MATCH REPORT; Cheshire Utd 1 Madison Celtic 2

Madison Celtic won promotion to the second division with a hard fought 2 1 win against a stuffy Cheshire Utd team. The Celts went in to the game knowing they only needed 1 point to guarantee their promotion out of the third division but the game did not start with any note of caution from the visitors. In fact, just in the same fashion as last weeks game against Wilton, the Celts found themselves one nil down within 3 minutes of the game starting! Thankfully the mirroring of the Wilton game continued when Tano once again equalized for the Celts within a couple of minutes! After that  early burst of activity the game settled in to a pattern of the Celts struggling to get out of their own half. The wide dimensions of the field and the initial team layout  meant that the Celts got very stretched and a large gap appeared in the middle of the pitch allowing the home team to attack the defensive line at will. They did a great job of preventing Cheshire from scoring and when the Celts reverted to a more formal 442 formation they started to take a grip of the game. The first half finished with the teams even in scoring but the Celts clearly edging the possession.
That possession became even more obvious in there second half as the Celts chased a winner. Some great passing play by the Celtic midfield generate numerous chances for the forward line who were taking up great positions in the opposition box. But it looked like nothing was going to go in until David swept past two Cheshire players down the Celtic right wing and cut in to the box before making an inch perfect pass to James who slotted the ball in to the net. A richly deserved goal and real relief to the watching fan.
The Celts had a number of further chances to emphasize their dominance in the game but couldn't put them away. In fact, if it wasn't for some heroic goalkeeping by Dustin the home team might have snatched  a late equalizer! But the game ended with the three points and promotion in the bag as Madison Celtic finished as Division 3 runners up!

Man of the Match; great performances all round from Eduardo, Tim and Tano in the first half and David, Dimitri and James throughout most of the second. But having given no one a MOM last week I think this week it goes to the whole team!