Richmond Pioneers 3 Britannia 1

The winter soccer season finally got going again, after six weeks of inactivity following the Christmas break and the cancellation of games due to frozen, snow-covered, and then waterlogged fields.

It was a damp but relatively mild day as the Richmond Pioneers entertained Britannia at McMath and cruised to a 3-1 victory in a game that was notable for the extraordinary number of chances wasted by the Pioneers.

On paper, Britannia had a decent looking midfield, but thankfully the game is played on grass, not paper. The Pioneers took an early lead when a Graham Mason pass put Eugene Kishmere through on goal, and he nicely set up Ken Johnston for the opening goal.

Britannia pulled one back against the run of play when a nicely struck shot from 25 yards nipped inside the near post, just eluding keeper Gary Byrne.

The Pioneers restored their lead when a Johnston shot was saved by the Britannia keeper, only for Henry Wan to capitalize on the rebound and put the ball into the roof of the net.

The Britannia keeper was having a busy day, and Kishmere looked certain to score when he was through one-on-one with the keeper. His wasted effort was merely a portend of what was to come as the game went on.

Shortly afterwards, a Johnston flick was goalbound until Henry Wan intervened and somehow managed to head the ball over the bar just before it crossed the line, to the chagrin of his bewildered teammate. But there would be a lot more comical finishing to entertain us in the second half.

It remained 2-1 at the half, and the visitors had to feel lucky they weren't four of five goals down at the interval. Despite their industrious midfield, Britannia were lacking a cutting edge up front, and their back line had more holes than Tim Horntons. (Oops, I had to go and mention donuts again, sorry Dennis).

On the other hand, the entire Pioneer defensive corp were rock solid, giving nothing away, and second half keeper Dave Valitis had an easy 45 minutes.

The third goal was proving to be elusive, as the usually reliable strike force of Johnston and Kishmere were uncharacteristically misfiring big time. Johnston in particular had three glaring misses. On another day he could have had five or six goals to himself.

It was left to Dennis "35 yard" Harvington to provide the goal that would effectively kill the game off, picking up a pass from Mason and unleashing a dipping shot from, where else, 35 yards out.

In the end, a comfortable 3-1 victory for the Pioneers, although the game will be remembered for the five or six glaring misses by the Pioneers.

Man of the match: Ken Kan.

Next Week: Away to Surrey Vikings, a team rumoured to be much improved.

		contact the webmaster