El Clásico Ends In A 1-1 Stalemate As The Punters Are Again Winless in 4 Out of 5 Matches with Cameron Road

Another day, another match where the Punters Clark Field dominance seems like a distant memory. Well, I guess it is a distant memory as Cameron Road found their Honey Badger spirit to claw out a 1-1 draw at Onion Creek today.

Nestled deep within the treeline on field #10, Cameron Road were buzzing with Luke’s pre-game battle cry running through their heads. It was time to “Badger the fuck up” for real.

Jefe was first to the field (of course) to set up Badgertown, a welcome sight from the tentless fields of NEMP last weekend. Fifteen hungry badgers patrolled the sidelines, some seeing their first action since the Fall Cup, and all of them were ready to retain Crown and Anchor bragging rights (or at least not lose them) for the next 6 months.

Danimal was forced back into a cage of white chalk as Jay was absent, but he made the most of it by intimidating every attacker with vicious screams of “KEEPER!!!!!” each time he scooped up a ball.

The Punters actually had the best of the first half, putting in more attacks and shots than the Honey Badgers. Jose came mighty close as he flashed a shot across the far post. Ciro had the best attacking move of the half for Cameron Road as he almost dribbled through the entire Punter back line on his way to the box.

It was all knotted up at zeros at halftime as the Honey Badgers feasted on another round of savory oranges and discussed the second half adjustments.

The game was getting juicy, and the tackles were flying. The Honey Badgers created a nice breakaway chance as McKenna was released down the left hand side as New Chris made a 70 yard mad dash to the box. The play didn’t result in a chance, but it was a good sign that the offense was waking up at the business end of the game.

But damn if it wasn’t those Pesky Punts who ended up gaining the momentum with Nick popping up inside the box with a scrappy captain’s goal. He celebrated by doing 25 quick push ups on the sideline.

Little did he know that they Honey Badgers actually LIKE playing from behind, and the game ratcheted up another few notches in intensity (just ask Glendon).

With 20 minutes to go, the midfield put a squeeze on Benedict Arnold Lee, and forced him into turning the ball over near midfield. The two Cameron Road strikers put on a masterclass counterattack as Miguel pounced on the ball like Luke snatching the last of Grandmother’s hot biscuits, and curled a beautiful defense-splitting pass around the back line into the path of the hard-charging McKenna. Steve slotted home the tying goal like he was Ian Rush, finishing off a fantastic piece of soccer.

The final 10 minutes were a flurry of activity. The midfield was hauling ass back on defense, the brothers Little were shipping dangerous balls out of the back, and everyone else was giving all the effort they could muster to NOT LET THE PUNTERS WIN.

In a flurry of activity in the dying minutes, Ryan interrupted the Belgian National Team’s spring photo on the sidelines, took a quick throw-in, got the ball back and unleashed a shot that looked tasty until Lester gathered it up in the g0al.

Sure, it wasn’t a win, but more importantly it wasn’t a loss to the Punters, so Cameron Road considered it job done and basked in the glory of the newly modified trophy. Sorry Punters, maybe the 6th time will be the charm…. but I doubt it.

Man-of-the-Match: On a moment’s notice, Danimal had to switch his mindset from back line marauder to keeper of the box, and he did so emphatically. Now just work on getting those pop-tops into production.