Coaches on duty: Willie Dixon & Pat O'Krane
It was an early start with a 9:30am (9:25 actually) kick off and the Classics got into an early stride on their first ever visit to this turf field. The first bit of pressure brought an 8th minute corner, won by and taken by Pat O'Krane. Sherman Foster was making his come-back after a lengthy injury period and he was making his presence known. However, in the 10th minute, he went to head a ball near the touch line and received a boot in the face for his troubles! The free kick was little consolation for him, as he had to head off to hospital to have a bursted lip repaired. On the quarter hour a right sided run from Jimmy Butler ended with him having a good shot at goal, which the home keeper did well to parry out. It fell to Lorenzo Arcari, but the eager minded Italian blasted the ball high over the bar. L. Arcari had another try on net just past the half hour mark but this time his effort was more lady-like and, although aimed between the posts, he did not trouble the keeper. By this stage, O'Krane was playing a roving centre half and was relatively mild mannered with his investigative conversations with the referee, regarding the rules of the game. The half time score was 0--0.Early in the second half, Jeff Dickson drove over a powerful cross from the right which deceived everyone, including the keeper but there were no Classics players in the right spot to take advantage. In the 57th minute a wayward backpass from David Breen let in a Westside attacker but, just before he could get in his shot, Randy Hosler made enough ground to snuff out the danger with a decisive tackle. A left wing counter from Westside in the 63rd minute resulted in an excellent shot on goal which forced Jason Clegg to display his agility with an accomplished dive to push the ball away for a corner kick. Clegg was in a lot of the action with his excellent anticipation of the running ball, which invariably got to him instead of the Westside forwards. The hour mark brought some more penalty box action when a cross from the right by Dickson soard over. Jerry Szakun tried another of his famous diving headers but he missed the ball which bounced to Butler on the back post and, at one yard out, the result was inevitable! There was a let off a few minutes later when the home side appealed for a penalty, claiming that O'Krane had handled the ball in the box but the referee took no notice and the VAR was having a tea-break! It could have been 1-1 minutes later when a goalbound header from a corner was headed off the line by Pat Rohla, with Clegg beaten. It was a match saving moment.
The 70th minute witnessed another chance to make the game safe when a cross from Butler, after a great break, fell to Wayne Ferguson who hammered the ball goalwards but it brought an excellent diving save from the home keeper. Two minutes later a lofted centre from Alan Massender deceived everyone and the keeper was relieved to see it hit the far upright and bounce away to safety. Massender made amends in the next move when he was put through by L. Arcari and he coolly knocked the ball to the right of the keeper to make the score 2-0 for the visitors. With the insurance goal, the Classics took control of the game and held the ball well to see out time. Ferguson was put through in the last minute by Massender but he couldn't find the shot to put the icing on the cake.
It took the Classics the first half to get used to the way the ball run. Many passes were going astray with too much weight being put on the ball when it was put into space. They adjusted well in the second half and concentrated on trying to get the ball to feet, rather than into space, some of which which would never have been caught, even by a mechanical greyhound rabbit! The match witnessed some notable records. Jimmy Butler equalled the most MWGs for the team with his 30th. This equalled the record which is currently held by Jim Eden. Larry Thorlakson played his 300th game and Pat Rohla made his 150th appearance in a fine match which was played with good spirit by both teams.
Stats
Crap Award: Jeff Dickson