Trophy is Secure as Badgers and Punters Play to 1-1 Draw

The bi-annual rite of passage for Clark Field Supremacy was on display yesterday as the Honey Badgers and Punters squared off for their cathartic grudge match. Could Cameron Road bust out of their slump and get a result, fueled by Luke’s glorious motivational email and the watchful eyes of the tree line?

Slim numbers and fine people…. on both sides! Two subs each made for 90 minutes of work from a lot of players, but derby adrenaline was enough to sustain most player’s legs to go the distance.

These matches tend to go one of two ways: An epic beatdown, or a closely-fought contest going down to the wire. Within the first 10 minutes it was clear that this game would trend towards the latter, with both teams matching up evenly and representing.

The Punters tactics were clear. Control the midfield. Work the ball down slowly. Look for G$ or Big Tim inside the box. Cameron Road had other plans as they defended deep as a team, marked every Punter with a body, and sprang forward on the break looking to get Derek in deep.

The Honey Badgers also threw out a 4-5-1 formation with a 3 man central midfield to combat the Eagle Claw, Nick, Adam and Leo. Ryan, Ciro and Schwarzy were doing a great job slowing them down.

The tree line turned her back on Cameron Road about 15 minutes in as the Honey Badgers got lucky, unlucky, lucky, and unlucky again within a span of two minutes. While doing some damage inside the box, the Punters got a look at an open goal for a shot. Luckily, Danimal was waiting on the line to knock the ball away and save a certain goal. Unlucky for him, the ball stuck his arm. Luckily, the referee kept his red card in his pocket and though the contact was incidental. Unlucky for the team, he gave the Punters a p/k which G$ scored (although Jay was a whisker away from saving it as he dove to his right).

No worries, the Honey Badgers didn’t panic and knew they were playing well.

Time to even things up with a wonderful counter attack. Playing in his preferred deep lying midfield playmaker role, Willis sent in a tasty through ball down the gut to Ciro, who worked the ball out wide to Derek. A cutback here, a cutback there, and a return pass to the little playmaker resulted in a shot on target from Ciro. The Punters keeper, not expecting a shot that wouldn’t come directly at him, got an outstretched hand on the shot as it sailed past him to his right, but was unable to stop it from smashing the back of the net for the tying goal! Ciro probably earned himself a 1 week ice bath reprieve with that shot.

More back and forth play. BT got involved, and spread the ball around with his usual laissez faire style. Billy scooped a nice ball to Chappy. Jeff Z, Danimal, Big Dave and Jefe worked the ball out of the back. Schwarzy let loose a thunderous, non-alcoholic shot from distance. Peterson sent it, and recalled his emails when a short pass was more warranted. On the other end, Leo and Adam were a handful in midfield. Shannon and his low center of gravity engaged his nasty streak. Henny and Eric managed to not yell at each other. Quality was oozing from every orifice of the pitch.

Late in the half, the Badgers should have taken the lead. Twice. During a Honey Badger attack, the ball fell to Chappy inside the 6 yard box. With a chest high bounce coming back to earth and the keeper in front of him he had some work to do, and his touch to the far post was saved by the Punter keeper and pushed out wide for a corner kick. Chappy got the Bald Dome of Power on the corner, but sent it high over the bar. Two good chances squandered. Chappy though he had done reasonably well with the chances, but BT’s son informed him that he “played like garbage.” That kid speaks truth to power.

The Punters ended the half with an attack that saw them move the ball to their massive new forward, Tim, who had some “soft feet” for a big man as he carved out a bit of space for himself and let loose a shot to the far post. Luckily, Jaybone dove to his right and got a fingertip to the ball to just push it wide of goal and save some Honey Badger asses yet again.

A second straight unsatisfying orangeless halftime.

The Badgers came out hot in the second half, carving out their best (and only) shot on target for the next 45 minutes. A A A Ron played a poor pass across his defense that Derek pounded on like it was the last morsel of a fresh plate of Luke’s Grandmother’s hot biscuits. As he sped towards goal, there was a kink in the hydraulic lines suppling precious “butter juice” to his cutback regulator, so he had to let a shot fly with his left foot. The chip sailed over the bar.

At the other end, the Punters were ramping up the pressure, but the Honey Badgers were doing a great job of playing team defense, never giving an inch of space. A few injuries started to rack up though, as Nick was forced to leave the game with a twisted ankle, and Leo’s untimely scrape of Jeff Z’s ankle put him on the shelf, even with the protection of his gifted red socks.

As the Punters brought the heat, the Badgers bowed up, but gave away several free kicks too cheaply – the referee wasn’t helping as he made some bizarre calls himself. But the tree line again turned it’s gaze onto the majestic yellow jerseys and willed that the ensuing shots either went deep into their lair or bounced off the crossbar to relative safety.

The Honey Badgers repelled the final assault on goal, and the game was over. A strange, unsatisfying but respectful calm fell over both teams as the 1-1 draw settled into their collective conscious.

For Cameron Road, it was another tiny step towards respectable soccer. As Danimal put it, “after last year you put a dead honey badger skeleton on the tee shirt, so we’ve got a long way to go to get back.” True dat Danny, True Dat.

Man-of-the-Match: Score against the Punters, reap the rewards. All hail Ciro and his not-straight-at-the-keeper strike!

Post-Match-Report: As the sound of pop tops filled the air, Cameron Road settled in to bask in the glow of not losing, and also to watch their next two opponents do battle. Ciro had a quiet chuckle as Jefe did his sensei proud, soaking Chappy’s shorts with water. But Chappy turned his ice bath attention to Billy, giving him in turn an icy groin shot, sparing the goal-scorer for the week. To his credit, the Scottsman took it like a man and didn’t flinch (or throw a 3/4 full beer can at anyone).