It's been some five years or so since these two teams last met. The first sign of danger in the goalmouth came from an early Port Moody attack, courtesy of an uncharacteristic slip from Gene Crowley. The attacker scythed his way through the Classics defence, only to put the ball to the wrong side of the post when he came face to face with Jason Clegg. - mind you it's enough to make most people look away! David Breen found himself in sight of goal in the 6th minute but his long range effort fizzled out, soon after leaving his boot. The home side should have taken the lead in the 21st when a right sided centre from Jimmy Butler fell perfectly to the head of Wayne Ferguson but his header went over the bar when it looked easier to put into the net - remember the golden rule of 'always head the ball down.' On the half hour mark a long punt from Clegg was pushed on to Butler by Daryl Lawrie. Siezing the opportunity, Butler did his bread-and-butter routine by stroking the ball home with a low shot. Port Moody continued to fight for possession and it paid off five minutes from the half time whistle. An attack down the left looked like it could have been stopped, considering the number of defenders, but the attacker managed to catch Clegg wanting on his near post as he stroked home the equaliser. It was 1-1 at the half, and a half which the Classics took little pride in as too many passes had gone astray.
Within ten minutes of the restart the Classics were 3-1 to the good, thanks to a swift brace from Ferguson. His first came from a centre-cum-shot which looped over the keeper and into the net. The second was more orthordox and almost a re-run of the first goal. I repeat, a long punt from Clegg was pushed on to Ferguson (this time) by Lawrie and it was Ferguson who went one-on-one with the keeper. Butler was back in the goal scoring action next when he was released on the right. He sent over a centre-cum-shot which again eluded the keeper, dropped into the top left of the net, and it became a more respectable 4-1 score line. Moody did not have any substitutes and were physically wilting by this stage but they continued to stick to their task which helped to make a decent game of it. Speaking of substitutes, it was most unusual for the two leading strikers asking to be replaced at this time. They had both bagged two goals so it was bizarre that they both asked to be substituted at this particular stage of the game!
Pressure from the Classics paid off again in the 70th when Chris Arcari passed to Jeff Dickson who, in turn, got the ball wide to Jerry Szakun who shot across the keeper into the far corner to make it 5-1. With five minutes remaining a right sided corner from Pat O'Krane went way over to the back of the box. Lurking out there was Dickson who, unbelievably, for the third time in the match, sent over a centre-cum-shot which, once again, caught out the visiting keeper. The keeper will be having nightmares about high balls that he cannot reach. That concluded the scoring on the day. All credit for Port Moody who kept fighting to the end, even though their legs must have been extremely tired as the final whistle went. Not the best performance from the Classics but pride was restored as the game progressed but we'll take and ugly win any day.
Stats
MWG: Wayne Ferguson
Crap Award: Larry Thorlakson