Game is on for this weekend!

We have a game against Bridgeport this coming Sunday!

Message below from Tom The Coach;

" Good morning Guys,

Bridgeport has confirmed playing on the 5th of July. So, we are on this Sunday against Bridgeport. We will be using the Strong Field (football/soccer/baseball field) this Sunday. The xchange field is under repair.

Town of Madison has requested to use the parking behind the goal line due to a busy weekend at the beach club. Please be there no later then 9:30 am.

Please confirm"

Bridgeport Game Cancelled!

Due to injuries and absences we do not have a full squad for the game on Sunday..... Only 7 players at the last count so Tom has cancelled the game. He is trying to get it re-scheduled for July 5th. Please tell us if you are available for that date if you have not done so already!



Roniildo is also suggesting a practice /training session this Sunday morning at Exchange field for those that miss kicking a ball around. He is suggesting 9.30 am and please respond if you are able to do that. Hopefully our next game will be July 5th but lets see if Tom can confirm that soon!



Try and keep fit over the July 4th weekend and listen to some MJ music.....

PLAYER FOCUS on....."Roniildo"!

It's time for our team captain Roniildo to spend some time under the spotlight. He is from Scotland so he will be tough under pressure, accurate and honest in his answers, generous with his praise for team mates and naturally talented and gifted at playing soccer. Throw in some unbelievable intelligence, wicked humor and some mad looks that women find irresistable and you have the basic format that most Scottish men adhere to. Of course, it's tough for Ronilldo having a superior Scottish specimen in the team but you can't have everything......

Sometimes he has a face on him like a skelpt erse, but he is great player!

So Ron...

First time you played soccer? ~3 years old. in my Gran's backyard. My older cousin (6 years +) Paul Devine was a great player…played for Celtic school boy's for a couple of seasons. Paul introduced me to the game, and to Parkhead! ( Can't beat your first time in Paradise.... )

Favorite Team? Glasgow Celtic ( For it's a grand old team to play for....!)

Fav Player? Kenny Dalglish, Maradonna, Johan Cruyff lately…Carlos Tevas, Frank Lampard ( kinda go for the midfielder type of player huh? )

Fav Music? Rock & Heavy metal (ACDC, White snake, U2, Bon Jovi, Stones & the Who) ( jeez, brain melt music )

Fav Movie? Gladiator, Braveheart, Usual suspects, meet the parents ( Aye, a good movie that slaughters the Romans or the English, ...wha's like us, no many an they're au deid....aye!! )

Best moment on a soccer field? Scoring 2 goals to win U-15 Renfrewshire regional cup final at Love Street. First time I played on a professional pitch...( I won't tell anyone you were 21 at the time )

Nickname at school? the knife……the days when I was known for cutting through defenses like a hot knife through butter….sort of the way Carlos still does today (what can we call you today? the spoon? for spreading through defences like margarine)

Motto for life? noli illegitimi carborundum……… ( who are you calling an illegitimi? )

Something we don't know about you? when in grad school in London, appeared on an esoteric documentary show called "red herring" on Britain's Channel 4, to defend life science research against a panel of rabid opposers! ( is that around the same time you were dating Susan Boyle?)

Thanks Roniildo!

MATCH REPORT; Guilford 1 Madison 0

No Father's Day gifts for Madison


On an overcast, gloomy morning Madison Celtic tried to raise the mood by attempting to win at least one point away from home. From the scoreline above you can see the effort failed but not for the want of trying. This was a much better effort by Madison compared to last week with strong battling performances by the midfielders and good, although at times scary, backs to the wall defending. The game was a bit pedestrian in the first half with most of the scarce chances going the way of the home side. Madison were playing with a new defensive line up because of absences and injury. El Gutso pulled up before the game started and so did Carlos which greatly reduced the subbing options for Madison. However, none of these enforced changes can be used as the excuse for the poor goal that Madison gave up for Guilford to take the lead. A throw in down the Madison left side, a simple bounce over the defender and an easy lob shot over the goalie by the Guilford number 10 was enough for the opening goal of the game. The rest of the first half was notable for the remarkably low number of shots on goal by both teams but particularly Madison's. Over the full 45 minutes of the first half Madison managed to muster no more than 2 or 3 shots on goal none of which were on target. An obvious hand ball in the penalty box by a Guilford defender was overlooked by the referee to round off a thoroughly miserable first half.

Things changed for the better in the second half for Madison as they started to play more effective possession football. The chances being created and the shots on goal started to increase significantly. Enrique was the most effective player up front at this point taking numerous chances to have a dig at the opposition goal. Some were high and wide but some were very close to going in. He was clearly a threat and had the Guilford team worried. At the other end Guilford were relying on the break away attack but the Madison defence held strong aided by a number of great saves by Kevinho which kept the score down to the single goal lead. As the half progressed it seemed impossible that Madison would not equalize as chance after chance went begging in front of the Guilford goal. But Madison knew their luck was up when Jorge took a shot that squirmed over the Guilford line before one of their defenders cleared it. The referee, conveniently positioned on the half way line, controversially chalked off this clear goal to Madison. At that point they knew they were going to get nothing from this game and sure enough ten minutes later the whistle blew to end the game and Madison's chances of ending its horrendous away game form.

I know a number of games this year have had a similar theme. Chopped off goals, clear penalties not given and bizarre calls during the game that threw the team for a loop. To this observer, Madison need to hope that the breaks will even out during the season and they should focus on trying to help themselves by scoring more goals than they've been doing over the last few games. Easier said than done, but increasing the rate of shots on goal would be a start!

Man of the Match; Enrique. He took as many chances as he could especially in the second half to get Madison on even terms. In other games he would have scored a hat trick but not today. But for his overall goal threat Enrique wins MOM. And Brazil beat Italy 3-0!

NEXT GAME; Sunday 21st June, Guilford!

Our next game is against Guilford.....don't panic ....but, this is now an away game! Yes, we are on that dreaded road to Hell again..... but at least this game is in the hood. We trounced Guilford at home earlier in the season and like Newtown before them, they will be out for revenge. They are a tough team and if they get their tails up they will be tough to beat. We just have to hit the form we seem to reserve for our home field...

We know we have a number of players missing for the game...... Jodinho, Hamid, Carlos? So we need our usual 'strong" squad.

Maybe we can discuss some tactics below in the comments page but i would like to see us try and line up with two centre backs allowing the full backs to move up the field more. The sweeper/stopper set up is not even used by the best teams in the World and it's a really difficult system to operate....my opinion.

This means we need a holding/defensive midfielder just in front of the back four. In some teams these players are also the 'playmaker' so they have to be good on the ball, good at passing and good at tackling....tough position. You can also have an attacking mid that sits just behind the front two leaving the other two left and right mids to squeeze into the middle more. This would make us less prone to have huge gaps in the middle of the field.

What do you think?

MATCH REPORT; Newtown 4 Madison 2

Abject performance by Madison leads to deserved defeat

Newtown ran out worthy winners against a badly performing Madison team today. They gave the visitors a footballing lesson as a strong Newtown side tore them apart with excellent passing and movement to gain revenge for their opening day defeat to Madison. The first quarter hour of the game had started fairly evenly but this competitive beginning was undone by some woeful defending by Madison as they allowed an unmarked striker to head into the net from close range for the second game in a row. Although Madison equalized shortly after this, when a slack pass back was picked up by Tom the Coach and slid past their hapless goalie, they could not keep any momentum going. Newtown were stronger than Madison in almost every department and were soon back in the lead when their opening scorer ran unhindered from the halfway line to stroke the ball past Kevinho. Matters were made much worse when some poor passing from midfield allowed the Newtown team to attack in numbers scoring a third on the stroke of half time. Some strong words at the break were used in an attempt to get the Madison team to compete more aggressively for the ball. They were second to every ball and slow to react all over the field. The defensive line were getting pushed further and further into their own half and a significant gap was appearing in the midfield that the Newtown team was only too happy to exploit. The incredibly slack passing by Madison continued into the second half and culminated in a perfectly weighted, but disastrously misplaced, pass to two of the Newtown strikers who wasted no time in deciding which of them would slam the ball past Kevinho for their fourth of the game. A demoralized and alarmingly lifeless Madison team were now playing for pride and with 9 minutes left in the game another defensive error by the Newtown team allowed TJ to score a second goal to make the score at least look respectable. The last minutes of the game were all owned by Newtown as they had the freedom to take shots from every angle and distance at the Madison goal. Good goalkeeping and strong defensive clearances prevented Newtown from emphasizing their superiority with further goals. The referees whistle was a welcome relief for the beleaguered Madison team as they continued their desperate away form. Lessons have to be learned from this defeat if Madison want to win even a point away from home. The loss of the strong running and possession play of Carlos is now very obviously affecting the teams performance and we hope he can get back to fitness soon. The team also has to have a more effective subbing system deployed during the game as players were left on the bench for large chunks of the game even though it was clear there were players struggling with form and fitness on the field. The great thing about football is that we can put this all behind us next week by beating Guilford at home. Can't we ?



Man of the Match; Rob "el gutso" Heckel. Even though it was tough to pick out a man of the match in such an appallingly bad game Rob actually did all the simple things right during this game. He very rarely got himself, or the team, in trouble and probably made more successful passes than most on the day. He even managed to pass to Roniildo using his backside. It was that kind of day.....

NEXT GAME; Sunday 14th June, Newtown!

We are back on the road again this weekend with a game against Newtown. We only played this team a few weeks ago, well April 19th actually, when we ran out 3-2 winners so that loss will be fresh on their minds. This could be our first real chance to break our losing streak away from home. We played well against Newtown last time, racing to a 2-0 lead at half time but this was the game that saw Enrique sent off and we crumbled after that letting them crawl back into the game before TJ wrapped up the points near the end of the game.


Needless to say a full squad is needed for these away games and at the time of writing we know we will not have Carlos, Fribeka and Hamid. We have 11 confirmed for Sunday so a couple more at least will be good for the subbing routine.


See you all Sunday...........I'll be at the circle at 8.20 am precisely!




Let's go for our first away win this season!

Post Game Picnic Fun!

A great game and what a great picnic! Here are some of the pics from the day!


The Head Chef!

MATCH REPORT; Madison 4 Southington 2

Fortress Madison keep unbeaten home run going

Fabulous summer Sun and a clear blue sky greeted both teams as they strode onto an increasingly dilapidated looking Madison home field. Never has such a poorly cared for field been so strongly defended though. Unbeaten for nearly two years, Madison have created a fortress on a field where grass is becoming as rare as hair on Jorge's head.

The match started evenly enough but Southington were quick on the break and within the first five minutes had tested the goal keeping prowess of the inimitable El Gato. A powerfully struck shot was strongly palmed away by the outstretched keeper to save the blushes of the disorganized Madison defence. Regrettably, the lesson was not learned and a few minutes later after a prodigious throw in by Southington, the ball sailed over the statuesque Madison defenders and bounced neatly for an unmarked striker to nod the ball into the net. One nil down early in the half and on the ropes was not the start Madison wanted. Luckily, the defence managed to get it's act together and allowed Madison to pile pressure onto the Southington defence. Strong running and tackling by the Madison midfield quartet of Jodinho, Roniildo, Fribeka and Tom started to shake up the visitors and after a great run and pass by Jodinho, Enrique shot past the Southington goalie for the equalizer. Madison turned up the heat after this and a few minutes later Enrique slammed another great shot past the stranded goalkeeper to take a well deserved lead. Southington were finding it increasingly hard to get the ball out of their own half and any stray ball was being picked up by the Madison midfielders. One such loose ball was picked up by Jodinho who stormed down the Madison right into the Southington penalty box where he crossed a wicked low shot across the 8 yard line. The goalkeeper stretched to save it but the ball took a deflection and squirmed into the net for Madison's third.

Half time came with Madison controlling the game and playing well. The second half followed a similar pattern for the first ten minutes but then Southington started to ease themselves back into the game, pushing Madison deeper and deeper into defence. Madison were also giving away cheap fouls and it was after one such foul that Southingtom lifted the ball over the static defence for their onrushing striker to stroke the ball past El Gato. Game on.....and over the next twenty minutes the game seesawed back and forth, with Jorge hitting the post twice and Southington coming close with low shots just past the post. Some crunching tackles were being unloaded by both teams particularly one on Jodinho that looked like a full body assault. But, with five minutes left in the game, the ball was moved down the right hand side of the field by Madison and just outside of the Southington box the ball spun to Scotty. He quickly controlled the ball, twisted his body to shoot and unleashed the most superb of left footed shots high into the Southington net What a way to seal a victory and what a goal to keep the unbeaten record going.

Madison look like a different team at home and the next trick will be to try and take some of that verve and style on the road!

Man of the Match; Jodinho. Some great tackling, hassling and passing was the hallmark of Jodinho's game today but the added contribution of an assist for Enrique's goal and his own lung bursting run topped off by a goal makes him the man of the match!

NEXT GAME; Sunday 7th June, Southington!

Yes it's the next big event! Our beach picnic! Well, actually we first have to play a home game against Southington. And we have a proud, undefeated home record stretching back nearly two seasons that we have to protect. Southington are a Div A team that finished third in the league last year. After 17 games they had won 9, lost 5 and tied 3. They played 9 games away from home and won 4, most notably a 6-3 victory against Bridgeport! Having said that Astrit, our ex player who now turns out for Bridgeport, said they only had nine players in that game.....

Bottom line? We are a good team at home and difficult to beat. Our worst enemies are ourselves so lets buckle down, keep focused and win the game that will get our season back on track!

Then we can have a great picnic!

Make sure we all turn up early on Sunday....... and no doubt the comments page below will end up summarizing who is to bring what for the picnic.