Game Is Cancelled!!

Guys ....the weather has won. No game tomorrow

NEXT GAME; Sunday 26th September, Hamden!

Our game this Sunday is away to Hamden......

It is an 8.30AM KICK OFF!!!..... I repeat.... it is an 8.30am KICK OFF!!!

On the face of it, this should be a 3 pointer for us. Hamden sit rooted to the bottom of the table after 5 losses. They have lost heavily to several teams so far and have only scored 3 goals. Last year they finished bottom of the league after 13 losses, generating only 10 points over the whole season. Having said all of that, we will need to bring our A game to the field. Several of us will be missing including a contingent over in Scotland. We need the rest of the squad to turn up!

The Hulk will be back between the sticks, we have Roberto as a new star in defence....maybe we will even see La Boca again?

This is also an early kick off did I mention that before? Yes, i did.... the kick off is at 8.30AM!!

Last week several guys turned up just as we were about to kick off and that was at 10AM!

Field Directions Click Here!

Grab the win and the 3 points guys! And Atlantic Rovers will try and win the tournament over in Scotland!

El Gato will be the card holder and scribe for the day and Tano will try and take some pics!

MATCH REPORT; Madison 0 Guilford BC 0

Madison's first home game of the SASL season was against a strong Guilford Bell Curve team that turned up early and ready for business! This was in stark contrast to the Madison team that seemed to casually turn up in dribs and drabs with apparently no concerns about the 10am kick off time! With several key players missing in action the Celts started the game slowly and in a somewhat disorganized fashion. In contrast, the Guilford team set off strongly with some crisp passing and incisive attacking play forcing debut boy Roberto to show his defensive skills right from the start of the game. Luckily, the few early chances for the visitors did not really trouble El Gato and after twenty minutes Madison finally got themselves into the game. Some good wing play by Fribeka on the left, and Talet on the right saw crosses into the box that allowed Jorge, Safet and Tano all to have chances that in any other week would have found the net. But not this week, and each shot went over, past or nowhere near the opposition goalposts. Both teams were evenly matched and throughout the rest of the first half chances were few and far between. Therefore it was no surprise that the half ended in a goalless tie.

The second half started with the Celts taking the game by the scruff of the neck pushing the Guilford team onto the back foot and forcing defensive errors for the first time in the match. Pressing their back four allowed some great opportunities for the home team to take control of the game and for the first twenty minutes of the half Madison had several chances to take the lead but just couldn't get the final touch to push the ball into the net. Of course, no team can keep an attack going for a whole game ( well maybe Barca! ) so gradually Guilford started to push up the field and had a few of their own chances to grab the lead. In one of their best attacks a great move down the Madison right ended with a fierce ball being swept into the box and for a second it looked like the ball was heading into the net only for El Gato to tip it onto the bar allowing Johnaldo to kick the ball out of the box. Then, in clearly their most productive stretch of the game, a Guilford forward swept into the box and unleashed a great shot that flew past El Gato into the net. Luckily for the Celts the ref blew for a foul on the last man Roberto. This narrow escape did not inspire Madison to raise their game and the game moved on in a stalemate. Several chances came and went but it looked like a draw was on the cards until the last move of the game.

With only seconds left on the clock Guilford fouled a Madison player on the edge of the box allowing a last chance for Madison. Roniildo lined up for the shot and sent in a scorcher of a shot that looked like a goal all the way. The Guilford goalkeeper stretched out to his maximum length and just at the very tip of his finger he flicked the ball over the bar and a certain winner for the Celts was gone. The whistle blew to end a great competitive match and a fair zero zero tie. The last time Madison had blanked in a game was way back in September of last year and hopefully the next time will be a year from now!

Yellow/Red Card watch; Roberto (-1)


MAN OF THE MATCH; tough to split the great match saving antics of El Gato and the fanstastic defensive debut by Roberto so...what the Hell ....they are both men of the match!

NEXT GAME; Sunday 19th Sept, Guilford Bell Curve

We are only four games into our new journey in the SASL but already a big game is on our plate! This Sunday we have our first home game of the season against one of the better teams in the league, Guilford Bell Curve. They sit second in the table after 4 games, on 9 points, winning 3 and losing only once. They have beaten the Eagles (3-2) and North Branford (3-0) away and won 5-1 against Hamden at home. Their only loss so far came at home to Orange, 3-1. Last year they finished bottom of Div 2 having lost 13 of their 18 games and shipping 52 goals! They must have tightened up a bit but maybe they are a fragile team that is used to losing? Let's get them on the back foot as soon as we can and hit them with confident attacking play!

See you Sunday at Exchange field 10am kick off. Jodingo!! is the beer boy and he has to compete with the awesome collection of beers from last week!!

No Hulk this weekend but we have the amazing, flexible and ever reliable El Gato between the sticks! Still need some players to do their check ins.... or outs.

MATCH REPORT; East Haven 0 Madison 3

Another second half revival by the Celts was enough to see off a spirited East Haven team on a field that would not have been out of place in Lilliput. Even Gulliver would have complained about the teeny dimensions of the field that allowed The Hulk's kick outs to become one of the main attack weapons for the team. A superb fifteen minute start by the Celts came somewhat unstuck by the same general first half lethargy that has hit all of Madison's games this season.


Having had total control of the ball and of the the game, passes started to go astray and increasingly the last resort was a long ball to the chronically offside front line. This really started to unhinge the shape of the team but luckily East Haven were in no position to take advantage. Their attacks were scare and feeble at best although with the game precariously balanced at nothing each they did have the best chance of the game when a shot had to be cleared off the line, hockey style, by the The Hulk to prevent the home side taking an undeserved lead. This was the first and only action The Hulk had to take in the game and he could have spent the rest of the game fishing in the Atlantic with a cardboard cut out left in his place!

As both sides edged towards a tied first half the notable features for Madison were the great performances being put in by Jorge up front and Halil in midfield closely followed by the running and blocking of Fribeka.


The second half saw Madison take more and more control of the game with more shots on goal and a lot more possession. It was maybe a slight surprise that when the breakthrough came it would be off the head of the opposition defender as he flicked a great Talet cross into his own goal to give the Celts the lead. This spurred the team on to greater heights with their passing and wing play becoming much more probing and incisive. East Haven were really beginning to toil under this type of unrelenting pressure and a second goal was clearly coming and when it did it was a work of art. The ball broke to El Flaco, probably 35 yards out, and he did not hesitate for a second to fire in a screamer of a shot that dipped at the last minute to leave the opposition goalie clawing at air as the ball sailed over his head and into the net. Yet another goal of the season contender from the maestro Carlos and a well deserved two goal lead for Madison. After this the Celts continued to push and sealed the deal with a third goal when the ball broke across the East Haven goalmouth allowing the lurking Jorge to round off a great personal performance by scoring Madison's third of the day.

Several chances came and went for the Celts to add to their lead but at full time the score stood at 3 - 0.


Man of the Match; Jorge A superb running and passing game by Jorge was the standout performance of the day. Always available for the pass, always making the intelligent run and scoring a great poachers goal at the end! Good showings by Halil and Fribeka in the second half completed their sterling performances throughout. And of course the touch of genius by El Flaco made the game memorable! Thanks to The Hulk and TomA for a truly superb array of post game beers and great chicken wings and guacamole from El Flaco!

NEXT GAME; Sunday 12th September, East Haven!

Our next league game is this Sunday away to East Haven. The field directions to Moulthrop Street are on the Field directions page or click here;

http://madisonceltic.blogspot.com/p/sasl-field-directions.html

East Haven have also played 3 games so far and have lost 7-4 at home to the Albanian Eagles, lost 2-6 at home to Orange and won away from home 3-0 to North Branford. They have 3 points to our 5. As we are new to the league it is still difficult to work out the strength of each of these teams but as we have already beaten Orange and drawn with the Eagles then we should be more than a match for East Haven. But let's not be complacent......and no arguing on the field!

See you Sunday! I think TomA and The Hulk are on beer duty this weekend?

MATCH REPORT; Wallingford 4 Madison 4

We came, we saw, we oh so nearly conquered! But in the end the wheels well and truly came off the chariot as Madison Celtic threw the lead away twice in a roller coaster of a game that ended in a 4-4 tie. The Wallingford Morelia team had started the season with two wins and got off to an early supremacy in the game with some smart passing and good ball control. Once again Madison started the game in a sluggish fashion finding great difficulty in stringing a set of passes together that involved teammates. The make shift defense shorn of La Bocca and Goggs was hoping for a bit of time to settle in but unfortunately that was denied as a criminally short pass back to Jodingo!! was snapped up by a Morelia forward who rounded the stranded Celt and swept the ball past The Hulk for an early one nil lead. Madison struggled to get into the game but gradually they managed to take a foothold with some great runs by Safet and Jorge pushing the Wallingford team back into defense. And just as the half was nearing the end a great pass by Jorge found Safet running clear and he did not miss his chance to slam in the equalizer. This was a great confidence booster for the Celts and they started the second half with their tails up. Great wing play by Madison at the start of the second period provided some great opportunities for goal chances with Safet frequently bursting into the opposition penalty box and laying on some great passes only to see them squandered. But the tide had truly turned in the game and Madison were taking control, a point that was confirmed when a great pass by Ilhan allowed Tano to flick the ball past the opposition goalkeeper for the go ahead goal. Madison were really motoring at this point and extended their lead when a great run by Roniildo down the Madison right wing ended with a great cross which was again met by the predatory Tano for his second and Madison’s third of the game. It looked like the Celts could run up a large score at this point but instead they chose to collectively press the self destruct button.
For some reason, best left off this report, Jorge and Telat decided to have a shouting match at each other. Unfortunately this spread to the rest of the team and at one point 7 players were involved in a scrum of an argument completely ignoring the urgent calls from the The Hulk that the game was still going on! This incident clearly filled the crestfallen Morelia team with the confidence to keep trying….and try they did. Shortly after this self sustained debacle Morelia scored a second goal to get them back into the game. Madison still had some great chances to increase their lead notably when Johnaldo was released by a great pass from Jorge only for him to ineffectually lob the ball to the opposition goalkeeper when a return pass to Jorge or a low hard shot may have met with a better outcome. From the possibility of going 4-2 up Madison found themselves back to square one when the Morelia team went straight down the field and straight through the Celtic defense to score a great equalizer. With only 5 minutes left on the clock that looked like the end of the excitement but how wrong that was! Jorge strode up the field and unleashed a powerful dipping shot that crashed off the opposition bar giving the goalkeeper no chance but amazingly the ball did not cross the line. Luckily for the Celts, Tano was on hand again to slot the loose ball into the net for his hat trick and what looked like the winning goal. Unfortunately, Celtic could not hold out for the last 2 minutes of the game and play the type of smart possession football that you need to see a game out. At one point, Madison had 7 players in the opposition half looking for another goal but also tempting the inevitable to happen. In what looked like the last attack of the game Morelia got to the edge of the Madison penalty box and even though the Celts had ample opportunity to clear their lines with a boot up the field they didn’t and the ball made its way to a Wallingford player in the box who was unceremoniously upended in the box by Ilhan for a clear penalty. And the end of a wild roller coaster ride of game was marked by the ball scorching past the despairing dive of the Hulk as Wallingford grabbed a very unlikely point. A really disappointing end to a game that Madison had almost wrapped up early in the second half. If they are to survive in this new league the team has to be smarter and more aware of what to do when they are in the lead. The team also has to learn that screaming and shouting at your team mates is not only destructive to team morale and focus, it is massively encouraging to the opposition

MAN OF THE MATCH; TANO Great hat trick by Tano and some really predatory skills in full view. Also fantastic support work by Jorge!