First Capital v Surrey Classics FC
Ron Ralph North
7th. February 2010

Weather: Warm
Classics Capitalise ..........
This game was little less than a practice game for the Classics as the opposition posed little or no threat for the whole of the game. Poor Dean Herbert was deputising for the injured Garry Hackel and was hoping to make a name for himself but the home side never got near to goal, let along have a shot. The Classics intentions were clear right from the off as they sailed into an early lead. In the fourth minute of the game a Jim Eden corner was was unselfishly headed down by Chuck McGill into the path of Chris Arcari who had the simple task of tapping the ball over the line. Ten minutes later a Pat Rohla right wing corner was dummied by Arcari and McGill finished off the move by firing the ball home. In the 25th. minute Alfie Deglan, having another storming appearance, received the ball in the centre circle and Bill McAuley, lurking on the right of midfield, called for the ball. Deglan released a defence cutting pass through for McAuley to run onto and he unleashed an unstoppable shot which made the half-time score a respectable 3-0 to the visitors.

first capital    first capital

The second half was still unrelenting for the home side as the Classics popped in another goal in the first minute of the half. This time it came courtesy of a right wing centre from Rohla and again it was Arcari who was on the spot to trickle the ball home. It was a 'mitre, mitre, mitre' shot - a slow shot in which the wording on the ball can be read each revolution - so it mitre gone in three times and eventually it did. Fifteen minutes from time there was another corner from Rohla but he deceptively 'scuffed' the shot to Danny Jensen, who had been given a roving midfield role, who returned the ball back to Rohla with an encouraging, "Have another go Patty!" remark. This time Rohla got it right and sent it back to Jensen who calmly and firmly stroked the ball home. In the last five minutes a flowing move which involved Jensen, Eden and Warren Crowley, who was having an outstanding game, was finished off by the Italian again. He wanted another pizza the action him-a-self-a and I wouldn't put-a it pasta-ima to scora a hat-tricka, and he did. His shot was another slow one which hit the keeper, then bounced in off the post. The burning question now is, "Is Arcari the first grandfather to score a hat-trick for the Classics?"

first capital    first capital

The final score was 6-0 but could have been so much more had other players scoring boots not been left at home. There were many shots that were skied high in true Deglan fashion. Larry Thorlakson hit several to the heavens and his excuse was that his mind was set in "defender mode" instead of having the confidence to have his mind set in "attacker mode." Either that or he had his contact lenses in the wrong eyes again! Jim Eden was another culprit but it wasn't his fault as he admitted that they were not shots and he was merely passing the ball to Rohla who was playing at the wrong field over at Denny Ross. That excuse didn't wash when Rohla eventually arrived so at that stage, and had we been playing at Tom Binney, they would have be described as "three zone shots." Deglan himself had several similar launches to the sky but he does them all the time and doesn't need such excuses. Such was the intensity and frequency of said shots that Langley airport was put on 'red alert' and closed the airfield down so that the air controller could get a fix on the countless UFO's which had been reported by the Langley locals. It was all of 1:00pm before the airport eventually opened up to traffic again.

Rohla was in devilish mood and wanted to spoil Herbert's shut out so, from a right back position, he centred a powerful ball which was aimed at the top right hand corner of the net but luckily Dave Moore was alert enough to cut out the threat. Another cloven-footed trick was played by Alan Massender who was out of the game through injury. Seeing that McGill was increasing his goal scoring ratio, and that his hands (or feet) were tied with what he could do on the field, he took it upon himself to move big Chuck back to centre half to eliminate the threat. In the summing up, the Classics won 6-0, thay had fun and they kept a shut-out.

Final Score 0-6 (0-3)

Stats:
Hat Trick: C. Arcari