Surrey Classics FC v Aldergrove
Denny Ross
6th. March 2011

Weather: Sunny but cold

Flood of goals warms up the second half ..........
Aldergrove made the short trip to Denny Ross on a cold Sunday morning. There was a scare for the Classics when roving goalkeeper Garry Hackel got injured in the pre-match warm up. The Hack pulled his groin and, although his groin was sore, when he put the heat rub on it he immediately started his now famous 'Lord of the Dance' routine. He still made the decision to start the game in any event. The first shot of the match came from Danny Jensen who wandered away from the sanctuary of defence in the sixth minute and he was very unlucky when he watched his effort go wide of the mark. Fisher Crockett played a back-pass to his keeper who was now hobbling like a three legged dog to reach the pass but he just couldn't make it so Aldergrove got their first corner of the match. In the 21st. minute an Alfie Deglan pass sent Alan Massender heading goalwards from the left wing position. Massender cut inside and and furrowed down on the Aldergrove keeper but he too had to watch in despair as the resulting shot went across the face of the goal and past the far post to safety.

aldergrove     aldergrove

The Classics should have taken the lead in the 23rd. minute after Robbie Keam found himself two yards off the goal line with only the keeper to beat. His shot was hammered hard but it went straight at the keeper who made a good save to keep the scores level. Two minutes from the half-time whistle, Deglan almost gave the home side the lead with a powerful shot. The ball hit a defender and deflected onto the right hand post and then bounced away to safety. The teams left the field at half time with honours even.

The second half was less than two minutes old when a right wing break from Larry Thorlakson was played in to Chuck McGill who laid the ball back to Rick Geary. Geary, who was playing like a man possessed, hammered the ball home from eight yards to give the Classics the lead. McGill was then also struck with injury when his long term hamstring was still playing up and he had to retire from the match. In the 55th. minute Deglan released Dave Moore on a rare left wing attack and he centred the ball to Warren Crowley who's shot was deflected back towards Moore. With a defender ushering the ball out to safety, Moore pressured him into giving away a corner kick. The resultant corner kick resulted in Massender passing the ball to Pat Rohla who stroked the ball into the net with a left-footer............. or

............ the humble Black Highlander version verbatim: "W.Crowley sent thru a long searching ball for the formerly very fleet “Black Highlander” to chase down which he did, easily outpacing the stalwart, stout defender. Feeling the terrible terrible pain of a hamstring pull in the making Massender turned the ball back from just outside the 18 yd box while fending off a host of defenders. While shielding the ball from the horde of defenders he kept an eye open for a teammate. At last a run was made into a scoring position, Massender drilled a rocket of an accurate pass to his late charging teammate [the guy can barely keep up with the play] who happened to plant his left foot just as the ball arrived, wherein it deflected straight into the goals. In all fairness, the goal should be awarded to the player who did all the hard work. In fact, the crafty Black Highlander actually planned his rocket pass to be a riccochet/bank shot into the goals; could be goal of the year." [Ed's note: I thought it deflected into the goal NOT goals.]

aldergrove A free kick was conceded on the edge of the Classics penalty box and as the Classics set up their defensive wall, an Aldergrove player stepped up and curved a low shot round the wall and into the net thus giving 'limp-along Leslie' no chance of getting a save in and at the same time bringing the visitors back into the game. A delightful goal gave the Classics the upper hand yet again after a left wing corner from a very effective Jim Eden. The ball bounced through to Keam (pictured right), who had his back to goal, and he cheekily back heeled the ball home for a goal that would have graced any stadium in the world. A right wing attack from Aldergrove resulted in a corner and from the resultant free kick the ball was headed by Moore on the near post up into the goalmouth area. In the melee Jensen was floored from a knock in the back but it was an Aldergrove boot which got to the ball first to steer it home to make the scoreline 3-2. This was turning out to be some second half!

The 65th. minute brought the Classics their first penalty kick of the season. The referee had been consistently inconsistent without favouritism of either team, and when Rohla went down in the box he had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Jensen stepped up to discharge the projectile from 12 yards and, although the shot was just to the left of the keeper, the keeper dived to the right and the Classics again had a two goal cushion. The pain for Hackel became too much and he retired from the game and Keam donned the gloves for the final quarter of the game.

Ten minutes from the end, the game was over after another good left wing corner from Eden was laid back by W. Crowley to Chris Arcari. Arcari let fly with a torpedo shot which breached the back of the net with such power that the Aldergrove keeper must have thought that a tsunami shock wave had arrived. Game, set and match.

Final Score: 5-2 (0-0)

Stats:
Yellow Card: D. Jensen
GK: G. Hackel & R. Keam