How White Claw, Bad Internet and the 3-5-2 Brought Down the Honey Badgers 0-3 Against ATX United

Mid September and it’s still hot as balls at Onion Creek as the Honey Badgers assembled for their noon tussle with ATX United. ATX looked pretty strong, with some vaguely familiar Premier-ish looking forwards in the mix from their apparent league-wide roster of 800 players.

Cameron Road fielded a pretty strong side with 4 subs available, including Danimal’s return to the field.

The talk of the pre-game was the attempt to switch to an Italian-style 3-5-2 formation. Would it work, or cause mass confusion? A little bit of both as ATX attacked more in the early stages of the game and were putting the Honey Badgers under pressure. A goal here, and a goal there put them under more pressure as they were looking at a two goal deficit to crawl out of early on.

The third goal of the half was just bad luck as the ball seemed to bounce off multiple players as Cameron Road tried to clear a corner kick, but it ended up in the back of the net.

With the shaky start, there were some bright moments as Danimal flung himself head first into a low challenge near the end line, giving little thought to the safety and protection of his brain bucket. At the other end, Peterson had a nice turn and snap shot from just outside the box to keep ATX on their toes.

Halftime brought some oranges packed with flavor and a switch back to the missionary position of formations, 4-4-2.

Cameron Road also switched goalkeepers as Danimal got between the pipes as Jaybone was unleashed on the left flank. With a new back 4 in place, the Honey Badgers looked to lock it down in the back and try to get something going up front.

It was better, but not good enough.

Danny made some fantastic saves as ATX continued to be dangerous, and the Honey Badgers did a better job of getting forward. Hunting for goals, Derek and Gigi prowled the ATX box like a duo of hungry teenagers who just woke up at 1:30pm, ravenous for a plate of their Grandmother’s hot biscuits. Gigi unleashed a powerful blast from the left side, as Derek cutback to and fro.

Perhaps the best opportunity came deep in the half as Chris G motored forward and absolutely blasted a shot towards goal…. shame he wasn’t rewarded for his efforts.

But in the end, it was another game of two halves (I mean, aren’t they all?) where Cameron Road lost focus in the first and came back strong in the second. One of these days, they Honey Badgers are gonna put it together for 90 minutes. More than likely when they are safe and sound without any chance of accidentally winning the league.

Man-of-the-Match: Danimal was all over the place. Marauding the filed in the first half, playing keeper in the second half, and running home to get an air pump for Jefe’s flat tire after the game. Solid.

Post-Match Report: The Post-Game was dominated by White Claw, cell phones, and Jay’s poor Google access from his cellular plan. Ciro escaped his customary icing, claiming to have to “catch a flight” – Chappy’s watery wrath shall be doubled upon his return to Badgertown, as pouring water on a Punter was a weak, hollow, meaningless substitute.