CRU 4 – Takoba 1

It was back to business as usual on Sunday as Cameron Road United beat Takoba by 3 goals and got right back into the logjam of teams vying for the title. While there were about 20 subs last week, this time around there were plenty of Honey Badgers out, either injured, out of town, or taking in the Moto GP show.

Takoba lined up with an underwhelming squad of 10 players, including a thin, wispy, stick figure of a man in goal. The Honey Badgers smelled cobra blood, and were off to the races from the opening whistle. They controlled the play, pressed forward in numbers, and shredded the Takoba defense.

The opening goal saw Chris Peterson grab a ball at the top of the box and rip a trademark shot from distance. The shot bounced off the keeper’s fragile bones and into the path of Andy who was manning the back post. Andy cooly slotted the ball into the back of the net. 1-0 Cameron Road United.

Chris was back at it a few minutes later as he surveyed the landscape of the box from the right flank and unleashed a hybrid cross/shot that sailed past the keeper for a 2-0 lead.

When Cameron Road wasn’t scoring goals, they were controlling the game from the field. Adam was especially busy on the left flank winning headers. Billy and Danimal pushed forward aiding the attack. BT and Ryan pinged the ball around the middle of the pitch while avoiding the dreaded Norton Elbow. Luke headed away balls from the back and Crosley (fresh from his Isla Mujeres island training session) was back in action on the left. Inspired by his beloved Liverpool’s historic run, Steve McKenna was back on the pitch, shrugging his ankle injury and getting back into the mix. Zoran and Gigi were busy holding the ball up and making runs. And Dermot used the extra space available to work on his touch.

At 2-0 it looked like game over, and Cameron Road grabbed another just to make sure. With BT on the ball, Gigi made a run down the left channel and let everyone within earshot know that “hey man I am open!” BT cooly slotted the ball through the defense where Gigi beat Takoba’s new keeper with his left foot for a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 lead.

Unfortunately for Gigi, his afternoon was cut short before he could do any more damage as he went down with a knee injury. He initially feared the worst, but hopefully it’s just a sprain and he’ll be back on the pitch in the coming weeks.

Dermot was next up with a nice shot from the middle of the box, but it was parried away by Takoba’s legitimate keeper, who came to the game late and rounded out their full squad.

As Cameron Road kept attacking and dumping in corners, they gave back a goal…. just to give Takoba something to cling to and to make the second half interesting.

Takoba did try and get back into the game in the second half to their credit, but United weren’t having it. When Billy went down with a hammy strain, Andy stepped into his right back position and delivered a physical performance. At the other end, with Cameron Road dumping in corner kicks, Zoran had a string of 3 headers inside the box as he found a home at the back post.

As the game was winding down and Takoba were getting no closer to a second goal, the Honey Badgers continued to attack and add to their lead to kill the game off for good. Steve was denied from close range, the keeper was at full stretch to deny BT a beautiful left footed curler to the top corner, and Luke just couldn’t get the ball to drop in his wheelhouse for his trademark volley.

But there was one more goal left in the Honey Badgers as Luke kept a corner kick alive with a double dose of headers and as the ball fell into the path of Adam at the back post, he side footed it into the net to complete the route.

With the chase for the title coming down to the wire, Cameron Road will hopefully heal up in the off week and be ready for the final surge.

Man-of-the-Match: Andy did well yesterday, scoring the opening goal at one end, and playing tenacious defense at the other.