexico. Another left wing cross was pumped over and Moore jumped to claim the high ball. Unfortunately the ball was the slippery one which Hackel has had so much trouble with, and Moore dropped the ball as if his hands were smothered with butter. Dominick was on hand to gratefully tap the ball over the line for the second goal.

   

The Classics pulled back a goal in the 20th. minute as Mike Snow sent a shot heading for the net. McGill ran after it and made sure that the ball was indeed going over the line. Five minutes later it was all square after Jimmy Butler chipped a nice ball through for Bill McAuley who finished off in style. Just before the half time whistle the Classics took the lead for the first time in the game. It was a brilliant piece of opportunist play from Butler who took the ball from about eight yards to the left of the goal and hammered an unstoppable rocket which cannoned in off the underside of the crossbar. It was a great goal and one worthy enough to win the game - but it was only half time. The first half was a feast for the spectators with lots of action at both ends of the field, but the hosts just about edged out the visitors on chances and deserved to be a goal up at this stage.

Doug Rosenlund made a welcome return to the Classics roster after a long break. His last game was in the trip to Jolly Coachmen back on 6th. May 1998 when he hit both the Classics goals in a 4-2 loss. An incident in the 50th. minute resulted in Chuck McGill being shown a yellow card and being banished to the touchline for a 10 minute cooling off period. The incident left the Olympics with a direct free kick on the right hand corner of the 18 yard box. The Classics defence was slow in covering the near post and Moore was left in no mans land in the middle of the goalmouth anticipating a shot to the near post. However, the kick was directed to the back post and was perfectly placed to loft over Moore's outstretched arms and it ended up just under the crossbar to put the game level once again.

Rick Geary was to suffer the same fate as McGill after another altercation and he was shown a yellow card and asked to leave the field for a 10 minute cooling off period. Ray Marrington had to retire from the game injured but McGill's ten minutes was up so he returned. Fifteen minutes into the half, Butler was bundled over in the box and the referee had no hesitation in awarding the Classics a penalty and Rosenlund stepped up to power a strong shot to the left of the keeper. 4-3 to the home side. Another outstanding goal was soon to grace the field. Jim Eden had just come on the field and he could have claimed glory with his first touch but he misdirected a perfectly placed ball wide of the goal with a misjudged header. Minutes later Eden was to make amends. He took the ball on the right of the penalty box and with his back to goal, he hooked a shot which caught the Olympics keeper unready and the ball hit the far upright and bounced back into the net for a wonder goal.

Al Burton was having a stormer of a game in midfield and he helped put the icing on the cake in the last five minutes of the game. He crossed the ball from the right which Butler latched onto, and he hit a first time volley which whizzed past the startled keeper to give the Classics a comfortable 6-3 lead and also put paid to any thought of Richmond staging a revival. Perhaps Moore was right in purposely allowing the Olympics to take a 2-0 lead just to gee up the team and to get them out of the starting blocks.

Final Score 6-3 (3-2)

Stats:
MWG: Doug Rosenlund
Yellow Card: Chuck McGill, Rick Geary
Sent Off 10 mins: Chuck McGill, Rick Geary
You were crap award: Fisher Crockett