Cameron Road 2 – Deportivo 3
In what is becoming a futile effort to play two complete halves of soccer, Cameron Road surrendered their 2-1 lead against red-hot Deportivo yesterday in a 3-2 loss. The Honey Badgers actually carved out one of their best performances of the season against another bunch of youngins’, but failed to hold onto the lead in the second half.
The early wakeup call didn’t bother the Honey Badgers as they fielded a full team with a few subs by 8am.
If the early goings were any indication, Deportivo would be in for a fight. They did cause Cameron Road some early problems, especially on the wings where their skillful players were getting to the touchline, but the defense stood up to the threat and was able to work the ball up the field.
Cameron Road was getting close with a few set pieces, and they struck gold with an early corner kick. Peterson (red socks), drove in a perfect low, fast-moving corner to the center of the box where Chappy (red socks) met it with the primal instinct of Luke diving to get the first bite from a plate of his Grandmother’s hot biscuits. The diving header earned “much respect” from the referee as well as earning the Honey Badgers an early 1-0 lead.
Not to long after that, the Honey Badgers stunned Deportivo with a second strike to double up their early lead. This time Ryan (red socks), drove in a crossish shotish ball from the right. The ball dipped, swerved, bounced and found it’s way to the back post where it clanked off the bar, past the keeper and back onto the goal. 2-0 good guys.
At the back, Jefé (red socks) was having an absolute beast of a game in central defense alongside Andy. Jefé must have been inspired by his blood-dripping socks because he was clearing out balls with a Danimal-like fervor. And when he wasn’t getting to them, Andy was tackling everyone in sight, Billy was closing down the attacks from the right side, and Dave was doing the same on the left. Billy also found some space to push forward and attack when the opportunity arose.
Speaking of attacking, the Honey Badgers continued their good play with Ryan smacking another shot off the crossbar and Steve McKenna pushing a point blank header over the bar.
Unfortunately for the Honey Badgers, the games aren’t played as one 90 minute blowout, because they were forced to take a break and start the dreaded second half. I don’t know what it is about the break, but lately the Honey Badgers are having a hard time keeping their consistency for two 45 minute periods because the same horrors that took place last week pretty much reared their ugly heads again.
Cameron Road ended up surrendering the momentum and the lead as Deportivo showed their quality with 3 second half goals. It was a tough break for the Honey Badgers as they were really playing well. Jefé’s day came to an early end as he clashed with a Deportivo player and was forced out with a knock to his knee. Tough break for Jeff since he was having a fantastic game. The combo of Travis, Billy and Andy picked up the slack in the center of defense in his absence.
Even down, the Honey Badgers were determined to get something out of the game. Billy had a great second half shot cleared off the line by a Deportivo defender and they still had a chance for a tie as the game came to a close.
With the last offensive attack, Ryan pushed the ball down the touchline on the right side of the field where he spotted Chappy and McKenna making back post runs. Ryan waited for the perfect moment to unleash his cross to the two unmarked attackers.
Unfortunately, the cross was too low for Chappy to use his battering ram forehead and he was forced to use those big flippy things at the bottom of his legs that are really just used for running. As the ball scuffed off his foot, it probably deflected just enough that Steve couldn’t get a second crack at it behind him and the opportunity was lost. Too bad, that cross deserved better.
So the game ended with a narrow loss, but it was a solid and gutsy performance from the Cameron Road crew who were missing several key contributors.
Man-of-the-Match: The tag team tandem of Andy and Jefé were kicking ass in the center of defense all day long but Jeff took a tough break that forced him out of the game in the second half. Jefé also got to the field to see the sunrise and his Yeti was like our 12th man.
Special shout out to honorary Honey Badger Travis, who played his final game for the good guys and went out in typical Cameron Road fashion…. puking on the sidelines. Cheers.
