Honey Badgers Concede Title in 3-1 Loss to Cosmos

With a rag-tag squad, a dew-soaked pitch, one tent, one sub, and a shitload of beer, Cameron Road took the pitch for a do-or-die title battle against Cosmos. The Honey Badgers needed a result and some help from the other top four teams to ensure any hope at the title. Unfortunately, they got neither.

An 8am start is always dicey, and Cameron Road immediately found themselves under the gun with Danimal pulling emergency kid duty and McKenna pulling his back. The Honey Badgers were rollin’ 13 deep with Dave fresh back from injury, but Ryan was going to be limited with his bum chicken leg.

So Cameron Road took the field with an aggressive lineup of Crosley/Luke/Billy/Dave at the back, Adam/Ciro/Dermot /Chappy in midfield, and Ryan/Z up top. Peterson and Jake were on deck. For the first 10 minutes, they played well and actually were completing passes. Unfortunately Ryan’s hamstring didn’t survive past that mark, and with Chris coming in for him Jake was left as the lone sub.

It was a pretty even first half, with Cosmos flashing a few shots across Jay’s goal, and Cameron Road trying to create some shots at the other end. Ciro had a penalty shout when he was sandwiched inside the box, but the referee told him and his mallet finger it was a no-go.

So at the half it was 0-0 and Cameron Road’s dream of back-to-back titles was still alive.

Unfortunately, the dream became a bit of a nightmare as Cosmos roared back to stake their claim as champions with two goals in the second half. And to prove that it just wasn’t their day, Cameron Road suffered a dreaded own goal off a corner kick to go down a third.

But it wasn’t all dismay, as the Honey Badgers still fought to get back into game. They pulled one goal back as Dermot was demolished with a blindsided shoulder inside the box and Peterson stepped up to destroy the p/k right up the gut.

The European spine of Billy–>Dermot–>Z was really working well. Billy was finding a home in the center of the pitch where he had time and space to operate; Dermot was a controlled wrecking ball in constant motion; and Zoran held the ball up well, made some solid runs down the touchline, and fired a few shots at goal.

It was desperate times in the final 10 minutes as CRU needed two goals to get back into the game, but in the end the Honey Badgers fell short but gave it all they had.

After the game, most of the squad stuck around to watch Austin Athletic Club sneak out a late winner against Baker Street which gave Cosmos the title and sealed Cameron Road’s fate of a fourth place finish. Ah well, there was plenty of beer.

Man-of-the-Match: Team Eurospine