Cameron Road Settles for Opening Day 2-2 Draw Against Deep Eddy

With the dreadful summer season fading into memory like that one time Ryan claims to have scored five goals in a game, the Honey Badgers embarked on their second season in Over 30B with high hopes.  Unlike last year, there was no Chris Peterson party to celebrate his freshly painted deck to knock out half the team before the game, so the bloodshot eyes and groggy faces were at a minimum.

As always, there were some notable faces left off the team sheet due to injuries, but the 13 available Honey Badgers suited up ready for anything that their mostly gray-haired opponents clad in lime green could throw at them.

Cameron Road started with lineup of Jaybone in goal, Luke and Andy in central defense, Crosley and Jéfe at full back, Ciro and Peterson in central midfield, Chappy and Adam on the wings, and Ryan and Steve up top. Jake and Stripy were at the ready inside the badgerdome.

It was a good start for Cameron Road as they were able to exploit the aging defenders of Deep Eddy with some good early passing. Deep Eddy had a few good players up front including one ball hawk in the center of the park, but with him marked they were able to find some space to operate their intricate Punteresque passing game.

The early breakthrough came when (for some strange reason) the Deep Eddy keeper decided to take a throw in deep within his own half. Willis pounced on the ball like a mouse scavenging the last crumbs of a dropped plate of Luke’s grandmother’s hot biscuits. After weaving his way through several stunned defenders, Willis lobbed the ball 20 yards into the defenseless net for the first goal of the season and the first lead of the game. 1-0 Cameron Road.

With a goal to spur him on, Ryan barked out orders and sprayed some good passes around. He lofted a great ball for Steve to run onto, but the keeper pushed his shot over the bar.

With Luke and Andy both pushing up high to break up play and Ciro and Peterson deploying balls from the center of the pitch, the Honey Badgers had Deep Eddy on the back foot. A second goal was coming.

Ryan received another good ball through the middle of the pitch and started his run at the keeper. As he drew the bulk of the defense toward him, he heard a little rumble to his left that sounded something like “ryan, Ryan, RYAN, JESUS RYAN!!!!” It was Chappy’s call announcing his position on the field and after deducing his Captain and Mentor’s intentions, he daftly passed the ball to his left where Chappy had only the keeper to beat. Sizing up the situation and realizing that there was no way to attempt a header with the ball on the ground, Chappy picked a spot to the left of the keeper and unleashed a size 13 blast to the back of the net. 2-0 Cameron Road.

There were some shaky moments at the end of the half where Jay was forced to make a few saves, and CRU got off with a bit of luck after some powerful Deep Eddy shots went wide of goal. Most likely they were blinded by the sheer brilliance of Crosley’s new neon Puma shoe/sock combination. But Cameron Road was able to weather the storm and take their two goal lead into halftime.

You would think a two goal lead against a semi-elderly opponent would be good enough to insure an easy victory, but this is the Honey Badgers we’re talking about and they never seem to make things easy on themselves.

The second half was going well, although Deep Eddy was starting to gain some momentum with their midfield Messi starting to make some mazy runs into the heart of the defense. Andy was having one hell of a game moping up attacks, heading out balls, and generally throwing himself around with reckless abandon. His other defenders were helping him out and pushing forward as Jake and Jéfe made several advance runs into enemy territory.

In between the two Deep Eddy second half goals, Cameron Road pushed hard, but could never seem to find the back of the net. On another day McKenna could have had a few goals, Chappy hit the post with a low drive from outside the box and mistimed another header opportunity, Adam attempted an off the face shot from the back post, Ciro made several quick turns and shots, Stripy came inches away from a goal, and Peterson took some blasts from downtown.

In the end the Honey Badgers had to settle for a draw, but probably all though to themselves “how the hell did we not win that game?” At least they avoided the dreaded opening day loss and got some points on the board to build on.

Man-of-the-Match: Three weeks in London and Paris must have done Ryan some good, because he came back to the team and dropped a goal, an assist and the season’s first ice bath on Jéfe’s back to round out his MOTM performance.