A Tale of Two Halves: Cameron Road United Beats Takoba 3-0

I think Charles Dickens said it best:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of offense, it was the age of defense, it was the epoch of scoring, it was the epoch of raging, it was the season of Peterson, it was the season of Danimal, it was the spring of McKenna’s two goals, it was the winter of Jay’s incredible saves, we had 3 points before us, we had yellow cards before us, we were going directly to the top of the table, we were going to get a draw, in short, the game was so far like the most awesome thing that some of its noisiest referees insisted on it being called, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

And on this Sunday my friends, Cameron Road continued their run up the Over 30B table with a 3-0 win over Takoba, their third in a row. The score would indicate a complete domination, but it flatters the Honey Badgers, who had to work overtime to secure the victory.

In the first half, the goals were going in, the passes were crisp and CRU had Takoba on the ropes. In the second half, Takoba came for the crown, and the Honey Badgers were forced to defend en masse for 45 minutes. Sure my friends, there was the occasional counter attacking play where the Honey Badgers forced their way into the offensive third to try and tack on another goal, but for most of the second half it was an 11 man defensive effort.

With a sizable chunk of the team’s defenders taking up beds at the CRU Infirmary, and Crosley unavailable, it was another week of who’s that on defense, led by Danimal barking orders at his new recruits. Self proclaimed Swiss Army Knife Ryan Willis partnered Danny in central defense, while Adam and Billy patrolled the flanks.

For the first 10 minutes it was the Chris Peterson Corner Kick show. First, CRU was able to score one of the fastest goals on record as Chris drove in the first corner of the day…. straight into the outstretched paw of the fiery Chris Norton. Stevie Mack stepped up and nailed the p/k into his favorite side (which will not be revealed in case the Grackles are trolling the site for tactical intel). 1-0 CRU.

Shortly after, Chris strode up to take corner kick #2 and… put it right back into the back of the ol’onion bag with a wicked curling action. An homage to his slice on the golf course no doubt. 2-0 CRU.

When Andy finally showed up, he was missing something. Shorts, check. Jersey, check. Socks, check. New Puma cleats…. damn. And so, my friends, with black Asics running shoes, Andy entered the game at left back and set up goal #3. After gaining the ball back, Chappy granted Andy a left wing hall pass and green lit his foray into the offensive zone where he bombed down the left wing. His pass found Steve heading towards goal, and with the keeper running out, Steve flicked the ball over him with the daft touch of the outside of his boot to score his second goal of the day. 3-0 CRU.

Whatever offensive calm the Honey Badgers possessed in the first half, they quickly lost it in the second. For 45 minutes they defended a wave of Takoba attacks, horrendous dives and near missed by Ashook. As the game got a bit testy, the referee’s wrist was getting sore from handing out yellow cards; the most entertaining of which had to be Billy’s rugby tackle on a Takoba winger who had gotten past him. In classic Milton fashion, he was smiling all the way down.

CRU did have a few cracks at goal on the counter. The best of which was probably Ciro’s stop and go Clark Field move to get him to the baseline as he whipped in a low cross to the front of the goal. Danny also attacked the keeper with a header attempt. Gigi forwent his remaining 7 required passes of the day (handed down by a fiesty Coach Jefe in his pre-game speech) and went it alone as he unleashed a shot on target, and the game ended with Andy and Chappy crashing together in an attempt to head the final corner kick of the day home.

So Cameron Road sealed the 3-0 victory with scrappy, fiery second half and inched their way closer to the top of the table.

It was a great team win with notable efforts from Dermot (who had another good defensive midfield shift for the second week in a row), Adam (who was forced into defense and stood up well), Ryan (who again played multiple positions), McKenna (who did what he does best, score goals), Billy (who’s touch was an asset in the middle of the park), Danimal (who quarterbacked the defense, and took his body to the limit), Peterson (who’s first 2 corner kicks pretty much won us the game), Jay (who had some monumental saves in both halves to preserve the shutout), Peyton (who played dinged up and sported the best beard on the field), Zoran (who was seen winning headers in the middle of the field… headers!), Ciro (who’s proper choice of footwear saw him regain his form as the rock in the center of midfield), Chappy (who fouled a player, cursed him out, received a yellow card, and then exchanged hugs with the same player all in the matter of 15 seconds), Gigi (who chased down balls and whizzed a shot past the keeper in the second half), and Andy (who assisted McKenna’s second goal wearing black running shoes).