Is It Possible To Play Well And Lose 4-0? Badgers Say YES!!
Cameron Road took another one on the chin today on the first day of March as they fell to ATX United 4-0. But that didn’t tell the whole story as the scoreline flattered ATX. For most of the 90 minutes the game was a closely played chess match.
The Badgers knew they might be in a tough spot this week with a third of the team missing in action…. or so they thought. Andy gets Man-of-the-Pre-Match honors for flying in last night, checking the Evite, and showing up after a week of running into people on skis.
In the plus column, Billy made his first Spring appearance after safely returning from his African safari where he called every native animal a “fookin donkey.”
The Honey Badgers were expecting a difficult game vs ATX, but in the early goings, they were going toe-to-toe with the 2nd place team. They defended well, and Billy’s silly touch on the ball helped out in attack from the right flank.
He also got involved early as he floated up a corner kick for Chappy to head home, but the ball was cleared off the line by a defender. Unlucky.
The Badgers were playing well, passing the ball around, and soaking up the ATX pressure. Derek was getting into deep positions, Peterson was prowling as the other forward, Schwarzy controlled the tempo with a fresh new haircut, and Ciro worked on raising his core temp with some good old fashioned hustle.
Having survived, the Badgers felt pretty damn good about going into the break tied at zeros. There were oranges, and the CRU hotline lit up red as Steve McKenna was on his way fresh from a quick 4 hours of sleep (with dreams of not getting headhunted most likely)
ATX brought a bit more heat in the second half, and Cameron Road did well to soak it up, but weren’t getting as many chances at the other end. When Steve arrived fifteen minutes in, ATX snuck in a close-range goal to finally break the deadlock. Bummer, but still all to play for.
Jaybone made a great fingertip save to push a shot wide, and later on he made quite a miraculous double save. He was determined to limit the damage.
But despite their efforts to keep the score manageable, ATX snuck in two more. And added a fourth on what was the last kick of the game.
The Honey Badgers were not without a few offensive bright spots though. One hell of a play developed when Derek got the ball deep on the right hand side, continued his run and picked out McKenna with a perfect cross to the opposite side of the box. Steve headed the ball down off the ground where the keeper pushed it back out to him, and his second attempt was saved off the line by an ATX defender who stuck his hand out…… but no penalty was given! Harsh, especially since the defender subsequently confessed to his dubious deed.
Unlike last week’s beatdown, the Badgers were feeling better about their play, even though the scoreline said otherwise. There was some good stuff in there, especially in the first half. Now that they’ve run the gauntlet with the division’s top dawgs, it’s time to get moving on a mid-table parity party.
Man-of-the-Match: Jaybone made some incredible saves, and his leg is probably swollen from sending all those goal kicks.
Notes from the Post-Match: Jefe likes beer that tastes like shampoo. There were eaglets in the field 7 tree. Ranch Water is good. FTP.
