MATCH REPORT; Madison 2 Orange 4

Orange peeled back the chances of the Celts to finish in second place with a comfortable 4 2 win. Although the scoreline looks convincing enough, Madison Celtic did have their chances in a game that was played with less emotional charge than their last encounter.
Madison started the game in good shape controlling the ball and pressing forward with ease. The final pass was their failing in most of the moves and later became a significant feature of the match.
Tano showed right from the kick off that he was in the mood for a good game. He buzzed along the opposition penalty box and was sharp getting to the ball. A few early shots were whizzed in and the excellent Orange goalie had to be alert. After twenty minutes it was looking good for the Celts until Orange decided to have a shot at goal. With their first attempt at a shot, a speculative floated ball into the box, Hulk was posted missing, or blind, as the ball sailed over his head and nestled in the back of the net. This was a real set back to the team and clearly against the run of play. However it was enough of a boost to get Orange in to top gear as they started to press forward with more urgency. Having said that, the Celts nearly equalized when a fantastic shot by Tano smashed off the opposition goalposts. Just as it looked like the team might get back on even terms another blow arrived. A ball over the top of the midfield had the defence rapidly running back but not before the Orange striker got a great shot on goal which was parried by a superb save from Hulk. Unfortunately for him his defence pulled out some deckchairs, poured a beer and smoked a cigar while another opposition player nipped in to slot the rebound into the net. Two nothing down at half time and a real sense of hard luck. Well the hard luck continued 15 minutes into in the second half as a clearly offside Orange player was allowed to waltz into the Madison box and provided a simple pass to one of his teammates to go 3 0 up. The furious Hulk was right to blame his midfield and defence for waiting for a whistle that never came. With the game slipping away from the Celts Tano was still the main threat and once again a fabulous shot of his slammed against the bar. Even though the home team were demoralized they were not giving up but they received the final coup de grace when another move down the Madison right ended with a deflected shot slamming into the Celtic net. At 4-0 down and only twenty minutes left it could have been very easy for the Celts to crumble and allow Orange to crush them and accumulate a barrow load of goals. But with the encouragement of David the team got fired up and basically started to fight for the ball even harder. Of course, a neutral observer could argue that Orange simply eased off but nonetheless the last twenty minutes belonged to Celtic. David turned his verbal positivity into action by relieving some of the home team pain with a great goal. Some more chances came close including a phenomenal save by the Orange shot stopper from an inch perfect free kick from David. Madison had the visitors on the rack now and Halil added a further bead of sweat to the opposition brows with a second goal for the Celts. With time fast running out, the Celts pushed for a third and even had a decent penalty claim turned down for hand ball. But in the end the defensive slump in the middle 40 minutes of the game had lost the match for the Celts although this was a much improved performance against Orange.

Guilford step into second place and the hotly contested promotion spot looks certain to go down to the wire. Next up for the Celts a very tough away game against the fast improving Albanian Eagles....anyone want a bet on a 8 8 tie?

Man Of The Match; great performances by David, Halil , TomA and Jodingo!! were outshone by another sharp as a nail performance by Tano. The only thing missing was the goal he richly deserved.