Man City 1 – CRU 1

With the brutal rays of summer finally beating down on them, the Honey Badgers took the field at noon to face the mighty Manchester City. City may not have secured the services of Raheim Sterling by kickoff, but they did unleash a dynamic duo frontline that was as formidable as Cameron Road had ever seen. It would be a tough day at the office for the men at the back, but they were more than up to the task.

The lineup saw the return to the pitch by Zoran, Dave and the elusive Danimal to round out a nice squad under the tents.

Continuing their summer tactical tweaking, the Honey Badgers lined up with a five man midfield, hoping to stifle Man City and get hold of the ball. From the opening whistle, it was evident that that was going to be a tough task, with City’s two marauding forwards using their pace and skill to get behind the defense. Cameron Road were being put under a spell of pressure at the onset, and City ended up scoring first blood as an unmarked attacker headed home from point blank on a corner kick.

No worries, Cameron Road is much more at home with a bit of a mountain to climb. As the half started to get a tan, the Honey Badgers gained momentum as they started to control the ball more and more. BT, Ciro, Ryan, Peterson and Travis were all doing well as revolving pieces of a 3 man central midfield.

As the Honey Badgers started pressing the attack, they drew level as Ryan cleaned up the garbage off Dave’s thunderous shot from way downtown. A great strike by the powerful defender was too much for the keeper to handle, and Ryan was there to pounce on it like a pale, mole-laden, skinny-but-somehow-fat alley cat. 1-1.

BT was back to his old genius self, and one one play he darted and dashed through about three Man City defenders before laying off the perfect pass in the path of Zoran. Unfortunately, Z’s touch was a bit off and he smashed the ball wide. To make matters worse, soon after he went down hard on his wrist, snapping the bones like Crown & Anchor fries and ending his day on the pitch. Hopefully he can heal up in time to grace the field one more time as a Honey Badger before moving on to North Carolina.

Another good chance fell to the Honey Badgers later in the half as Peterson found Chappy darting through the center of the field. With an incisive pass, Chris zipped the ball in Chappy’s path, where his initial patented sliding shot was poked away by the defender. But Chappy sprung back up on his feet like a shimmering, bushy-tailed, fit as a mountain lion alley cat and unleashed a left-footed shot to the far post that the keeper tipped away. (yes, that is not a typo, it was a left-footed shot from outside the box).

So things were all nutted up at one goal a piece at the half. Zoran was on his way to the hospital, but the rest of the Honey Badgers dined on pineapple and oranges and listened to the motivating words of their Captain that went something like “those two guys are fast and they are good… they are the exact opposite of all of us.”

As the sun continued to bake the field, both teams came out swinging in the second half. It was pretty much a 50-50 affair, but Cameron Road seemed to retain the upper hand going forward, while continuing to shut out Man City at the back. The Honey Badger’s defense was their secret weapon, as all members surged forward at different time to join in on the attack. Billy danced his was into shooting positions in the first half as well as the second, and Danimal took a long range blast from midfield, hoping the keeper would spill the beans again.

The game was getting a little chippy too as the fouls and flying elbows started to mount up. While Jay was making crucial saves at one end, the Honey Badgers were making more scoring chances at the other. Ryan nearly doubled his pleasure, but a sure thing tap in was thwarted at the last minute by City’s European center half. With plenty of other attacks on the books, Chappy came closest to giving the Honey Badgers the lead with a powerful header off of Peterson’s corner kick, but he thumped it straight off the near post instead. The rebound found its way to New Chris, who nailed a thunderous shot that slammed into the side netting.

The final whistle sounded as Cameron Road again attacked down the right side with Ciro trying to latch onto a long cross. 1-1 was a fair result, and the Honey Badgers continue to impress. This summer looks to be turning into a nice return to form for Cameron Road ahead of the big fall campaign.

Man-of-the-Match: With his injury concerns seemingly behind him, BT looks like the creative playmaker in the center of the park that we all remember. He darted and weaved, pulled off some trademark 360’s, sent in some crosses, set up Z, and managed to keep his trap quiet for most of the game. Quality stuff.