The Battle for South Division Bragging Rights:

	P	W	D	L	Points
Surrey Classics	15	11	4	0	37
Richmond Pioneers	15	11	2	2	35

Sunday Feb 20, 2005

Pioneers Stymied by Stand-In Keeper

Peace Arch 2 Richmond Pioneers 1

After eight successive wins, the Richmond Pioneers travelled to White Rock to play Peace Arch on a beautiful spring-like morning confident of adding to that total, only to be stymied be a phenomenal goalkeeping display, losing 2-1 to a Peace Arch team that only had two shots on goal the whole game.

Missing a couple of key players, the Pioneers were glad to see Stan Bogdanovich making his first appearance in over six months, following foot surgery.

The Pioneers got off to a typically slow start, and Peace Arch took an early lead, when a first time shot from a corner kick was deflected by a Pioneer defender past keeper Gary Byrne.

Around the 15 minute mark, the regular Peace Arch goalie had to retire after pulling a muscle. If the Pioneers thought at the time that this was a lucky break for them, it was not to be, as the reluctant stand-in keeper turned out to be best the Pioneers have faced all season.

Midway through the half, Evgeni Kushnir should have equalized for the Pioneers after rounding the keeper only to blast his shot wide with an open goal beckoning.

The Pioneers were getting a lot of chances, but went into the interval still down 1-0.

The second half was one of the most one-sided halves of soccer you could ever see, with the Pioneers getting lots of chances but each time the Peace Arch keeper was equal to the task. Ken Johnston had enough good chances for a hat-trick, and so did Graham Mason, but the goaltending display was turning into a tour de force. Bogdanovich also came close when his stunning first time shot just missed the top corner of the net.

Inevitably, with the Pioneers pushing numbers forward late in the game, Peace Arch got a lucky breakaway, and lo and behold the ball found the back of the net and incredibly, they had a 2-0 lead.

The Pioneers were now relentlessly bombarding the Peace Arch goal and in the 88th minute the Pioneers finally broke through when Kushnir scored after being set by Johnston. The final minutes saw Peace Arch hanging on to victory with some frantic defending, the heroic goalie having the final say as he successfully blocked a powerful blast from Mason.

In the final analysis, it was just one of those games. Peace Arch registered two shots on goal and and scored twice while the Pioneers had maybe twenty shots, scoring only one.

Man of the Match: Who else, the Peace Arch keeper.

Next Week: Home to Giant Panda.

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