Honey Badgers Cruise to Victory in Over 30 Debut – Beat Team Somerset 3-0.
Cameron Road United opened the next chapter of their storied franchise with a resounding 3-0 battering of Team Somerset. Leaving it late to score their goals, the Honey Badgers dominated the game from start to finish, battering the Somerset goal with shot after shot but only finding the cutting edge in the second half.
With a solid squad of five subs available, Cameron Road meant to show the Over 30 league they meant business even before the game started. If newcomer Peyton’s Ivorsonesque cornrow braids weren’t menacing enough, CRU deployed a second tent for a formidable sideline formation. And surely the Somerset gang were shitting themselves at the sight of BT pulling up the white socks and lacing up the Bravas. It’s been a long time coming for the mercurial midfield magician, suiting up for his first regular season competitive action in a 16 months.
As the Persian jokester blew the opening whistle and attempted to hand out a pre-game yellow card to Dermot, the match began with Cameron Road finding a little more space and time to operate. With BT and his understudy Willis in the middle of the field, Cameron Road looked to set the tempo and pressure the Somerset defenders. The Honey Badgers basically had a 45 minute spell in front of the Somerset goal, launching chance after chance at their keeper. Chappy had a diving header, Adam had a left footed shot, Willis and BT took chances from long range, Ciro looked to sneak one in near post, Peterson dropped in a free kick as well as multiple corners, Andy whipped in several crosses, and many others joined in the offensive barrage. Unfortunately, Cameron Road was still knocking the rust off of the summer layoff, and just couldn’t find the back of the net.
Still, Cameron Road felt encouraged at halftime, especially after having so many quality opportunities.
The second half picked up where it started, with Cameron Road trying to pass around the midfield and surge forward to find the goal. Possibly too much, as BT’s voice of reason beckoned the goal-hungry front line back into proper link-up positions. There were more scoring chances to be had as Luke smacked a trademark header off the crossbar from a corner kick (smacked it just like his lips after eating one of his Grandma’s biscuits and gravy that is), Dermot tried his luck from a tight angle, and BT and Willis continued to try their luck.
As the clock wore down, it was looking like Cameron Road would have to settle for a draw, even with all their quality play, but they finally broke the stalemate as Captain Chappy scored the first Over30 goal of the campaign. In typical Chappy fashion, the goal wouldn’t make any highlight reels, instead he took Peterson’s pass through the middle of the box and bull rushed the oncoming keeper with the ball. As the two went down, Chappy used every inch of his size 13 Mizuno to poke the ball across the line. Hey, they all count, right?
With the lead secured, next up was Cameron Road newcomer, Danny Sutedga. As a corner came in and pushing and shoving was taking place, Danny carefully placed his body near the far post, took a rebound off the chest and poked the ball home for Cameron Road’s second goal. Again, not a pretty finish, but another nail in the coffin for Team Somerset.
With the game winding down and CRU controlling the ball in the final minutes, the Honey Badgers unleashed their most beautiful goal of the day as Willis darted through the tired and unsuspecting Somerset defense. His Pirlo-like pass found Ciro in stride 20 yards from goal. Ciro took a few touches, stepped to his right and smashed a volley into the right corner for the 3rd of the day. A proper goal.
It wasn’t all offense though, as Cameron Road’s back line performed admirably when called upon. Without Jay in goal, Danimal stepped in and stepped up to the plate in limited action. He had a few nice punch outs on corner kicks, and made one brilliant one-on-one save with a 1-goal lead on the line. His armada of Jefe, Andy, Peyton, Crosley and Dave stood firm and saw out the handful of attacks headed their way. And low and behold Dave managed to survive the game without being thrown out by his Persian nemesis. Job well done.
So Cameron Road announced themselves with authority, pitching a shutout, peppering the goal with shots and ultimately sending a message to the rest of the new division that they are not ready for the assisted living home just yet.
Man-of-the-Match: Thanks to Danimal for tending the net while Jay slummed it with his D1 team, but this week’s award has to go to BT for his comeback game. His trademark center field spins, deep blistering shots, and sideline analysis have been sorely missed. Welcome back buddy!!
