The pressure was relentless from the home side and after 23 minutes another flowing move involving Deglan and Massender resulted in a right wing burst by the latter who centred for Chris Arcari to volley home his fourth goal of the season and make him the teams leading scorer. It really was a pleasure to watch with Warren Crowley competing like a Trojan and holding up the ball and laying it off well. The whole midfield was working as a well oiled machine and the forwards were working their socks off by tackling back when needed. Any occasional spark from the visitors was soon extinguished by a resounding defence which was ably marshalled by Danny Jensen.
There were penetrating wing displays by Pat Rohla and Doug Rosenlund and the Aldergrove right back must still be having nightmares after he was given a dizzy time by all the left wing forays that the Classics were mustering. Massender in particular was a constant thorn in his side after many intelligent balls from both midfield and defence sent him down to the dead ball line to wreak all sorts of havoc. Aldergrove must have been relieved to hear the half time whistle go and must have also been thankful that the score was only 3-0 --- in fact they were lucky to get nil --- and the game might have been already stopped on points had it been a boxing match.
Ever heard the story of a game of two halves? Aldergrove refused to lie down and be buried and they approached the second half in a much more positive mood. The Classics had shuffled their personnel but the removal of Rick Geary, who had had a tremendous first half, from centre back was to have a devastating effect on the game. The visitors finally began to play with some confidence and they exerted lots of pressure on the home goal early in the second half. From a burst through the defence in the 55th minute Mike King was clearly in an off-side position but he went on to shoot a powererful volley over Dave Moore who was advancing out to narrow the shot. The referee later admitted that the attacker was well off-side but he chose not to give it! Moore had been a virtual spectator in the first half but, to his disamy, he was now seeing a lot more of the ball. The Classics went through a shaky spell and completely lost their shape which combined to give the visitors the impetus they needed to get back into the game.
Aldergrove players were getting through with consumate ease and Avenues opened up instead of the cul-de-sacs which they had met in the first half. Five minutes later the deficit was reduced to one after King was put through again. Moore was unlucky and the forwards shot was initially blocked but it ricochetted off King and thundered into the roof of the net. Game on! The pivotal point of the game came in the 70th. minute when another thunderous shot from the impressive King was heading for the right hand corner of the net. Moore somehow deflected the ball away for a corner and with it went Aldergrove's spirit which lay destitute next to King's hat-trick goal which had now also disappeared.
The Classics re-ranked and started to produce some more of the flowing style of play which is starting to bring out an increasing number of local spectators to watch the home matches. With just fifteen minutes of the game left the killer punch came. Macklin sent away Gene Crowley who showed the opposition a clean pair of heels as he raced down the right side of the field. Crowley passed the ball to Rohla who finished off the move when he aimed the ball directly for the goalkeeper's hands and it went in off them.
Final Score 4-2 (3-0)
Stats:
GK: D. Moore
MWG: C. Arcari
You were Crap award: G. Hackel (in abstenstia)