MATCH REPORT; Wallingford 4 Madison 4

We came, we saw, we oh so nearly conquered! But in the end the wheels well and truly came off the chariot as Madison Celtic threw the lead away twice in a roller coaster of a game that ended in a 4-4 tie. The Wallingford Morelia team had started the season with two wins and got off to an early supremacy in the game with some smart passing and good ball control. Once again Madison started the game in a sluggish fashion finding great difficulty in stringing a set of passes together that involved teammates. The make shift defense shorn of La Bocca and Goggs was hoping for a bit of time to settle in but unfortunately that was denied as a criminally short pass back to Jodingo!! was snapped up by a Morelia forward who rounded the stranded Celt and swept the ball past The Hulk for an early one nil lead. Madison struggled to get into the game but gradually they managed to take a foothold with some great runs by Safet and Jorge pushing the Wallingford team back into defense. And just as the half was nearing the end a great pass by Jorge found Safet running clear and he did not miss his chance to slam in the equalizer. This was a great confidence booster for the Celts and they started the second half with their tails up. Great wing play by Madison at the start of the second period provided some great opportunities for goal chances with Safet frequently bursting into the opposition penalty box and laying on some great passes only to see them squandered. But the tide had truly turned in the game and Madison were taking control, a point that was confirmed when a great pass by Ilhan allowed Tano to flick the ball past the opposition goalkeeper for the go ahead goal. Madison were really motoring at this point and extended their lead when a great run by Roniildo down the Madison right wing ended with a great cross which was again met by the predatory Tano for his second and Madison’s third of the game. It looked like the Celts could run up a large score at this point but instead they chose to collectively press the self destruct button.
For some reason, best left off this report, Jorge and Telat decided to have a shouting match at each other. Unfortunately this spread to the rest of the team and at one point 7 players were involved in a scrum of an argument completely ignoring the urgent calls from the The Hulk that the game was still going on! This incident clearly filled the crestfallen Morelia team with the confidence to keep trying….and try they did. Shortly after this self sustained debacle Morelia scored a second goal to get them back into the game. Madison still had some great chances to increase their lead notably when Johnaldo was released by a great pass from Jorge only for him to ineffectually lob the ball to the opposition goalkeeper when a return pass to Jorge or a low hard shot may have met with a better outcome. From the possibility of going 4-2 up Madison found themselves back to square one when the Morelia team went straight down the field and straight through the Celtic defense to score a great equalizer. With only 5 minutes left on the clock that looked like the end of the excitement but how wrong that was! Jorge strode up the field and unleashed a powerful dipping shot that crashed off the opposition bar giving the goalkeeper no chance but amazingly the ball did not cross the line. Luckily for the Celts, Tano was on hand again to slot the loose ball into the net for his hat trick and what looked like the winning goal. Unfortunately, Celtic could not hold out for the last 2 minutes of the game and play the type of smart possession football that you need to see a game out. At one point, Madison had 7 players in the opposition half looking for another goal but also tempting the inevitable to happen. In what looked like the last attack of the game Morelia got to the edge of the Madison penalty box and even though the Celts had ample opportunity to clear their lines with a boot up the field they didn’t and the ball made its way to a Wallingford player in the box who was unceremoniously upended in the box by Ilhan for a clear penalty. And the end of a wild roller coaster ride of game was marked by the ball scorching past the despairing dive of the Hulk as Wallingford grabbed a very unlikely point. A really disappointing end to a game that Madison had almost wrapped up early in the second half. If they are to survive in this new league the team has to be smarter and more aware of what to do when they are in the lead. The team also has to learn that screaming and shouting at your team mates is not only destructive to team morale and focus, it is massively encouraging to the opposition

MAN OF THE MATCH; TANO Great hat trick by Tano and some really predatory skills in full view. Also fantastic support work by Jorge!