Dermot’s Super Strike Shuts Up Keeper, But Manchesthair United Have Last Word As They Defeat Honey Badgers 2-1

It might have been a loss, but for the second week in a row, Cameron Road United fought hard and played well despite the result. The final score was 2-1 for Manchesthair United, but the Honey Badgers almost squeaked out a draw at the last second.

Noon in August is hot. Really hot. And luckily for the Honey Badgers, a late surge of arriving players gave them three or four subs to soak up the heat and give the young pups from Manchesthair United a game. These kids probably had an average age of 25, so it was going to be a tough test for the battle-weary old veterans of Cameron Road United to contend with.

Despite all that, for the first 10 minutes of the game, Cameron Road were the better side and were unlucky not to grab a goal. But as the half wore one, the youngsters starting showing their speed, attacking with fresh legs and grabbed the opening goal with a long-range strike down the center of the pitch.

Even though they were gaining some momentum, the Cameron Road defense was still up for the task as Danny and Dave traded slide tackles. A second conceded goal was a bad sign, and CRU was dealt an even tougher blow when Ryan was given a red card for lashing out against the opposing keeper. (luckily, it the slate was wiped clean after the game by the referee). Down to 10 men and behind 2 goals to a solid, young team, Cameron Road could have thrown in the towel, parked the bus in front of Jay, and limped home in defeat – but that is not the way of the Honey Badger.

Instead, the started pressing forward in an effort to get back into the game. Ben was solid and feisty as he was only available for the first half and tried to beat the keeper to the far post with a slicing shot. Ciro curled one over the bar from just outside the box. BT tried a left-footed strike from distance. The Honey Badgers were getting close. And as they were getting close, the kids from Manchesthair were getting some attitude – I don’t think they were used to teams fighting back against them.

At the half, even down by 2 goals and playing a man down, the Badger Den was positive and the comeback strategy was hatched out. With Ryan out and Ben leaving, there were only 2 subs available, so it was setting up to be a rough 45 minutes in the heat.

The Honey Badgers really shined in the second half as they held Manchesthair United scoreless and continued to get under their skin. Their Dutch kits may have been nice, but putting goofy nicknames on the backs of them proved to be a costly mistake as it provided comedic fodder for the veteran wit at Cameron Road’s disposal. BT went into full Reggie Miller mode as he relentlessly went after “Gonzo”. His best line of the day occurred after “Gonzo” fluffed his lines for the umpeeth time and BT proclaimed, “he actually is a muppet!” Classic.

With Cameron Road pushing for a goal, the battle continued to heat up on the pitch and the referee equalized the numbers by sending off a Manchesthair United midfielder for a second yellow card offense. The Honey Badgers continued their attacks, and Dave and Danimal continued their efforts to slide tackle anything and everything in their path. (Danny narrowly won the day with a double slide tackle, one of which happened on the ground)

As the game was getting close to full time, the sideline banter continued as Travis and the keeper exchanged verbal blows. “Why don’t you come on the field and try to score” were the keeper’s famous last words as Cameron Road set up for a free kick. Mere seconds later, as the ball bounced several time in front of goal, Dermot smashed it home for a Honey Badger goal. Jefe and the Badger Den erupted in a volcanic avalanche of tirades and joy at the most perfectly timed goal in Honey Badger history. As he lay motionless on the pitch face down, the Manchesthair keeper finally stood up and had to concede the brilliance of the goal…. “that was pretty good” he uttered to the sidelines.

With minutes left in the game, the comeback was ON as the Honey Badgers made a mad dash for another goal. With one of the last kicks of the game, BT delivered the perfect pass to Travis that cut through the center of defense and he found himself one-on-one with the keeper charging out. Travis tried to power lob the keeper, and as the ball was descending into the back of the net, Aaron walked by with a styrofoam cooler. In his haste to watch entertaining soccer, Aaron failed to secure the lid properly, and as a gust of wind descended upon him, it blew the lid off the cooler and it drifted upwards towards the goal, striking the ball at the last possible moment pushing it over the bar. The Punter curse continues!!

The game finished up 1-2 for Manchesthair United, but the Honey Badgers came back from much adversity to take the better of the second half and almost pull off another classic comeback.

Man-of-the-Match: Dermot’s perfectly timed and perfectly struck strike was enough to seal the deal for this week’s Man of the Match.