Britannia steam-rollered........

The Classics began this encounter at a blistering pace and poor Britannia just didn't know what hit them. The initial exchanges were even but the Classics took a surprise lead through Billy Ranger after only five minutes. A long range shot from Mike Snow had the home keeper scurrying, and his attempted stop was fumbled rather than caught. Opportunist Ranger set off on a mission, and he raced in like a steam train with whistles blowing and firebox blazing to capitalise on the loose ball. He rattled the ball into the back of the net and it was difficult to see just what hit the net first, the ball or Ranger.

Five minutes later a neat bit of interplay between Bill McAuley, Ranger and Snow resulted in the second goal coming, and what a cracker that was too! Ranger passed the ball back to Snow who saw the keeper well out of position. Snow looked up and Mooresquely unleashed the ball from near the touchline for a fine goal to send the visitors 2-0 up.

It just went better from then on. Just past the 20 minute mark another McAuley-Snow-Ranger (or was it the Beverley sisters doing a river dance?) move was finished in fine style by Ranger who ran in to blast the ball past the helpless keeper. You had to feel sorry for the poor Britannia keeper as he must have felt like a duck in a shooting range. At this stage Britannia were steam-rollered. Three goals to the good, the Classics turned the control switch down to simmer in an attempt to keep the lead consolidated. The ploy worked and try as they may, Britannia just couldn't penetrate the solid Classics defence. There had to be some sympathy for the Classics keeper, Manny Soucker, too as he had little to do as the Classics defence limited the home side to long range efforts.

The second half was played out without much incident. The Classics had several chances to increase the lead, the best falling to Doug Smith who somehow managed to glance his header from Jim Eden's pinpoint centre just wide of the far post. Eden was on top form and his crossing and corners were were certainly out of the top drawer. The midfield played a magnificent game and exherted that much pressure in the middle of the park that the defence almost had a day off. John Wilson was relishing the opportunity to put one over on his previous employers and he never gave up the fight. What the defence had to achieve was done resolutely and efficiently and Britannia never had a real scoring chance to test out Soucker.

All credit must go to a good all round team performance, probably the best performance of the season considering the strength and ability of the opposition. Britannia are not a walk-over team and will not lose many games this season, which puts the Classics remarkable result into some perspective.

Final Score 0-3 (0-3)

Stats:
Yellow Card: B. Cook
You were crap award: D. Moore