This Weekends Results and League Standings ( #11 )

Third Division
Newington Portuguese	4	North Haven SC	0
Wilton Wolves	2	North Branford SC	2
Eli's FC	5	Hamden United	1
Wallingford Morelia	1	Madison Celtic FC	2
Stamford City	1	Cheshire United	0 THIRD DIVISION Pl W D L FW FL F A GD SNR PD Pts 1 Newington Portuguese 11 10 1 0 0 0 36 8 28 0 0 31 2 Madison Celtic FC 11 8 2 1 0 0 25 10 15 0 0 26 3 Stamford City 11 5 5 1 0 0 12 8 4 0 0 20 4 North Branford SC 11 5 2 4 0 0 21 17 4 0 0 17 5 North Haven SC 11 5 2 4 0 0 23 28 -5 0 0 17 6 Wallingford Morelia 11 5 0 6 0 0 27 23 4 0 0 15 7 Eli's FC 11 2 4 5 0 0 19 26 -7 0 0 10 8 Wilton Wolves 11 2 3 6 0 0 18 23 -5 1 0 9 9 Cheshire United 11 0 5 6 0 0 14 29 -15 1 0 5 10 Hamden United 11 0 2 9 0 0 13 36 -23 0 0 2

MATCH REPORT; Wallingford Morelia 1 Madison Celtic 2

A hard fought game against a grumpy, foul laden Morelia team saw all three points make their way home with Madison Celtic. On a beautiful sunny day the Celts turned up with a strong squad for this traditionally tough match against their old Wallingford rivals. The opening skirmishes in the game were all won by a robust Madison midfield ably helped by two mobile forwards namely James and debut bhoy Todd. The wing switching the duo carried out in the opening twenty minutes allowed the midfield to always have an out ball to a fast running player. This led to some great openings that should have resulted in at least a couple of goals for James or Todd if it was not for the heroics of the Morelia goalkeeper. He pulled off one fabulous save after the other to keep the Celts out. The Madison keeper was also kept on his toes when the rare Morelia attack resulted in an on target shot.
After these opening twenty minutes the game settled in to a pattern of sorts with fast attacks by the  Madison midfield and forward line followed by break away runs from Morelia that sometimes caught the defense a bit flat footed. However, the decisive moment in the first half came when a cracking shot by Eduardo was instinctively saved by the impressive Wallingford keeper but, agonizingly for him,  he rebounded the ball to the presciently positioned Rob who bundled the ball in to the net for the opening goal of the game. As the half came to an end there was a notable rise in the number of petulant fouls coming from the Morelia side as they tried to unsettle the Madison players.

This persistent fouling continued throughout the second half which turned into a real battle and grind for both teams. In hot conditions it appeared that the team that could keep cool heads would be the victor. With less than 10 minutes of the game left it looked like Madison would claim all three points but a calamitous run of poor tackles threw that into jeopardy. The Celts were going full blast looking for the second goal that would kill the game but they got too stretched during one attack and the simple maneuver of punting the ball out of defense up to one of their players in midfield led to an equalizing goal. The Morelia player managed to squeeze past two midfielders and then slipped past the last defender leaving him an open run into the box to face a defenseless Dustin who could do nothing to stop the ball being slammed win to the net. The Celtic team of last year would have crumpled at this point and maybe even have lost another goal but this team is a different beast. They roared back into attack searching for the winner. Probing runs down the wings by James and Todd as well as menacing passes from Rob, Ronnie and Johnny B really pushed the Morelia team back on their heels. But the clock was fast running down as Ronnie played a couple of give an goes with Dave Slade and found himself just outside the opposition box where he was unceremoniously hacked down by a Morelia defender.   A clear foul in a dangerous area with only one minute left in the game. The Morelia players were incensed and managed to get one of their players red carded for bad mouthing the ref. But, with all this mayhem around him James G stood calmly over the ball with only one thing on his mind and when the ref blew his whistle  Super J launched a sublime shot that arced away from the goalkeeper and bulged the net for a glorious winning goal. The opposition could barely restart  the game before the ref ended the match. A tough game but three well deserved points for the excellent Celts!

Man of the Match; Great performances all around the field with a strong midfield of Ronnie, Johnny B, Alex and David Slade dominating for most of the match. The defense only had a few lapses during the game but for most of the 90 were tight and strong.  The 4 rejuvenated strikers were great throughout the game, especially Todd on his debut game. But the stand out player on the day for his superb forward play and his very special game winning goal goes to Super James!

Starting 11 vs Wallingford Morelia!

NEXT GAME; Sunday August 28th vs Wallingford Morelia ( A )

Our next game is an away match against our old foes Wallingford Morelia. They are having a fairly balanced season so far winning 5 and losing 5 to sit 6th in the league on 15 points!
The last time we played them we ran out  4 2 winners after goals from Ronnie, Johnny B, Ravi and Rob.

Match Report; Madison Celtic 4 Wallingford Morelia 2

This is a 10am kick off!!

Directions to the field;

 524 WOODHOUSE AVENUE FIELDS:
I-91 South to Exit 14 (Woodhouse Avenue), right onto East Center Street and take an immediate left onto South Airline Road. Go about 11⁄2 miles to traffic light and turn left onto Woodhouse Avenue. Fields are about 2 miles on left and right at 524 Woodhouse Av
I-91 North to Exit 14, right onto Woodhouse Avenue. Follow above directions. 

Last Weekends Results and League Standings ( #10 )

Third Division
Hamden United	1	North Branford SC	2
Wallingford Morelia	1	Newington Portuguese	2
Eli's FC	2	Cheshire United	2
Madison Celtic FC	3	North Haven SC	0
Wilton Wolves	1	Stamford City	1 THIRD DIVISION Pl W D L FW FL F A GD SNR PD Pts 1 Newington Portuguese 10 9 1 0 0 0 32 8 24 0 0 28 2 Madison Celtic FC 10 7 2 1 0 0 23 9 14 0 0 23 3 Stamford City 10 4 5 1 0 0 11 8 3 0 0 17 4 North Haven SC 10 5 2 3 0 0 23 24 -1 0 0 17 5 North Branford SC 10 5 1 4 0 0 19 15 4 0 0 16 6 Wallingford Morelia 10 5 0 5 0 0 26 21 5 0 0 15 7 Wilton Wolves 10 2 2 6 0 0 16 21 -5 1 0 8 8 Eli's FC 10 1 4 5 0 0 14 25 -11 0 0 7 9 Cheshire United 10 0 5 5 0 0 14 28 -14 1 0 5 10 Hamden United 10 0 2 8 0 0 12 31 -19 0 0 2

MATCH REPORT; Madison Celtic 3 North Haven 0

Another great match report from Ravi!

The second half of the season began on a muggy morning on our home field, where we had the chance to exact a bit of revenge on North Haven SC, the only side to defeat us in the first half. We began with good energy and the game featured the season debut of James who returned to the very pitch on which he had broken some ribs last season. His first game back could not have gone better as within the first 15 minutes of the game, he scored after a bit of brilliant build up play that led to a looping cross from the right flank by Dmitriy that James managed to take off the volley and deposit past the sprawling keeper into the net. 

The rest of the half was fairly tight with no clear advantage in either decision. Dustin made a few good saves and Tano turned back the clock with a bicycle kick but it pedaled right towards the keeper's open arms. However with just minutes remaining, Eduardo cleared a dangerous ball from the box with a moon-shot, a ball that rose high into the air before falling where only David Slade could really get it. However just as he went up to meet the ball, the North Haven sweeper drove a vicious shoulder into Slade, pile-driving him into the ground. The trash-talking mooncalf sweeper received a yellow card and thankfully cooler heads prevailed before the game turned any uglier. 

The foul seemed to energize Celtic though, as in the second half, the build up play was much better as was the possession and defending. Everyone from the strikers on came back to help out on defense, harrying the other side into miskicks. Dan was solid in the back and played a few good crosses into the box that unfortunately were not met by anyone. But with about 30 minutes remaining, Johnny B took the ball on the left flank and after a few dribbles noticed the opposing goalkeeper around the 6-yard line. He took the opportunity to drill a beautifully flighted ball over the keeper's and dropped it into the upper right corner. 

The skill it took to finish that shot demoralized the opponent completely because after that it was open season. Leo got in on the act by bundling a pass in the box past a few defenders and smoking the onion bag with a thundering shot. The scoreline could have been much worse if Tano and Ravi had not made a few offside runs that would have resulted in even more goals. When Ravi finished off one of these by chipping the keeper, he received a yellow card for time wasting. But none of that could steal the luster off a fine performance by all of the starters and subs, and a true team victory. 

Madison Celtic 3 - North Haven SC 0 

Man of the Match: great team-play throughout but this week's award has to go to Johnny B for the sublime artistry of his finish. Couple that with a few other good chances, like a highlight reel diving header, and some strong play in the midfield and he's this week's recipient. 

post script from JGH; Additional comments from others on the game point to the great role Dmitryi had on the game with great defensive and attacking midfield play. 

Starting 11 vs North Haven

Good squad for Sunday guys. Use the subs well and keep strong through the game!

NEXT GAME; Sunday 21st August vs North Haven (H)

The season restarts this Sunday with a home game against North Haven, the only team that managed to beat us over the first 9 games. That game ended in a 3 1 defeat after Madison had opened the scoring with great goal from Tano. Match report below for those that want a reminder;

North Haven vs Madison Celtic Match Report

That was our first game of the new season and the team had not yet gelled. Of course, since that game the Celts have had a great season winning 6 and drawing 2 leaving us in second top spot with 20 points, 3 ahead of this weekends rivals.

Let's keep the good run going by grabbing all 3 points!

This is a HOME game, at the LONG HILL ROAD fields down beside our "clubhouse".

It is a 10AM KICK OFF!!