MATCH REPORT; Southington SC 0 Madison 2

On a glorious day, when Spring seemed to turn into Summer over ninety Sun filled minutes, Madison Celtic kept the heat on Southington and earned a well deserved second win on the road. This was not the Southington team of two years ago that Madison had swept aside 10-1. They were much better organized and had a reasonable attacking threat with two pacy forwards. However, they were still no match for the controlled passing and possession football played by the Celts.

Madison had started the game with two new debutant's on the field, Bruce, in between the sticks, and Arnie playing in midfield. Both would have great games although Bruce was called into action fairly infrequently as a very tight Madison defence led by La Boca and Roniildo mopped up any stray balls coming their way. In fact Ronilldo was also a significant attacking threat as he was able to push up to the opposition box on a regular basis.

As the early part of the match unfolded it was clear that Madison could take as many shots on the opposition goal as they wanted. Some superb passing got the team into great goalscoring positions but invariably the final ball was either hit past the post, over the bar or trundled weakly to their goalie. After twenty minutes Madison needed some inspiration to get the goal that they so richly deserved. Luckily for them that little spark was waiting to sub into the game in the slight form of Carlito. With his first touch of the ball he sent a screaming shot from 30 yards into the top right hand side of the opposition net. What a sensational way to end the deadlock and bring some relief to the Madison team. Buoyed by the goal Madison went into overdrive with wave after wave of attack. At this point in the game the Celts were so dominant that Bruce could have easily pulled out a deck chair, finished reading a copy of The Sunday Times and had a brief snooze before he was called into action again. Roniildo and La Boca along with Johnaldo and Telat were keeping a tight lid on the Southington attack. However that second goal was refusing to come, and again the team needed a little push and a spark of invention. And this time it came in the form of the third debutant of the game, Bambi..!

Frolicking onto the field like a gazelle, the Crouchy lookalike tried to get up to speed with the pace of the game but struggled early on. As time past he was beginning to make some good runs into the box and nearly scored with a header after a salmonesque jump over Carlito. However every debutant's dream is to score in his first game and amazingly just as it looked as though Bambi was about to be pulled from the field to allow himself to re-inflate his lungs, he found himself unmarked in the box with the ball at his feet. A simple tap in later and Madison were 2-0 up and Bambi was a happy deer!


If the first half was a lot of hard graft with moments of inspiration the second half was lots of hard graft with only perspiration! For the second game in a row the Madison front line ran out of steam and the midfield started to misfire with some really poor passing. This allowed Southington to get into the game more and more, testing the Madison defence and making them work harder than they would have expected too. Several chances to score a tension busting third came and went for Madison and it was somewhat of a relief when the whistle blew to end a game that the Celts had largely dominated throughout.

MAN OF THE MATCH; Roniildo. Superb defensive play, great tackling and high energy tempo throughout the match made Cap'n Ron the stand out for MOM. La Boca was a close second for the award, but in his own inimitable style he said...."Give it to Ron, I'll get plenty of those during the season!" That's why we call him La Boca!

.....and many thanks to Annie for the great photo's!