MATCH REPORT; Milford 2 Madison 2

Erratic form returns to haunt Madison


Vibrant Fall colors, a verdant lush field and a warming Sun arcing across an azure sky created the perfect conditions for playing the "beautiful game". Unfortunately this picture perfect scene was to be ruined by some pretty ugly play by both teams during the match. For some strange reason Madison started the game in a very sluggish manner with some very low energy performances permeating through the team. Milford, although not exactly magic, were sufficiently enterprising to force the Madison team on to the defensive throughout the first 15 minutes of this game. Although the Madison defense has played well at times through the season this game would not prove to be one of their best. Even with the return of the nomadic Hamid to the defensive ranks the back four played out an error strewn first quarter of the game and were rewarded for this sloppy play by a goal from Milford. A simple ball was lobbed up through the left of the Madison defence and chased by an on running Milford forward who was easily first and last to the ball as he slammed it past the stranded Behrooz.

This served as the wake up call for the Madison players as their play started to noticeably improve. Some nice touch and go passing between the defence, midfield and attack ended with another classic mazy run by Carlos into the opposition penalty box. After a few scrambled and frantic attempts at shooting by Madison, and desparate clearances by Milford, the ball finally made its way into the back of the net with the help of the battling midfielder Jacques. At this point Madison were playing well and getting on top of their opposition. However, in another moment of defensive befuddlement Tom A over hit a pass to Tom P across the edge of the Madison penalty box straight in to the path of the on rushing Milford forward who wasted no time in dispatching the ball into the Madison net. Another avoidable goal from Madison which could have signalled some heads going down and the game running away from them. To their credit Madison again raised their play and got back into the game. Several chances went begging at the Milford end of the field but, shortly before half time a free kick on the right hand side for Madison was expertly swung in by Scott and met at the far left post by Eric to squeeze the ball in for the equalizer. All tied at half time and some frustrations beginning to show around the field.

The second half was a largely fractious, bad tempered affair with both teams having trouble completing their passes. There were still many chances to score with Rohan and Carlos doing some strong running but getting no luck in front of goal. Milford also had a clear goal bound shot cleared off the line before having a player sent off for persistent fouling. After this the game ran its course with no further incident as Madison slumped to another avoidable draw.

Next up will be Trumball and hopefully a return to the form that saw off New Fairfield earlier in the season.