Hawks shot down by awesome Celtic attackThe weather was hot but Madison Celtic were even hotter in this blow out of a game against experienced Division A outfit Guilford Hawks. After a balanced well fought out first half the Mad Celts turned up the heat to cook the Hawks and send them to a stunning defeat.
A full squad of players turned up for this shoreline derby match and the few spectators out for the Spring sunshine were served up a real treat of a match. The first half was a tough midfield battle with chances at each end few and far between. Madison had their new goalie Kevinho playing and the few efforts that came his way in the first thirty minutes were dealt with very effectively. He needed to make a few saves in the final 15 minutes of the first half when Guilford had more of the ball, but most of the time the Madison defence held firm. One notably strong feature that Kevinho brings to the game is his immense kick outs that more than once led to a break away attack for the Celts. New sweeper Tim also made his debut in this game and had an assured start clearing his lines effectively and putting in some tough tackles. After 30 minutes Madison were in control of the game but had nothing to show for it. Jorge was playing a solo role up front but he was being starved of the ball. It was therefore not surprising that when the break through came it was because of a defensive error by the Hawks. Tom Judge cleared the ball from midfield and one of the Hawks defenders played it back to his goalie. The ball took an outrageous bounce over the leg of the hapless goalkeeper and into the goal. One nil to the Celts and well deserved as the first half ended. During the interval team captain Roniildo read the riot act to the team about keeping our mouths shut and keeping focused on the game and not getting distracted by bad calls.
This seemed to galvanise the team and in the second half they unleashed a performance of unrelenting power to shred the Hawks team of any confidence that they might get anything out of this game. The second half started with the Celts well on top with strong running by Fribeka, Ronilldo, Jodinho and Jorge. It looked likely that a second goal was going to come and, after some great ball winning play by Carlito, and a run into the box he set up Jorge to slam the ball into the net for a 2 nil lead and his second goal of the season. Celtic's tails were up at this point and Guilford had nothing to offer in return. The Celtic third goal came soon after with another great run by Carlito which he finished off with a powerful drive into the net. He was not finished there and another great move down the right wing was again beautifully dispatched into the net for his second and the Celts fourth of the game. By this time the Guilford team were demoralized and they knew more goals were coming. When the fifth came it was after a great move down the right by Jorge to Carlito who passed to the onrushing Scotty who fired the ball past the despairing Guilford goalie. Another similar move a few minutes later allowed Tom Judge to apply the finishing touch with a sixth goal for Madison as the rout of Guilford was completed. They did manage to score a goal right at the death, but even that would be no great consolation for a truly abysmal defeat for Guilford.
Overall, a very strong performance by Celtic, out competing their rivals in almost every aspect of the game. If one was to be churlish then maybe some improvement is needed in the passing department as many of them went direct to opposition players.
Next week will be a tough away match against last years Division A champions Bridgeport. Can Madison Celts keep their run going? Tune in next weekend!
Man of the Match; Carlito, for his incredible running, tackling, dribbling, assists and goals! Awesome display!
The game on Sunday will be our first away game of the season and our first real challenge in these early weeks in the new division....we are playing the champions, Bridgeport!
