CRU 3 – Slaughter Inferno 3

Cameron Road earned it’s first point of the Summer Season yesterday in a 3-3 draw the Slaughter Inferno crew. It was a competitive game that was marked by some dodgy refereeing and a crazy final 10 minute, 4 goal finale.

With a full crew of subs in the tent (including fresh Punter meat Aaron and Glendon), the Honey Badgers took the field ready to spar with Slaughter.

With some good attacking pressure, Cameron Road was able to strike first on a fantastic left-footed curling shot from Travis. Travis’ effort put the Honey Badgers up 1-0, and he could have doubled that lead with a shot that smashed the post later in the half.

Slaughter hung around though, and had the better of a 20 minute spell which saw them get back into the game with a powerful blast from way downtown.

But as the half wore down, it was CRU that had the momentum and about 10 corner kicks.

Cut to half time complete with orange slices, plenty of shade, and a bit of jealously at watching Jake down Modelo after Modelo.

The second half got started and Travis took a nock on the head which forced him out of the game for a while, but with Ciro, BT, Willis and Peterson clogging up the middle, Cameron Road continued their assault.

The game went back and forth for much of the half with both sides carving out some chances. Jefe almost hit Willis with a long cross, Ciro smacked a ball at the keeper, and Adam stole the ball in front of goal and flashed a left-footed shot just wide.

It was looking like a 1-1 draw was in the cards, but the final 1o minutes included some crazy refereeing decisions and 4 additional goals.

Nobody was really happy with the ref throughout the game. He missed hand balls, stopped play for nothing fouls, awarded Jefe the first “in the tent” yellow card and generally pissed both teams off all day long. Then, Cameron Road were the beneficiary of his continued bad calls as he awarded them a penalty kick when Glendon went down in the box off a corner kick. I think even he was a little surprised at the call. No matter, McKenna stepped up and slotted it home.

2-1 Cameron Road.

30 seconds later at the other end of the field, the ref gave Slaughter a penalty in an absolutely horrible call. Basically, an attacker backed into Jefe in a play that happens 20 times a game…. nobody went down….. the attacker actually won the header….. and the ref pointed at the spot. Crazy.

2-2 Slaughter

Then, back at the opposite end, another Cameron Road corner saw some chaos in front of the goal. Adam was on the ground, Jefe was pinging off players inside the box, a red tailed hawk swooped down and stole Jake’s 12th Modelo right out of his hands, and somehow McKenna shot the ball past everyone.

3-2 Cameron Road

And then, to finish off a mad dash to the finish, with only minutes to go, Slaughter managed to tie up the game for good with a crack at goal from inside the box.

3-3 Finish

So it was a good game, but Cameron Road probably should have walked away with their first win of the season. No worries, after the game the beers were flowing, the tent was cool, the 50 yard shots were flying, and the Honey Badgers outlasted Slaughter for the post-game win.

Man-of-the-Match: With a great opening goal, another one off the post, and some general marauding central midfield play, rent-a-badger Travis had himself a nice game in spite of his off hue navy shorts.

Post-Match-Medical-Update: In light of recent events, Chappy and Jefe conspired to keep Ciro’s core temperature down to a reasonable, non life threatening level with a massive ice bath for the ages. You’re welcome.