Mission Accomplished.............
It was a frosty morning at Newton Athletic when the Classics entertained Mission. Playing towards the frozen goal area it didn’t take the Classics long to take the lead. A good break down the right hand side started when Jim Eden put Ray Marrington away. Marrington took the ball forward and laid a precision pass through for Billy Ranger who took the ball, controlled it, and unleashed a shot which gave the opposing keeper no chance. Minutes later it should have been 2-0 when Chris Arcari found himself unmarked at the near post but his header was glanced wide when it looked easier to score.

In the 20th. minute the Classics were two up after an Arcari free kick landed at the feet of Marrington who was in a dangerous position in the goalkeepers area. Marrington had no trouble in bundling the ball over the line for the second goal. Mission tried to get back into the game and looked dangerous on a couple of occasions but it remained 2-0 at the half.

Mission came more into the game in the second half. They were unlucky when a high through ball deceived defender Rick Geary and a Mission forward headed for goal. Seeing the danger early, Garry Hackel came out of goal and made a fine tackle outside the box to deny Mission. Mission did get a goal in the 65th. minute after Chuck McGill comprehensively beat Hackel when he blasted the ball high into the roof of the net to register his first own goal for the club. It was a goal Dave Moore would have been proud of! Mission had several more chances but Hackel dealt with them competently. It was all Classics in the last 15 minutes and Bill McAuley, Doug Smith, Tom Lowe, Mike Snow and Arcari were all guilty of missing easy chances. The Classics did hang on and, although not pretty at times, they were effective enough to grind out another win.