MATCH REPORT;Southington 0 Madison 1

Season Starts with Hard Fought Win for the Celts!

Madison Celts got the Summer season off to a great start with a well contested but equally well deserved win against a stuffy Southington team.

The Celts were missing a few key players through injury but we had Ruben starting his first game and the return of Telat, Ilhan and Halil. It was also good to see Gogglito and The Judge back in the team although Gogglito's game was marred by an early ankle injury that really affected his ability to compete fully in the game. To his credit he hung in there for as long as he could.

The Celts were hungry for the ball right from the kick off and had a number of great attempts that went narrowly wide or were saved by the in form Southington keeper. Carlos saw a lot of the ball early in the game and made the most of his tricky skills down the wing by torturing the Southington defence. Halil and Ruben were also getting some shots off only to see them blocked or go wide. Celtic, after half an hour, must have had nearly 80% of the possession but no goal to show for their dominance. But you could tell a goal was coming and when it did it came from some slick passing though the midfield and forwards.
Halil won the ball on the edge of the box and passed it out to Carlos on the right wing who then swept into the box before sending over an inch perfect pass to Jodingo!! who slammed the ball into the net from a few feet out. A great goal to cap a period of intense pressure by Madison. The goal itself was fitting reward for Jodingo!! who had started the game on fire with some robust tackling and great passing moves.
The rest of the first half was played out in the opposition side of the field with a second goal looking increasingly likely for the visitors but frustratingly not arriving. The first half finished with a narrow but well deserved one nil lead to the Celts.
The second half started with Southington making more of a game of it using their flanks for quick breaking moves that put Madison under the first real pressure of the game. Luckily, the defence was well organised by La Boca who was in great football and verbal form. Roniildo also had a great game as a forward moving center back and tried to encourage his old midfielder chums to get back and help in defence as the second half wore on.

The defence was cleaning up so many of the attacks that El Gato had a fairly straight forward day with only a few saves to make. His only mad moment came when he thought the opposition had 12 players on the field and he erupted like an Icelandic Volcano! His only other problem during the game was his clearance balls out from the back.....he had the distribution of a dyslexic postman! Too many balls straight to the opposition!

Up front our midfield and forwards were starting to tire alarmingly and quite a few balls were going astray. Ruben, who is as short as a Siberian summer, was getting high balls sent over to him that could have doubled as orbiting satellites. Once passes got to him on the ground he was able to move the ball quickly into the opposition box. The Judge gave his all in the game but by the end he had the turning circle of a large oil tanker stuck on the Great Barrier reef! No matter, the team fought hard even when tired and the strong running of Carlos and Telat on the right side kept the Southington team on their toes. Having said that, it was a relief to hear the final whistle blow to end an absorbing contest that the Celts well deserved to win!

MAN OF THE MATCH; Jodingo!! A fantastic game by the slimmed down and rejuvenated Jodingo!! Great tackling, constant awareness, strong running and a great goal made him the obvious choice!