CRU 1 – Strikers 0

If it’s not freezing out on the high plaines of NEMP, then you’ve got to deal with the 40 mph winds swirling around overhead. That was the case yesterday when Cameron Road once again rose to the occasion and scored a legitimate victory against the Strikers. We may lack the scoring touch of Celtic and Stoney Point, but our defense has allowed us to be one of the hottest teams in the league over the last month and our “non losing” streak continues to swell to 5 weeks now. 

This game was put away early with scrappy Chappy strike from close range, beating the keeper to a ball and sending a toe-poke into the bottom right hand corner of the net. Up 1-0 after only 5 minutes and with the wind to our backs was a good place to be. Several minutes later, another attack saw Dermot scoop a close-range shot in the box just over the bar.  A few minutes later, BT sent a screamer at goal, but the Striker’s keeper made a great save to deny our long-shorted midfielder from doubling our lead. Having the massive wind at our backs, we pressed them the entire half, looking for another goal to give us some breathing room, but we had to settle for a 1-0 lead at the break. 

Knowing that we had a lot of work cut out for us in the second half going against the wind, we decided to shift from our 4-3-3 attacking formation to a more conservative 4-5-1. We actually had several great attacks in the second half with BT and Luke hooking up, Andy and myself almost coming together, and Bob who did everything but score on a great run down the right hand side. 

The D was great once again in the second half. With the wind, Strikers proved to be more of a threat, and it was crazy tiring trying to run into that wind. Billy was mustard at right back, always playing the ball away from danger, Cuyler and Bob were rock solid in the middle, and Big John and Onome held down the fort on the left hand side. And although things got a little crazy formation wise in the second half, with midfielders running around all over the place, at the end of the day we did enough to shut them down. And let’s not forget Jay’s fantastic fingertip save that kept our lead.

So congratulations for a well-earned victory.

Man-of-the-Match: The wind.