MATCH REPORT; Madison 1 Southington FC 0

Madison ground out a narrow 1-0 victory over Southington FC today under humid , sweltering conditions at the Town Campus field. The Celts started the game on fire with nice crisp passing and incisive forward plays. An impressive number of shots peppered the Southington goal in the opening 15 minutes, as the gulf in the respective league positions looked all too visible. Great midfield play by Jodingo!! and Halil in the middle and Fribeka out on the right stifled any chance of Southington getting on the ball. Southington did have some moments in attack when they managed to get the ball out to their fast wingers but the frugal Madison defense gobbled up every stray ball. Just as it was beginning to look like the kind of game when Madison have all the possession but can't score....they scored! A great ball by Fribeka was flicked on by Ronilldo and then slammed into the net by the ubiquitous and free scoring Jorge for a well deserved lead. The goal was Jorge's 5th goal of the season and the 4th game in a row where he has scored!

The game was set for Madison to push on and rattle in a few more goals against the team at the bottom of the league but instead Southington really became a competitive force in the match.

The visitors started to penetrate into the Madison defence with very direct balls through the middle and on one occasion a fantastic shot was tipped onto the bar by Bruce making a great save. Shortly after that another break away was only stopped by a great sliding foot save by Bruce who was having his busiest period of the game. Possession was more in Southingtons favor than the host team at this point and it would have been no surprise if they had managed to engineer an equalizer. However, Madison kept their composure and made it to the half still in the lead. The second half was more of the same as a fairly even game meandered through 30 minutes. Most of the action was in midfield but every so often there would be break aways at both ends of the field that would result in near misses. Madison had a particularly lucky break when a stray backward header by Tom A needed an outstanding save off the post by Bruce to keep the lead intact. The heat was beginning to tell on both teams as the game slowed to a walking pace. Madison kept possession reasonably well as the game came to a close and it looked unlikely that either team would round of the day with another goal. The final whistle signalled another victory for the Celts , their 4th in a row and they now remain unbeaten over the first 8 games of the season.

Man Of The Match; Bruce. For some outstanding reflex saves that kept the proud Madison defensive record intact Bruce was the clear MOM. Some great work by Fribeka, Halil and Jodingo!! are also worth a mention