NEXT GAME; Sunday 1st June Vs Orange

We have a 9am kick off, home game against Orange this Sunday. These games are always competitive and usually fun! Let's get our league campaign back on line with a win!

The weather should be good for Sunday so who is in for a few beers after the game?

Oh, and who is in for the game?

MATCH REPORT; Norwalk SC 5 Madison 0

A severely depleted Madison squad turned up for this away match against the early form side of the league Norwalk Sports Colombia. Playing with only 10 men the Celts were always going to be up against it and so it turned out as they fell to a heavy 5-0 defeat.  Some of the quotes from those that played in the game are below;

80 minutes on our side of field and

10 minutes on their side. We were short 1 guy and no subs, now i know how a hockey goalie feels on a power play.  

A man of the match? I don't know I was too busy being the target in a gun range! I will tell ya this much everyone who showed played there f*@Ken asses off even though we all knew the beaten was coming....... MOM goes to everyone who came"  .... Hulkster

" Great effort by the 10 that showed. Game played in a great spirit too!  A man of the match? I think David or Dustin, both played well" .....Roniildo

Next game is a home game next Sunday against Orange. This will be a 9am Kick off!

Second Division
Cheshire Inter FC	3	Fairfield GAC	4
Orange SC	0	Danbury United	3
Stamford United	4	Guilford Bell Curve	0
Norwalk Sport Colombia FC	5	Madison Celtic FC	0
New Haven Americans	0	Greenwich Arsenal	1

SECOND DIVISION Pl W D L FW FL F A GD SNR PD Pts 1 Norwalk Sport Colombia FC 4 3 1 0 0 0 12 2 10 0 0 10 2 Danbury United 4 3 0 1 0 0 13 4 9 0 0 9 3 Greenwich Arsenal 4 3 0 1 0 0 6 3 3 0 0 9 4 Stamford United 4 2 2 0 0 0 8 3 5 0 0 8 5 Orange SC 4 2 1 1 0 0 5 5 0 0 0 7 6 Fairfield GAC 4 2 0 2 0 0 6 7 -1 0 0 6 7 Cheshire Inter FC 4 1 1 2 0 0 9 10 -1 0 0 4 8 Guilford Bell Curve 4 1 0 3 0 0 2 11 -9 0 0 3 9 Madison Celtic FC 4 0 1 3 0 0 3 14 -11 0 0 1 10 New Haven Americans 4 0 0 4 0 0 1 6 -5 0 0 0

NEXT GAME; Sunday 18th May vs Norwalk Sports Colombia

Our next game is a league game away to Norwalk Sports Colombia with a 10 am kick off. We played Norwalk in the first game of the season and they beat us 4-1 so we now have a chance for some quick revenge!  So far we have 7 players who say they are out for Sunday so we need the rest of you to turn up! We don't want to start the sequence we had last year  when we had to drop 6 points and get fined 300 bucks for forfeiting 2 games.

So who is in?

Field directions below;

NATHAN HALE MIDDLE SCHOOL:

176 Strawberry Hill Avenue, Norwalk, CT 64851

I-95 South to Exit 16. At the traffic light turn right onto East Avenue.

Go 1⁄2 mile, and then take a right onto Sunset Hill Avenue (Norwalk City Hall is on the right). Go up the hill. Sunset Hill becomes Tierney Street. Go to the end to the stop sign. Turn left onto Strawberry Hill Avenue. Go 3/10 mile and turn right into Nathan Hale Middle School. Go to the left side of the building, the field is in the read; the lower field, down the hill.

I-95 North to Exit 16. Turn left onto East Avenue. Follow the above directions.

	SECOND DIVISION	Pl	W	D	L	FW	FL	F	A	GD	SNR	PD	Pts
1	Norwalk Sport Colombia FC	3	2	1	0	0	0	7	2	5	0	0	7
2	Orange SC	3	2	1	0	0	0	5	2	3	0	0	7
3	Danbury United	3	2	0	1	0	0	10	4	6	0	0	6
4	Greenwich Arsenal	3	2	0	1	0	0	5	3	2	0	0	6
5	Stamford United	3	1	2	0	0	0	4	3	1	0	0	5
6	Cheshire Inter FC	3	1	1	1	0	0	6	6	0	0	0	4
7	Fairfield GAC	3	1	0	2	0	0	2	4	-2	0	0	3
8	Guilford Bell Curve	3	1	0	2	0	0	2	7	-5	0	0	3
9	Madison Celtic FC	3	0	1	2	0	0	3	9	-6	0	0	1
10	New Haven Americans	3	0	0	3	0	0	1	5	-4	0	0	0

CUP REPORT; Madison 1 Polonia Falcon Stars 1 ( 3-5 Penalty Shoot Out)

The Celts crashed out of the State Cup just short of a final berth. A game of high incident, action and drama saw the Celts narrowly lose out to a 5-3 penalty shoot out after the teams were tied 0-0 after the regulation 90 minutes and 1-1 after extra time. Both teams had plenty of chances to win this game over the first ninety minutes but great goalkeeping and defending at both ends of the field blunted the attacking efforts of the visitors and frustrated a home team trying to get to their first ever final.  Great performances from Johnny B and Roniildo in the midfield were equally complimented by a brave performance from the whole defensive back line.  Near misses, shots off the bar and great saves were the hallmark of the first 90 minutes. But the game had stalemate written all over it and even when the extra time started it didn't look like either team would break through. As the game stretched into the 110th minute the game opened up as both teams tired. It looked like the Celts could  get that elusive first break in the game when David raced into the opposition box and at close range let loose a vicious shot that was parried by the goalkeeper. Within seconds the Polish visitors broke down the Madison left side and when Tim had a small "Gerard like" slip on the edge of the penalty box, they did not hesitate to take advantage and slam the ball into the net for the go ahead goal. With only a matter of minutes left on the clock that looked likely to be it for the Celts. But to their credit the Celts kept plugging away and amazingly with the game on its last vapors, a free kick for the Celts was fired into the box by Johnny B straight towards the goal. The visitor goalie went for the ball but as he grabbed it he spun around crossing his own line. The linesman and ref did not hesitate to award the goal much to the anguish and anger of the Polonia Stars. After  much waiting around and debate the game restarted but ended after a second with the final whistle sending both teams straight to a nerve racking penalty shoot out. With both teams lined up at the half way line each penalty taker had to take a lonely walk up to take his shot at goal and glory. To their credit the visitors slammed every one of their first 4 penalties into the net giving the Hulk no chance. The Celts had only missed one penalty but that was enough of a gap to allow the Falcons last spot taker to walk up and slam the decisive shot over the line to give them a 5-3 win and a place in the final.
It was a heart breaking end for the Celts after a hard fought game but the team deserves a lot of credit for playing so well over the 2 hours and more of the game. The winning coach Mirek was quoted after the game as saying,  " That was probably the most competitive and dramatic game i have ever played in. Almost like the World Cup!"

MAN OF THE MATCH;  So many good players on the day with the Hulk,  Roniildo, David, Jim, Mike and Tim playing out of their skins as well as the rest of the defenders. But for his goal and all round attacking play the MOM goes to Johnny B

CUP GAME; Sunday 11th May vs Polonia Falcon Stars

The Celts are up against the Polonia Falcon Stars in the Connecticut State Cup semi final this Sunday. This is a 9am kick off at Exchange field and will be a tough game against the current over 48 Champions. Madison won their section of the Cup qualifiers with 3 straight wins while the All stars came in second in their group to  Glastonbury Celtic. This will be an exciting break from league duty as the Celts battle to get to their first ever Cup Final. The Polonia Falcon Stars are the threepeat champions of the Over 48 Masters League......should be a fun Mothers Day!

MATCH REPORT; Madison 2 Cheshire 2

The Celts claimed their first point of the season with a hard fought draw against Cheshire Inter. A game full of incident and intrigue ended with both teams sharing the spoils and four goals. The home team were keen to gain some form of revenge after last weeks game and for large parts of the opening twenty minutes  that's the way it looked. The Celts were full of running and passing, a clear difference from the previous week. Some of the cross field passing by Johnny B was superb with each ball slicing through a static Cheshire defence. A brand new subbing system seemed to be keeping the team fresh and focused but it didn't prevent the opening goal from going against the run of play. A brief passage of play allowed the opposition forward to get on the edge of the box and noticing The Hulk a few feet off his line he fired a looping shot that caught the goalie off guard. As he fell back like a stricken tree in the forest the ball buried itself into the back of  the net. The Celt's did not let this disappointment get to them and picked up the game by the scruff of the neck. Good link up play in the midfield and strong running up front kept the pressure on the Cheshire back four. It was therefore very gratifying to see that the Celts could also take advantage of defensive mistakes when Kevin nipped in to a back four mix up to slowly trundle the ball into the net for the equalizer. Could this be the platform to build a satisfying win on? Well no..... a few minutes later, from a position of no real danger,  a pass back from Dan to The Hulkster went horribly wrong when the irrepressible goalie decided to close both eyes and simply guess where the ball would be when he wildly lashed out at it. Unfortunately the ball was somewhere else and spun crazily over his head and was easily knocked in to the net for another goal for Cheshire. The half ended with the Celts frustrated but not down hearted as they felt they were always in the game. Even the two goals couldn't take the shine off the fact that the defence was playing well with Tim in a 'none shall pass mood'.  The second half was similar to the first with the Celts playing strongly without really threatening the opposition goal. The game then looked to be slipping away from them when a ref called a penalty on Johnny B. But the Hulk started his amazing second half journey back from goal keeping Hell by bringing off a superb save. For the next ten minutes or so he and Tim then fended off a number of Cheshire attacks as they tried to kill off the game. The Celts were still making good attacking runs and great cross field passing and incisive runs were in evidence. But the equalizing goal again came from the result of a  goalkeeping error when Kevin latched on to a horrendous missed ball to slot home the tie up goal. The Celts could have won the game at this point but a second inexplicable yellow card for hand ball saw Tano getting his marching orders and the Celts drop to ten men for the last ten minutes of the game. They held on for  a well deserved point but it could have been so much more

Man Of the Match;  Another strong day from Johnny B, Jim and David in midfield as well as a great debut performance from Dustin. But the MOM goes to Tim for some great defending and brave tackling

NEXT GAME; Sunday 4th May, vs Cheshire Inter

It's OK you are not suffering from a deja vu moment....we are playing Cheshire again and this time we are at home. The weirdness of the league game schedule gives us an immediate chance for revenge! Let's get stuck in this time and score some goals!  It's doable!

This will be a 10am kick off at the Madison Surf club, Exchange field. Anyone want to volunteer beer and snacks for the home game?

Before I go I want to copy in some comments Johnny B made after the game. He gave permission and he makes a lot of sense!  Read it and tell us what you think.

"  Let's go 442 with Tim and mike back in sweeper stopper. One stays really far back in marked when we have the ball. When they have the ball we are flat four back. Dan in left, john I (jock, Danny) right back (Jodi)
Ron and me in center with two new guys as outside halfbacks. If we stay four across, I can play in front of Ron when we have the ball and flat when we dont. It will give us one more pass below forwards and force them to hold up and gives me the ability to put pressure on defense and not get caught when we lose it.  We all go 15 min in 5 minutes out across the field using a clock. It will force people to run hard for 15 regroup and play hard again. Subs for mid (Ruggero, jock, rob, maybe Kevin too) only one if Ron or I are out at one time. Forwards Leo, TANO, john h, rob b maybe Kevin)

Two forwards off set In middle switching sides leaving runs for half backs that will make them tired.  They harass the back defenders when they have the ball which will force mids to help. They will be tired.

We set rules. 2 touch passing unless you are in danger. All passes from back go out to backs and back to mids and back out to half backs then to forwards. Always have a sweeper far back when we have ball as an outlet to reSet. No more long balls from outside backs. No more over the top balls to forwards. You get ball and have 3 sec to pass. ( you can get it back but you must release in 3 seconds)  If you or we lose ball we all cut off passes in front of ball and all get behind ball until we get it back. We do not pass back nearly enough.  We can put myself or Ronnie in defense if we need to show them what we mean. Possession is king.  We all have to play the same game even if we all don't agree what game plan is correct. We mark man to man behind ball (which was working today). No marking space just a man.

My 2 cents.

John B "