Torchy’s hot sauce too spicy for Cameron Road as they fall 2-1.

Cameron Road United fell to Torchy’s 2-1 on a muggy Sunday afternoon after mounting a second half comeback to get themselves back into the game. As a third of the team was out with the sea of humanity at ACL waiting for Chumbawumba to take center stage, 13 Honey Badgers showed up to face a familiar summer foe in Torchy’s. As was the case last week, Cameron Road still struggled to show the patience and poise needed in their passing game to take control of the game.

A spirited first half had both teams running up and down the pitch, but the stalemate was broken as Torchy’s advanced, shot, and were the recipients of some fortuitous bounces as they scored off a CRU own goal. Then, if that wasn’t enough luck for them, they were awarded a p/k after a dubious call by the referee as Cameron Road’s defense was simply playing physically inside the box. As the Torchy’s striker netted from the spot, the half ended and Cameron Road found themselves in a bit of a hole.

The second half was better for Cameron Road, as Barnaby and Willis attacked through the middle and Gianluca proved to be up for the game, even though he was suffering through a bout of the flu. With Way providing some good crosses from the right and the defense and Jay holding things together at the back, the comeback was starting to take shape. Barnaby let loose a few shots, one that went inches over the bar, as the team tried desperately to get back into the game. After a quick free kick at midfield was taken by Gianluca, Willis pounced on the thru-ball like an alley cat living off scraps of fortune cookies and old deli meat. His brilliant first time shot beat the keeper to the far post and United were back in the game.

Cameron Road’s weary legs and bodies were being called into action, as both Chris Peterson and Billy were ruled out of the latter stages of the fight with injuries. With no subs and constant pressure from Torchy’s, Cameron Road still managed to carve out a few chances, and none were any better than one of the final plays of the game. With Willis attacking from the right and sending in a cross across the face of goal, Andy burst forward and was faced with a short range shot. Unfortunately, the cross hit him in “no-man’s land”, too high to kick, and too low to head, so the ball came off his chestal region. Luckily, it landed near Gianluca, but his close-range effort somehow narrowly missed as well. 99 times out of 100 Cameron Road scores that goal and gets outta Dodge with a tie, but today, it was not meant to be.

Not a memorable start to the season so far, but hopefully as the full squad returns next week, Cameron Road will get back into their summer winning ways.

Man-of-the-Match: Playing his first game in 2 months, Ryan Willis provided the spark to get back into the game with his beautiful strike, and was almost the provider for the game-tying goal. To hell with his sore psoas muscle.

Author’s note – if this write up seems a bit lacking in the details department, blame it on a  post 90 minutes played, post Slurpee, post several beers later end to the evening.