Honey Badgers Reclaim Crown from Chopped Liverpool with a Nasty 2-1 Come From Behind Win

Cameron Road United reclaimed beer drinking bragging rights in the Crown and Anchor Derby Sunday with a thrilling come from behind victory. This wasn’t a beautiful Barca vs. Real Madrid Classico, this was more of an old school AFC West showdown between the Raiders and the Chiefs.

The tackles and cards were flying as both teams battled it out to the end on the recently flooded fields of Onion Creek. The ground was spongy and slippery, courtesy of a fresh powdering of fecal dust from the missing porta-potty units, now residing somewhere deep in the bowles of the tree line.

Cameron Road started off brightly, retaining some unusual possession in their attacking play and moving the ball around the back defensively.

Willis started the game in central defense, but had a good darting run down the left from a deep position to get his boot on a ball from Ciro. The shot was saved, but it was a good early effort.

Gianluca was also terrorizing the defense with his mazy runs inside the box. He was a constant threat in the first half when he wasn’t screaming in pain from the sniper shot from atop the grassy knoll.

He also tried to provide some lovin’ to his Bosnian partner with a tasty thru-ball to Zoran. Z raced to the ball and was one-on-one with the keeper but his shot went wide right.

Props to El Jefe as he attempted to play a bit on the left with his broken wing unsheathed, but after taking a nasty tumble the team decided to keep him on the sidelines in a spiritual cheering role in lieu of risking further injury to his front to back wiping hand.

Jay had a standout save from a Liverpool free kick late in the half as he stretched to his left to thwart an on-target attempt. The D was trying to corral their standout forward (#28) all afternoon long as the ball stuck to his feet like glue, and they did a fine job for most of the afternoon. Especially Dermot, who was given the task of marking him for most of the affair.

The scoreless first half ended with a bit of training ground play as McKenna and Peterson stood of the ball for a free kick left of goal. Steve made a dummy run and Peterson bent the ball around the wall and forced the keeper into a save.

After a breather and tactical pep talk from reining MVP Luke, it was back to the action as CRU looked for an opening goal to break the deadlock.

Unfortunately, Andy presented Liverpool with a golden opportunity as his errant back pass to Jay was intercepted by one of their attackers who went barreling towards goal. Luckily, as he wound up to take a point blank shot, there was the slightest rustle from the leaves and a far off eagle cry as the tree line sent forth a surge of defensive power that sent the shot off kilter to the right. The look of horror and bewilderment from the Liverpool player was priceless, and his anger at the miss would come back to haunt him late in the game.

After surviving that shock, Cameron Road still came under fire and were punished for it as Liverpool’s #28 blasted an EPL worthy shot into the top corner to give them a 1-0 lead.

With a Liverpool lead on the books, the game was starting to heat up and the tackles and yellow cards were flying. Ryan was booked for a sideline “professional foul”  that sent #28 thundering to the turf 40 yards from goal. The whispy regista was sending a message to Liverpool that the Honey Badgers’ love of the Crown and Anchor would not be called into question lightly. And after that, Gigi took a ball in the face from Andy…. soccer ball mind you….. that left him on the turf with another injury. His return was questionable.

Still down by a goal, the Honey Badgers offense started pressing to get back into the game and they found just that with some tag team play from McKenna and Chappy. Steve had the ball on the left side of the box and found Chappy lurking to his right. Steve slid the ball across the face of goal to the captain, who danced around a defender with the delicate nature of a heard of Wilderbeest. Chappy unleashed a patented sliding shot that beat the keeper to his right and tied up the game.

You know the story, once the Honey Badgers claw their way back into a game, it’s hard for them to taste defeat. Back in the lineup after some medical attention from Luke and El Jefe on the sidelines, Gigi was a one man wrecking ball – giving maximum effort to make things happen. On one play he left a bloody and bruised path of 3 downed defenders in his wake as he raged for sweet revenge.

Steve also had a fantastic play as he got the ball deep on the right by the corner flag, held it up, turned the defender on the touchline, and sent in a ball to an onrushing Z inside the box.

And in the final minutes of the game, the same Liverpool attacker who had missed the gimme earlier was called for offside. His filthy tirade at the linesman was greeted by a second yellow card and he was banished from the game for good, leaving Liverpool to see out the game with 10 men. And has fate would have it, Andy played forward a long ball from defense that the Liverpool defender awkwardly headed backwards at the same time as their keeper rushed forwards. The ball crept and crept it’s was into the back of the net for an own goal and Cameron Road had it’s winner on almost the last kick of the game…. much to the cheering El Jefe’s chagrin.

Priceless.

And so the battle for Crown and Anchor supremacy swung back to the Honey Badgers as the defeated Chopped Liverpool 2-1.

 Man-of-the-Match: Bruised and battered but never giving up, Gianluca channeled the Honey Badger spirit with his effort, and almost set up Z for an opening goal on his way to this week’s awards. He was duly rewarded for his efforts with a sneak attack ice-bath.