MATCH REPORT; Madison 4 Southington 0

When you play Summer soccer in Connecticut it can feel that you have been placed in a Swedish Sauna on full blast wearing a fur coat. Today was such a day, with the unrelenting beat of the Sun and the oppressive, saturating heat one felt completely drained of energy and that was after only five minutes of the warm up! It is a credit to both teams that they managed to put on such a good display of controlled possession and running throughout most of the game. Having said that, Southington looked to be the team that had more effectively and quickly adapted to the sweltering conditions. Madison looked sluggish, disconnected and "lacking in alacrity" over the first 30 minutes or so of the game. Nonetheless, Madison still had the best opportunities to score with chances falling to Jorge and Halil as well as Safet. For most of the first half the Madison defence was barely disturbed allowing Bruce to top up his tan while playing with a beach ball and drinking a margarita! The half was clearly a stale mate with the best moves coming from the Madison right side as Telat swept up and down the wing. At half time the talk was all about shorter passes, simple moves and taking shots on sight.

The message must have sunk in because within 5 minutes of the restart the Celts were one nil up after a great run down the Madison right by The Judge and a superb cross was met by Jorge for a simple tap in. This raised the Madison game considerably and really crushed the fight from the visitors. The second goal was delivered very quickly after the first when another great move down the right wing, this time by Roniildo, ended with a superb cross come shot that was crashed over the line by the head of Jorge for his and Madisons' second of the game. Roniildo may have felt the ball would have crept into the net without Jorge's final help but the scorers instinct made certain. By this time Madison were cruising and some very good creative passing was appearing all over the field. Halil and Ilhan were in great form with some good interchanges and Arniesto was playing a great center forward role up front. It was one of the best moves of the game that led to the third goal for Madison as a nice ball was played through the Southington defence allowing Halil to time his run to perfection beating the offside trap and coolly slotting the ball past the stranded goalkeeper. At this point in the game Madison were well worth their 3 goal lead and were pressing for more. Another great move by the Madison forwards was halted by a crude tackle on the edge of the box giving the Celts another chance to score from a set piece. Tom A stepped up and sent a beautiful shot over the wall and past the despairing dive of the goalie to send the Celts four up. Madison eased off after the goal allowing Southington back into the game and even letting some shots on goal. Bruce was alert to the danger and pulled of a great save near the end of the game to keep his clean sheet intact. Only one last cameo performance by Johnaldo was of note as he took control of the ball just inside the opposition half and went on a mazy run past 3 Southington players right into the penalty box laying off a superb pass for Jorge who only had the goalie to beat for his hat trick. Alas, it was not to be, as Jorge decided to try and dribble the ball past the goalkeeper then pass to the clearly offside Arniesto. Johnaldo denied an assist but this did not spoil a great victory for the Celts as they strengthened their position at the top of the table.

Man Of The Match Telat, for his tireless running, crunching tackles and great crosses