Cameron Road orders up side of Babaganoutch with their 2-0 win.

In a battle of ancient rivals from long ago, Cameron Road put the hurt on an undermanned Babaganoutch at Onion Creek field en route to a 2-0 victory.

Since joining D3, Cameron Road has found its form and winning ways in stark comparison to Baba, who looked a shadow of their former selves. In addition to being short on players, they seemed bitter and quick to cry wolf at any and all fouls.

As some rare November rain moved in to coat the fields, there was a worry that players might feel the need to pack it in and bank on a rainout – not the case. Cameron Road showed up strong, with 5-6 subs available for an 8am game. Impressive. Especially compared to Baba’s 10.

With Jay drying out from Fun Fun Fun Fest, BT manned-up and got in some rare fall season action between the pipes as an emergency backup goalkeeper. It was good to have him back on the field in any capacity.

As the game started, Cameron Road hoped to use their numbers and nick and early goal or two, and for the first 15 minutes Baba were overwhelmed by a legion of Honey Badgers clawing their way to goal. With space to operate in Baba’s spread out defense, CRU attacked down the flanks, dumping in balls to Gianluca and Steve McKenna.

Having been played in a ball down the right touchline, Chappy danced past Baba’s elderly left back and picked out Gianluca waiting inside the box. Chappy’s cross found him in between defenders, and The Italian Stallion sent in a shot past the keeper who was rooted to his line. 1-O Cameron Road.

Shortly after that, Gianluca tried to return the favor with a pass to Chappy in front of goal, but his pass was just out of reach for a shot. Andy then decided to get in on some attacking play with a low shot that whizzed just past the left post.

Baba did gain a small foothold on the game, mostly by stopping it with constant whining to the refs, but the Cameron Road attacks continued. Willis smacked a shot off the crossbar after a mazy run past several defenders… vintage stuff from Ryan that most likely bubbled up from memories of years past when CRU and Baba battled for D4 supremacy.

CRU quickly doubled their lead in the 2nd half as Steve McKenna continued his hot streak of goal scoring by slotting in a ball from the left side of the box. In addition to Steve’s goal, the 2nd half was full of other opportunities. Daniel destroyed a shot that came crashing back off the crossbar, Stripy got a head on a corner kick, Billy surged forward from right back spot to nearly test the keeper from close range, and Cuyler narrowly sent a trademark left-footed curling free kick over the bar. For all Cameron Road’s good play, the scoreline should have been higher, but Baba’s bickering tactics and central midfield push evened things out.

In the end, the two goals were good enough for another win that vaulted CRU into 3rd place in the division with one game to go in the Fall Campaign. It’s early days yet, but the Honey Badgers are well on their way to their best season in years.

Man-of-the-Pre-Match: Adam offset his attempt to fight Baba’s grandfatherly left back by being Johnny-on-the-Spot with the goalie gloves for BT. (although it turned out he didn’t really need to use them much)

Man-of-the-Match: Big ups to BT, Cameron Road’s way-too-long-injured central midfield magician, who was called into emergency keeper action and performed admirably – although the defense didn’t give him much to do.