Badgers Win! Badgers Win!
Well, it only took 7 weeks, but the Honey Badgers finally got their first win of the summer season yesterday, beating a depleted Most Interesting Bitchy Team In The World 3-2. In typical Cameron Road fashion, the game included a squandered lead followed up by a brilliant comeback.
Lots of ins and outs to the lineup this week. Jay and Peterson were both out playing grab-ass in Frisco, so Cameron Road had to call upon their super secret, pearl snap wearing, looked-like-he-just-stepped-off -a-fishing-boat backup, Jake. With another 5-6 key players missing from this week’s game, Cameron Road welcomed back defensive leader and all around destructive force Danimal to the lineup after getting the green light to play with his Luke Skywalker-like repaired hand.
Those two hooked up on a memorable play within the first five minutes of the game when Jake, performing his first punt of record, waited about .456 seconds after gathering the ball and blasted it into the back of Danimal’s head. Dazed, but not confused, Danny was able to return to action after sorting out the finer points of safe defensive distances with his keeper.
Early on, Cameron Road pressed the issue against the 10 men in green. Figuring an early goal against a shorthanded team would get them off to a good start, the Honey Badgers pushed up and exploited the space for rent in the wide areas of the pitch.
Danimal made an immediate impact as he strode forward from his deep defensive position, latched onto a ball at the top of the box, and unleashed a fantastic low drive to the far corner to put the Honey Badgers up 1-0 within the first 10 minutes.
Second up on the scoring was BT. With his decade long injury concerns apparently behind him, Brian powered in a nice header from inside the box after Danimal got him the ball. 2-0 Cameron Road.
Jake wasn’t called upon to make too many saves during the first half as his defenders gave the first time keeper all the shelter he required, although he did manage to punch away a nice corner kick. Billy, Dave, Danimal and Andy spent the majority of the half heading away danger, putting up with mouthy, ill-tempered forwards, and pushing the ball up the field and getting into the attacks.
The green team gained their 11th player at halftime with a walk-on acquisition, and it proved to be the difference as they mounted a comeback during the second half.
Feeling the need to make it a fair fight, Cameron Road let in two goals in during the first 25 minutes of the game, allowing the opponent to tie it up at 2-2.
Again it was Danimal who was involved with the winning goal. Standing his ground inside the box, Danny was fouled from behind and the referee correctly rewarded the Honey Badgers with a penalty kick. Steve McKenna stepped up to the spot and calmly slotted home the winner to his customary side.
With the game starting to get a little nasty, the referee finally blew his whistle and the Honey Badgers had their well-deserved victory with two game to go in the summer season.
Man-of-the-Match: Jake pretty much sealed up the award before the game even started by volunteering to play keeper, but Danny had such an inspirational return to the pitch with a goal and two assists that he deserves a slice of the action. (he also made quite a statement for the red sock camp as his bloody cobra-stained leggings powered him to great heights)
