MATCH REPORT; East Haven 1 Madison 4

A fantastic squad turned up for BOR's last game in a Madison Celtic shirt, although being in the annual team pic could also have been a bit of a draw! Either way, a beautifully sunny, warm day was the pre-game treat that was somewhat spoiled by the incredibly soggy and heavy field. The pre-match talk was all about keeping the ball on the wings and taking advantage of our wide midfield players to try and stretch out the tiny field. Of course, no one paid a blind bit of attention to that tactic until the second half. The first half was an untidy central midfield battle with little in the way of cohesive passing or intelligent running. In fact East Haven looked the better team on the attack and came close a couple of times with shots that forced The Hulk to get down fast. The Celts attacks were all down the middle of the field and right into a wall of East Haven defenders. East Haven seemed to have a simple tactic of hitting the ball over the heads of our last defender to an on rushing attacker. And it was this all too obvious move that gave East Haven their go ahead goal. A ball over the defensive wall, a squared ball into the box and an unmarked East Haven player with all the time in the world to slot the ball past The Hulk. In fact the Hulk was in the wars in the first half getting kicked in the face and refusing to come off. The bruising will add some nice color to his face though. To their credit Celtic did not panic after this goal letting setback but continued to plow their way through the middle of the field ignoring the wings with a concerted passion. Nonetheless, even with this fairly myopic tactic Madison began to exert some real control on the game. Strong running by David, Halil and Roniildo allowed some significant opportunities to get to the forward line. And in one such attack Tano found space in an incredibly crowded penalty box and swept the ball into the net for the deserved equalizer and his tenth goal of the season.

The first half ended and some significant tactical changes were made with Talat moving into right midfield and Jorge and Carlos twinned up front. This move seemed to work like magic as Madison looked like a different team at the start of the second half. Talat hugged the line and found himself with great amounts of space and the overlapping runs of Carlos and Jorge were causing a real threat. Wave after wave of attack had East Haven on the rack. Only the wayward shooting of the Madison forward line kept the home team in the game. Then the break through came for the Celts.

The constant motion man, Carlos, dribbled into the box and just as he was about to shoot he was tripped for a clear penalty. Even though it was BOR's last game the tough coach decided that the game was on such a knife edge that they could not afford the luxury of not handing the ball to Roniildo ( was that a double negative?). The Scottish terrier picked up the ball and unceremoniously dispatched it into the back of the net for the go ahead goal. After this the visitors continued to pile on the pressure with great passing moves down the right, although Fribeka and then Safet cut forlorn figures out on the left where the ball was a stranger.

With about twenty minutes left on the clock the constant pressure by Madison eventually paid off when another ball was played across the line of the penalty box allowing Halil to pounce. He settled himself before taking a swipe at the ball. It screamed into the back of the net via a slight deflection off an East Haven defender. Although the Celts were now in a comfortable position a rare attack by the East Haven team produced a fantastic save by the Hulk to prevent a sure fire goal. Straight from this near miss Madison went on the attack to produce the fourth and final goal. Another great attack down the Madison left side ended when Carlos swept into the penalty box before finding the net past the goal keeper on the near side. In the end it was a comfortable win for the Celts and with the news that Guilford had lost to the Eagles it really puts the Celts back into the promotion mix. Next weeks game is away to big promotion rivals Guilford and will be a must win game.

Man of the Match; A great second half performance by Carlos and Talat really swung the game for Celtic. On balance Talat's first half defensive performance combined with his attacking second half gets him the MOM. Although it was a short game fro BOR because of his hammy it was good to see him enjoy his last day in the green and white hoops! Have a great time down in Texas and keep in touch!