Strikers 4 – Cameron Road 2

As the sun reached iron-melting temperatures in the ten o’clock hour, Cameron Road assembled to face former D2 2nd place finishers Strikers FC. It was the second difficult game in as many weeks for the Honey Badgers –  The Soccer Gods must have been angered for not receiving a new CRU cap, and decided to give Cameron Road a fantastically difficult schedule this year. Thanks for that.

Anyway, eager to shake off last week’s drubbing on Father’s Day, Cameron Road started the first half lively, welcoming back top goalscorer Steve McKenna and central midfield ace Ciro back into the fold. For the first 10 minutes, Cameron Road showed remarkable signs of life, getting the better run of play and taking it to the Strikers. And in an unusual twist of events, they proceeded to take the early lead with a nicely worked goal.

El Jéfe released Ryan on the left side of midfield from his deep spot in central defense. Ryan skipped a tackle and headed down the touchline with space to move. Meanwhile, Chappy made a mad dash for the near post through the defense and Steve headed towards the back post. Ryan surveyed the area and layed off a perfect around-the-defender pass to Chappy, who one-timed it off his bone spur past the keeper at the near post. 1-0 Cameron Road.

With an uncustomary position of protecting the lead, Cameron Road tried to hold off Strikers. As the half wore on, this proved more difficult as their strong central midfield started to assert itself. Near the end of the half, Strikers got back into the game with a steal and shot from old nemesis Josh “Pink Boots” – 1-1 at the half.

Huddled under the protective blanket of the Tent, Cameron Road hatched their plan for second half domination. Basically, it called for pinching into the middle of the field, trying to crowd out the Strikers midfielders. For the most part, it worked pretty good, with Ciro directing traffic. Unfortunately, Strikers netted 3 more times, two of which were pretty damn lucky. Still, Cameron Road continued to keep their shape and try to attack.

In the closing minutes, Gianluca powered in a long-range free kick to cut Strikers lead in half. Unfortunately, the Honey Badgers ran out of time to complete their full comeback. Still, there was much improved play from the week before.

Man-of-the-Match: With constant hustle and a nice goal, Gianluca stood out on Sunday. But what really clinched the honors this week was the delivery of team popsicles after the match. The savory, icy treats made distant memories the pain of another summer loss.