MATCH REPORT; Newtown 2 Madison 4

Violence mars superb Madison win

I tried but failed to find where all you guys had decided to play this morning....it wasn't Newtown High School, that I know! So my 140 minutes of driving there and back was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday morning......What was that we were saying about improved communications in the team?

Looks like I missed a stormer of a game with new players, great goals and a stick wielding idiot just to spice things up! Today's match report is brought to you by El Gato!

The game started with Madison playing with 11 players which is worthy of a sentence all to itself! The team was holding the ball well and passing beautifully in the opening minutes of the game. Newtown were no slouches on the ball either with their number 9 and their number 14 attacking Madison with aggressive speed from the get go. Luckily for Madison La Boca was matching up to this aggressive speed with some pretty smart and effective clearances in defence. However, midway through the first half the alert quickness of their #9 finally got the better of the Madison defence as they slotted in their first goal. A quick pass into the box from 18 yards out and a short stabbed finish by their forward player was enough to have Madison trailing. A few minutes later an outrageous foul in the Newtown box gave Madison a quick chance to get back on an even footing. Roniildo's beautiful short ground penalty kick made the goalie completely go in the opposite direction for a deserved equalizer. At this point in the game the lax referee was letting slide tackles as well as overly aggressive pushing and shoving by the Newtown team go unpunished, a decision that would come back to haunt him. Our new player, Dejan, was very effective at distributing the ball and having a great debut game. Carlito, Henrique, Roniildo and Scotty were pressuring the Newtown players on every ball and were effective on countless occasions in retrieving the ball and regaining possession. Henrique's persistence up front then paid off handsomely with a beautiful 20 yard blast to make it 2-1. However, shortly after this, and just before the end of the first half, #9's speed again had Madison in trouble. A beautiful 18 yard left foot blast to the far corner made the game 2-2 at half time.

Madison started the second half with the same stamina and commitment as they had shown in the first however, the game was becoming very physical and the ref belatedly started to distribute some yellow cards. First to La Boca for a slide tackle and then to Scotty. Two yellow cards were also issued to Newtown's players during the game. However, midway through the second half, with an ever increasing din of yelling and cursing , Carlito managed to score a 20 yard goal of the year with a rocket shot that just dipped underneath the top post past a bamboozled goalie from a great Scotty pass. 15 minutes later a fantastic pass from La Boca sliced open a space between the two Newtown defenders finding Telat in the clear who then calmly took the ball one on one around the goalie for a well deserved goal. At 4-2 down frustration was building like a pressure pot in the Newtown's team as all their desperate attacks by their star players were answered with phenomenal defensive work. The midfield superbly took the game under control until 4 minutes to end of the game when a harmless jump by Dejan and an accidental elbow to a Newton player's face below the eye, created an explosion of anger from the Newtown player and an unforgettable "soccer movie" scene to end the game. The Newtown player got up and started kicking Dejan and threatening him with further harm. He took his shirt off and said "I will be back". He then came back with a 3' wooden stake from a construction site and ran towards Dejan with the stake raised as though he was enacting the final scene of a vampire movie. Luckily he was stopped by three of his teammates before any real harm was done. The ref, not surprisingly, suspended the game at this point, gave Dejan a yellow card and a well deserved red card to the out of control Newtown player. An absolutely shocking end to a fabulous game that saw Madison emerge from their recent slump of mediocre performances. No doubt their will be significant consequences because of the way this game ended but the whole team played wonderful soccer and were rewarded with a well deserved 4-2 win.

Man of the Match; Carlito. What can I say....what a goal!

Thanks for the match report El Gato and thanks to those of you who turned up at my recent surprise birthday party!