LOSS: CRU 3 – Circle C 8 – Big Dave Equals Circle C Goals In Slide Tackles

In an already never-ending and heart-breaking season, the Honey Badgers were put to the sword by second place Circle C yesterday. The game turned into a kick in the nuts as the finale whistle mercifully blew, but it was not without some pretty fantastic bright spots for Cameron Road.

At five minutes to kickoff, there were only 8 Honey Badgers warming up – not a good sign facing a team with close to 20 folks in the other dugout. Within another 10 minutes CRU has amassed 12 Badgers, including Big Joe who strode over from field 10 in his traditional neoprene body armor, hoping to erase the tragedy of Verity’s late collapse. Sorry Joe, not your day.

After a brief start a man down, Cameron Road fielded a full squad, and started to see how the game would take shape. Things weren’t going too badly at the start, although Ciro was taking a beating in central midfield as Circle C wasn’t taking too kindly to his silky moves with the ball. The Honey Badgers caught an early break when a potential Circle C goal was called back for offside. However, they did manage to nab the early goal when the dreaded “back pass” was unleashed from the back line. Not to worry (yet).

Jefe absolutely smashed an attacker that was headed for goal, a proper “business decision” to thwart an oncoming Circle C attack.

There were good moments of play at the other end as well, as it wasn’t just all defense. The Honey Badgers got into the Circle C final third on several occasions, trying to make an honest game of things as the opponents hulking man-mountain of a keeper packed himself between the pipes like Hagrid.

Circle C stuck again as The Most Interesting Man in the World drove home a shot from distance. 0-2.

On one Honey Badger attack, Schwarzy hit a left footed shot over the bar as Chappy remarked “don’t worry, nobody has a left foot.” The Schwarz doesn’t forget however, and a bit later he made Chappy eat those words with the opening Honey Badger goal. Yunir got a free kick on the left side just outside the 18 yard box, and his pinpoint cross found The Dome Of Power, which got enough on the ball to cause it to ricochet off a defender right into he path of Schwarzy’s left foot, where he properly buried it into the back corner of the net. “How do you like the left foot now!?” he asked his Captain. Well-played sir, well-played.

At 2-1 it was game on! (for a brief moment)

Two more Circle C goals ended the half and the Honey Badgers were looking down the barrel of a 1-4 scoreline.

Oranges.

After a wee lineup shuffle to start the second half, it was back to business with the wind at CRU’s backs. The clouds rolled in as the wind picked up, burning away some of the heat and humidity.

Jefe had another tactical play at the half line as he stopped another breakaway with a bit of defensive dark art shirt pulling. A clever yellow card offense.

Back in the lineup after a rest, Derek was forcing his way into some action at the tip of the spear, trying to unleash the cutback in deep positions. While surging forward down the left hand touchline, Andy was ejected into field 5 when he tried the Brian Parks shoulder charge with the Circle C Jolly Green Giant. Minutes later, he was airborne again (tribute to Jake?) after receiving another nasty foul. He was a bit broken and battered after that and exited the game to nurse his sore knee.

The dreaded back pass of doom struck again for Cameron Road, this time coming from midfield. 1-5. Still, the Badgers did not quit. And just like that, awesomeness struck twice! First Adam let loose the shot of his life with a long range bomb that sailed over Hagrid’s paws. 2-5. Minutes later, Schwarzy uncorked a beautiful curling shot to the back post to give the Badgers a lifeline at 3-5. GAME ON! (briefly). Brian had a chance to get his hat trick with another shot, probably trying to keep up with young Holden who exploded with 104 goals at his tiny game on Saturday. (at least, that’s how many goals he told Chappy he scored).

At the other end, Circle C kept on coming. With Andy out of the lineup, Chappy shifted to left back with Big Dave sliding over to the middle with Big Joe. When a Circle C attacker found himself pretty much right in front of Jaybone, Chappy had no choice but to try and poke the ball free from behind, but the referee gave a penalty. Sources tell us that it was 50/50, but it did set up another piece of Cameron Road heroics as Jaybone dived right and saved the penalty kick! Cheers ensued.

With 20 minutes to go, the game became THE BIG DAVE SHOW. It was not an exaggeration to say that Dave lit up 5 attacks in a row with his patented slide tackle. It was a sight to behold. Chappy took notes and deployed his less-graceful, studs-up hop and stomp on a few attackers, but Bid Dave was simply on fire. Never seen anything like it.

Sure, sure, Circle C dumped in another 3 goals as the Badgers were pushing to get back into he game, but the scoreline really did flatter them as many of their goals were simply CRU errors that would have been avoided on another day.

As the whistle blew, the Badgers went back to the tentless sideline to lick their wounds and drink their beer. Speaking of, the Most Interesting Circle C Player in the World actually brought some over a a final peace offering, which was a little touch of class from a worthy opponent.

Man-of-the-Match: This one has to be a two-fer. Schwarzy had two goals and an assist. But Big Dave put on a show deep into the second half and has to be recognized for his magnificent performance. Well done boys!