Ciro and Luke Fire Cameron Road to the Over 30c Title

Champions!

An eleven man Cameron Road squad put the league to bed with a dramatic 2-1 come from behind victory Sunday morning. With a third of the team unavailable, a gritty performance was needed against an improving mid-table 2XS.

A starting eleven was looking dicey at game time, especially since Zoran had to make a pregame Academy run for some new boots. And big credit to Adam, who soaked his injured shoulder in Honey Badger urine and the leaves of the largest oak in all the tree line all week and managed to just get his socks pulled up by the opening whistle. His bravery and wincing at every bump would not go unnoticed as he would have a big part to play in the final outcome.

Once Zoran arrived in fresh new Copas, the all Euro frontline was complete as he partnered Gigi up top. The midfield four were Chappy on the left, Ryan and Ciro in the middle, and Adam on the right. The back four was Crosley on the left, Danimal and Luke in the middle, Andy on the right and Jay between the pipes. No subs were available, but Team Crosley showed up in full force, complete with a little tiny defender in the making.

From the opening whistle, Cameron Road looked to pursue the ball and get something going. With no subs, an early lead would be key to seeing out the game. Chappy had a few good runs down the left touchline, and had the games first real chance as he got his head onto a nice Gigi cross.

Cameron Road also attacked down the right flank with Adam and Andy taking turns making runs and trying to get their crosses in. The Honey Badgers just couldn’t find the cutting edge, but things were moving along nicely.

But then 2XS took a ball deep into enemy territory down their left flank and converted one of their only chances to go ahead 1-0. Cameron Road didn’t panic, but things were a little nervy to start the second half.

Sensing that the team needed a tactical advantage, Chappy took a page out of Roy Keane’s book of Captaincy as he chopped down the 2XS right midfielder from behind. The well deserved yellow card reduced 2XS to 10 men for the majority of the second half, clearing out a little more room in which to operate.

Another tactical nuance that did not go unnoticed was the bellowing Irishman in tight shorts who showed up and offered positive words of encouragement from the sidelines. Soon after Dermot’s arrival, the Honey Badgers found the breakthrough goal they so desperately needed as Gigi’s pass from the right hand side found Ciro ghosting into the box. In a rather unconventional move, Ciro decided to place his shot away from the keeper which resulted in a giant bulge in the back of the ol’onion bag. With a draw on the books, CRU knew they only needed 1 point out of the final 2 games to win the title. So it was time to buckle down and play some defense.

Danimal was his usual self, heading away anything within a 10 foot radius of his bearded dome, and also making probing runs into attacking areas. 2XS’s best chances came from one of their bigger attacking players, but his trio of late shots would have only troubled Jay if he were playing keeper in lunar orbit.

With the game fading, Cameron Road started to turn up the heat and press forward, sensing the league title in their grasp. When Ryan initiated a 3 man breakaway with Chappy to his left and Z to his right, he waited until the last defender was clear to play the ball to his left. Chappy just got a toe to the ball as the keeper rushed out, but it was enough to send the ball rolling every so slowly towards the back post. Unfortunately, the Captain could only watch in horror from his belly as a 2XS defender cleared the ball nanometers from the goal.

Ryan also smacked the back crossbar with a wicked free kick that narrowly missed giving him the glory of a game winner. No, that would fall to someone else.

Having injured his knee late in the second half, Luke had to take himself out of the game for a spell. Knowing what was on the line, Luke decided to “tape it up” and get back on the pitch. (Honey Badgers will never leave their young unattended for long). And as fate would have it, it was Lucky Luke who decided to win this thing right here, right now. Fighting through the pain of a mauled shoulder all game, Adam received the ball on the right and perfectly picked out Luke who was charging forward from his deep spot in central defense. Luke’s flying karate kick of a shot soared through the air in slow motion as the rest of the team saw their Championship fly into the back of the net! It was a glorious moment.

Final result, 2-1 Cameron Road. And like Manchester United, the Honey Badgers wrapped up their first division title in a decade with a few games to spare.

Man-of-the-Match: You gotta go with Luke on this one with his league winning goal and gutsy performance.