Viking spirit not enough...........
The first 15 minutes of this game was one of missed chances for the Classics with Mike Snow, Bruce Cook and Billy Ranger all guilty of missed chances. It was a pressure game from the Classics and it came as no surprise when they took the lead in the 20th. minute. It came when Cook laid a beautiful ball on for Chris Arcari to fire home the opener. Ten minutes later Dave Moore punted a hopeful ball forward which had the last Vikings defender “all at sea” and the ball was sliced for Billy Ranger to run on to. He took the ball in his stride and stroked home the second goal.

The Vikings were doing their best to get back into the game and the going got a little rough at times. Jim Eden received his first yellow card of the year after his second foul, having previously received a warning from the referee. In truth, the first foul was the one which deserved the card as the second one was just an innocuous collision. The Vikings did pull a goal back before half time but the effort was suspiciously off-side, although the goal was a well struck shot and gave Garry Hackel no chance.

In the second half Eden was desperately unlucky when a free kick hit the crossbar but he was soon to make amends. Cook was winning everything in the air and dominated the front line with his intelligent running and lay-offs. It was one such lay-off which brough the third goal when the ball went back to Eden who unleashed an unstoppable volley into the top corner from 20 yards.

Fifteen minutes from the end an Eden corner was headed forward by Arcari. Moore was situated a yard off the line but deceived everybody (including himself) by heading the ball back to Arcari who stroked a low shot from eight yards into the bottom corner for his second goal. Arcari was revelling in his midfield role. He attributed the amount of space to his missing colleague when he commented, “It’s amazing how much room Chuck McGill takes up in midfield.”

There came some late pressure from the Vikings as they tried to salvage something from the game. They almost got some reward when an under pressure Moore almost brought them a goal back. His shot was perfectly placed to the corner and easily beat Hackel but Larry Thorlakson was on hand to boot the ball off the line. The Vikings continued their pressure as the Classics moved back to defend but the theatricals of the Vikings was something else. Every time one of them got challenged they went over like nine-pins and they tended to stay down which disrupted the flow of the game. The referee stopped the game to exchange the linesman’s flags for voting cards which read 4.8, 4.6, 4.4......you get the picture!

Ray Marrington was dominant in the back line but in the final analysis it was again a good performance which demonstrated the all round quality of the team. Individual mention could be given for every player but time doesn’t allow. Well done team!

Stats:

MWG: B. Ranger
Yellow Card: J. Eden
"You Were Crap" award: T. Lowe (because he forgot to bring it)