WIN: 2-1 vs Santos – Back to Back Wins As Badgers Move Up The Table

Walking up to the tree line around 1:40 yesterday, there were already 12, count’em, 12 Ateamo Badgers already waiting for the game to start! A positive look to game number three of the Spring Season.

One of those players was a long-lost Punter-beating hero, Miguel, who made his glorious return to the Cameron Road tent after years adrift. Chappy gave him the #17 jersey, which Miguel immediately covered in Slack logos like a NASCAR driver’s suit.

Big Dave made it five subs to work with, which also bode well for the Badgers fitness.

For the opening 15 minutes of the game, Santos didn’t cross over into Badger territory. An unusual starting lineup with Migel and Ciro on the wings was paying dividends as the Badgers set up shop in Santos territory. Peterson and Schwarzy made up the 4 midfielders to allow CRU to control the game early on.

An early shot by Gianluca that was blocked saw Peterson dial up his first piece of magic on the afternoon. It was almost if the ball was looking for the best hair on the team to cozy up to as it fell between Peterson and Schwarzy. But even as Brian called for it, the ball knew there could be no substitute for the Peterson mop so it nestled itself up to his left food. Peterson’s quick turn and shot with the left saw a looping ball hit the jet stream at the just the right point in it’s parabolic arc to drop down right behind the keeper for a stunning opening Badger goal!

With the lead in hand, Cameron Road might have eased off the gas just a tad as Santos started to finally get into the game. They got forward a few times, and got a break as one of their shots was deflected by a very long and skinny Badger leg to skim past Jaybone to pull even at 1-1.

With more back and forth, Chappy decided to add a little spice to the game after missing last weekend’s win. Not content with just making a throw in a boring part of the game, he grabbed the loose ball right in front of the Badger tent and delivered a glorious, twisting, one-footed throw in that made Luke suddenly shudder from 1500 miles away, dropping a fresh plate of his Grandmother’s biscuits. From there, there was a mini roast happening from the peanut gallery in the tent.

Halftime and where the hell are the oranges Adam?

With the second half underway, Cameron Road’s five subs started to really pay off. Danny got some time up top in between back spasms. Guillermo, Big Dave, Billy, Jeff Z, Parks and Chris G rotated in and out of defense. And the stacked midfield provided fresh legs.

Santos were starting to crawl back into the game, mainly with their #14 lobbing deep throws in from the left hand side, but the Badgers were the ones coming closest to getting another goal. Off a corner, Gianluca smashed one off the post that came out to Parks sitting at the back post. His close-range header nicked the post as well from a yard out, rolling painfully to safety.

Later in the game, Gigi’s low shot fizzed just past the far post, waiting for Jake’s tap in that didn’t come. Badgers were threatening.

It would take another piece of Peterson magic to take the lead for good. Winning a free kick WAY out on the right hand side, Peterson placed the ball and surveyed his options. With the wind at his back, he decided to PUT IT UP and let one fly headed to the crowd at the back post. But Chris had a little something extra on the free kick and watched as it dropped right behind the stunned keeper yet again for a fantastic double that gave Cameron Road the lead. Stunner of a goal.

The Badgers saw out the final minutes of the game as Billy delivered two “Scottish Kisses” on back-to-back players causing one of them to rage out and make a bee line for revenge. However, his attempt was ill-advised and thwarted without incident.

Game. Set. Match. Badgers win 2-1 for the second week in a row and continue their climb back to mid-table security.

Man-of-the-Pre-Match: Jefe calling his shots in a motivational ploy resulted in 5 subs to the start of his birthday month.

Man-of-the-Match: With two pretty stunning goals, Peterson delivered the goods for the big Badgers win.

Post-Match-Report: The post match was just what Miguel ordered and had been missing. The beer was flowing. Holden was working on his moves. Danny marveled at Chappy’s golf swing. Ciro received a 3oz, drip icing. Jaybone half-connected with a sneaky Chappy icing. Ciro and Guillermo discussed plans to visit a Japanese bath house while in Tokyo. The tree line provided. It was a good day to be a Badger.