ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Tembisa | Saturday 7.00pm.
Classic (3) 5
(Tucker 18-og, Mackett 39, Zwane 42, Matsitela 50, Mthunzi 63)
Hellenic (1) 4
(Young 35, 73, Madida 48, O’Gorman 72)
JUST when I was giving up on the ability of the Castle Premiership to provide anything more than degrees of mediocrity, along came Classic and Hellenic with a match to remember.
Purists will rightly condemn some schoolboy defending on a cool, overcast day in the heart of the East Rand township, but if there were no mistakes, there would be no goals, and the beautiful game would die.
Success for Classic — their eighth win in nine home league matches — means the fairytale continues with the league rookies rising above Kaizer Chiefs and Hellenic into third place behind Sundowns and Orlando Pirates.
Not bad going for a team most of the media believed would be battling to dodge relegation, and with eight of their remaining 14 matches at the “slaughterhouse”, a top-four finish is no longer an unrealistic goal.
Classic possess the same philosophy as the Brazilian national teams of the 1960s and 1970s – no matter how many goals the opposition score, we will score at least one more.
Combative in every corner of the field, brittle at the back, deadly in attack. That is the team known as Yizo Yizo after the popular SABC TV drama series. One thing is sure: with Classic dull moments are few and far between.
They led 3-1 at half-time at Makhulong Stadium as Hellenic defended with all the caution of a kamikaze pilot and when they went 5-2 ahead through a soft headed goal by Colin Mthunzi midway through the second half, a rout seem possible.
Credit to Hellenic, who lost young strikers Zane Brown and Bradley August to injuries in the first half, for never surrendering and Fani Madida set up David O’Gorman and Grant Young for goals within 60 seconds.
Even goalkeeper Innocent Mayoyo, whose lengthy clearances spread panic among the Greek Gods, almost got in on the scoring act with a late kick that ill-at-ease veteran goalkeeper Mark Anderson needed to tip over for a corner.
At the end, relieved Classic coach Khabo Zondo lamented poor concentration by his players when three goals ahead while counterpart Gavin Hunt said he was devastated by the schoolboy errors of his defence.
For neutrals like me, it was a wonderful occasion, brimful of action and commitment and the oxygen that keeps the game alive … goals. O’Gorman scored the best, keeping his head down as he unleashed a close-range “missile”.