MATCH REPORT; Madison 2 Morelia 0

They say that revenge is a dish that is best served cold and although yesterday was only a bit chilly, the revenge was there in full measure! Having endured the 4-4 debacle last season at the Wallingford home ground the Madison Celts were fired up for their first home game of the new Spring season. Madison started the game with a few key players missing from the line up, most notably David, Fribeka, Halil and Flaco. The potential new players had not been registered in time so the team had only two sub positions to rely on. The game got off to a brisk start with some good running but fairly poor passing. In fact the abject passing would prove to be a feature of the entire game as the Celts reacquainted themselves with the mysteries of controlling a rolling ball. It looked like the Morelia team had no such difficulties as they moved the ball to each other with ease supplying their pacy strong midfielders and attackers. However, after 20 minutes or so Madison started to get the upper hand and create a few good scoring chances. And, in one great sweeping attack, the break through came. A move down the Madison right was started when Roniildo floated past the Morelia midfield and crossed the ball to Jorge just outside the penalty box who took a touch before passing it to Safet who lofted the ball with his left boot over the head of the Morelia goalkeeper. A great goal which spurred the Celts onto further attacks. A shot by Roniildo slammed against the bar and various other attempts went whizzing past the post from Tano, Jorge and Safet. Morelia were not just sitting there taking this without a reply and they also had a number of attacks that were blocked out by the great defensive combo of La boca and Goggs. Both defenders had an excellent match especially in the second half. Madison ended this first half in the lead and feeling in control of the game. The second half saw the Morelia team take more and more control of the game as they effectively snuffed out the Madison midfield and cut off any supply to the forward line. Attack after attack had to be repelled by the Madison defensive line with some desperate goalmouth scrambles. For some reason the defence could not clear their lines and the ball kept being handed to the Morelia attackers on a plate. With no let up of the pressure on the Celts defence it looked inevitable that Morelia would equalize. Every so often Celtic managed to get the ball out to Jorge or Tano who would take the ball for a run but eventually the ball was back in the face of the Madison defence. Just as it looked like the impressive defensive wall may be about to crumble, with only two minutes left in the game, the impressive Jorge got hold of the ball then passed it to Tano who fired in the sweetest of shots past the despairing dive of the Morelia goalkeeper to put the Celts up 2-0. The game ended shortly after to great relief for the Celts as a hard fought game had delivered all 3 points to the Madison. With Orange and Guilford drawing 0-0 the results put Madison Celtic right back in the mix for promotion and championship titles. Next up is East Haven at home with an 8AM kick off!!

Man Of The Match; This is a tough one because Tano and Jorge ran superbly well throughout the game. Jorge had two assists and Tano a great goal. But on reflection, the performance of Goggs at the back was simply superb. So first MOM for the Spring season goes to Gogglito!

We also managed to give championship winning medals from last season to Talat, Ilhan and Jorge as well as Jorge's goalscorere of the season award! Also great beer and food after the game guys....thanks to Hulk, Tano and Ilhan!

Also.....THANKS TO RUGGERINHO FOR THE GREAT PHOTOS!