MATCH REPORT; Madison 2 Guilford 0

A dreary, wet start to the day almost had this derby game in doubt, but after some consulting with weather maps and radar scans the game kicked of at 8.15 am. If the field was damp  and a bit soggy it didn't seem to affect the home side who got stuck into the game right from the whistle. An assertive back line of Dan and Mike made sure that Guilford knew early on that no prisoners were going to be taken! Some tough tackles and great clearances filled the team with confidence. The unusual starting  midfield of  Tom, Fribeka, Ruggero and Robert fought hard for the ball and set up some nice passing moves between each other and the two guys up front, Leo and Kevin. Most of the chances were falling to Madison, a team clearly motivated by the threat of relegation. Ruggero had a couple of nice runs with completed shots at the end of them. Tom was playing some smart football down the right midfield and Carlos was bursting up the left flank every chance he was getting. Jodingo!! was already heading for a solid game at right back mopping up anything that came his way. When the team was augmented by the Brazilian combo of Alex and Edmilson half way through the first 45 Madison stepped it up another gear. Some great probing runs and crosses were really testing the Guilford back four but unfortunately every lofted ball into the box was easily plucked out of the air by the impressive Guilford goalie. It looked increasingly likely that Madison would get the opening goal and when it came it was a piece of individual brilliance by the maestro El Flaco!  A lightening fast break down the left wing saw Carlos skip past opposition players as though they were training cones. He then burst into the box and unleashed a shot which the goalie managed to parry. Unfortunately for him the ball went straight back to Carlos who didn't waste his second chance blasting the ball into the net. A well deserved opening goal and lead for the convincing home side.
The Hulk was having a surprisingly quiet first half given who the opposition were but not quiet enough to break out the cocktails and Karaoke machine. He would be called into action in the second half. A very good half saw Madison confident of building on the lead in the second. But Guilford had other ideas and started the new half pressing the Madison defence. Some last ditch tackles and blocks prevented an equalizer but it was clear that Guilford were not going to hand over the three points meekly. A few more breaks by them saw a pattern appearing of balls pumped up in the air down the middle of the field and a foot race between the defence and their attack. Bruce was caught a few times late off his line  ( I saw one of our midfielders calling him on his cell phone to warn him an attack was coming ) but he always got to the ball. As the half wore on more and more of the field opened up for both teams and Flaco and others were able to go on lengthy sprints up the field. Of course Guilford were trying the same tactic and at times nearly got the time and space to get a shot on target. The game moved into the last five minutes with Madison stoutly defending and hoping the whistle would go. But earlier relief would come their way when a ball down the Madison left found Fribeka clear near the half way line. The opposition hesitated, thinking he was offside, but no whistle came and Fribeka scurried all the way up the field into the box brilliantly rounding the goalkeeper and with his last ounce of energy he managed to dink/tap/flub/trickle  a shot/cross/pass to Tano who had the simplest task of slotting the ball into the empty net. The Guilford team were crushed but the three points were in the bag.  A great performance by everyone on the team and with only one game left in the season ( against league leaders Ridgefield ) the Celts still have a great chance of finishing outside the bottom two. After 7 straight defeats, the Celts have now won 4 out of their last 6 games, with three shutouts along the way, as they have improved their goal difference considerably!

MAN OF THE MATCH;  Some great performances all over the field. Ruggero and Tom were superb in the first half and Fribeka showed his value with a stalwarts performance in the second. Alex and Robert put in a great shift as did any of the players that came in. The back four were immense throughout the game with Dan and Mike in particular looking impenetrable. But for his sheer non stop running, great goal and crazy skill through the game the MOM goes to El Flaco!

MATCH REPORT; Arsenal 3 Madison 1

A frustrating day for the Celts resulted in a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Greenwich Arsenal. There was no doubt that Arsenal are a good team but Celtic did themselves no favors in the first half  by falling into the same old bad habit of treating the ball like a plague ridden handkerchief. At times it looked like there was a competition to see who could boot the ball as fast and as far away as possible. Of course, this could have been due to a rough start to the game when the Celts found themselves 1-0 down after only a couple of minutes. An attack down the Celtic right found the defense claiming for offside rather than stopping the player. It was then relatively easy for the Arsenal striker to slot the ball past an unprotected Hulk for the go ahead goal. The Celts tried to get in to the game but appeared to be nervous and treating their opponents with too much respect. It was very difficult to get hold of the ball and even harder finding a player to hold on to it. As the half wore on Johnny B found himself isolated on the left wing with Alex and Roniildo sitting almost on top of the defensive back line leaving a gaping hole in the middle of the field. The team were relying on Tim and Mike to clear up as best as they could and try to stem the tide. This "tactic" seemed to be working until the 30 minute mark when a speculative shot outside the box found Hulk temporarily blinded by the Sun allowing the ball to fly through his hands into the net. At this point the heads went down and the Celts were just holding on.  Clearance after clearance was booted up the park and  it looked like Celtic had endured another storm and might be able to get to the half time break only two down.  But once again another attack down the  right side found the home team in acres of space. A despairing last minute tackle by Tim, trying to cover the huge gap in the defense, was not enough to stop another shot being blasted into the net.  A tough half time discussion did lead to an attitude change  and a vow to have a real go in the second half. And that approach really did lead to a much better performance by the visitors. There were more attacking opportunities for the attacking front line and the midfielders were able to unsettle the opposition defense a little more. But as the half wore on it was still difficult to get shots on goal. Leo came closest a few times with some fine runs and shots but to no avail. With only 10 minutes left the Celts did get the reward their efforts deserved when a good move down the left side resulted in Tano squeezing the ball across the box to Kevin who squirted the ball into the net for a consolation goal.  Another defeat after a run of good games but Celtic did show signs that they can hang with even the best teams in the division. Two games left now to save their berth in the second division.

MAN OF THE MATCH; A tough game for players to stand out but one player who put in the telling tackle and never gave up was Tim. So the MOM goes to him.

NEXT GAME; Sunday Sept 29th vs Greenwich Arsenal

Our next big game on the way to league survival comes this Sunday with an away game against Greenwich Arsenal. The game is an early 9am kick off so for most of us it will mean leaving around 7.30am to get to the Greenwich Central Middle School  (Directions below).  Car pool at exit 58 on 95....leaving at 7.30 am, so maybe get there by 7.20?  ;

CENTRAL MIDDLE SCHOOL:

9 Indian Rock Lane, Greenwich, CT 06830

I-95 to Exit 4, Southbound right, Northbound left onto Indian Field Road. Go about 1 mile, you will cross East Putnam Avenue/Route 1 where Indian Field becomes Old Post Road #6 and turns sharply right. Go about 100 yards, turn left onto Stanwich Road and go about 7/10 mile, turn right onto Indian Rock Lane, school on left. Field behind school.

Teams should note that NO ALCOHOL is allowed on school grounds!

Arsenal are having a pretty good season so far, sitting in 3rd position on 29 points. When we played them at home earlier in the season they had an easy 5-1 victory. Match report here;

MADISON CELTIC 1 GREENWICH ARSENAL 5

If we play the way we have been over the last few weeks I'm confident we can get something from this match! Let's put everything we can into this one. Watch Braveheart the night before to get in the mood!!

"Fight and you may die. Run and you will live at least a while. And dying in your bed many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance, to come back here as young men and tell our enemies that they may take our lives but they will never take our freedom!"

Substitute 'freedom' with 'three points' and you get the message!

MATCH REPORT; Madison 5 Fairfield 0

Celtic posted their biggest and best win of the season with a five nil demolition of Fairfield. It was their first home points of the season, their second shut out of the year and their 9th point out of the last 12. Some good statistics but it would be no exaggeration to say that Celtic could have hit double figures in this game if the two shots cleared off the line, the ball that hit the post and the weird penalty reversal all counted. The Celts were firing on all cylinders with a very strong team out on the field and seven great subs on the side. The teams commitment to staying in this division was there for all to see.

Madison were handed an advantage right at the beginning of the game when Faifield turned up with only 10 players. We know how that feels, but it was difficult to hand out any sympathy to a team that have been somewhat aggressive with their tackles in the past.

Madison were up for the game and totally dominated the opening exchanges. The first 25 minutes flew by with Celtic in almost total control of the ball.  The ball possession must have been approaching over 75% at this point and the passing between midfield and attack was superb. Great play by Johhny B, Roniildo and Alex set up numerous chances for Kevin, Leo and then Tano.  Ruggero also had some great runs into the box. At the back new signing Mike was simple immense and the combination of him and Tim plus Edmilson and Flaco at the back made the defence impenetrable. In fact Hulk was so clearly bored and untroubled with the lack of action at his end of the field he set up a barbecue in his goal and cooked a steady stream of burgers for the fans!

For all the possession and attempts on goal Fairfield were managing to hold on and frustrate Celtic with a superbly executed offside trap. Just as it looked like the half would end in a stalemate another wave of attack ended with a great pass across the opposition box to find Tano in space allowing a simple tap in for the go ahead goal. A well deserved lead and a body blow to Fairfield who noticeably shrank after this set back. In fact it was no surprise when shortly after this opener a great move by Carlos saw him flick the ball over the head of the last defender control it on the other side and slam the ball past the goalie for a two goal lead. As the half ended the two goal lead was no more than the Celts deserved for their industry and great possession.
If Fairfield were hoping that the Celts would ease up in the second half they were going to be disappointed. The home team roared back into the half and had the opposition under the cosh again. Alex and Johnny B were running riot in the midfield and huge gaps were appearing in the Fairfield defense. Again, a lot of the possession was ending in shots cleared off the line ( Tano and Johnaldo ) or offside calls. The rare attacks Fairfield mounted were snuffed out easily by Mike and Tim allowing Hulk to have a few more beers in the impromptu bar he had set up. But just as some mild frustration was starting to build up Johnny B scored a great individual goal for the Celts 3rd. Fairfield's frustration started to spill over with some meaty challenges going in and they made their situation infinitely worse when one of their players was red carded for a foul on Edmilson. After this the Celts took them to the cleaners with some superb attacking play which was rounded off by two fabulous goals by Alex. Sitting pretty at 5 0 the Celts could have rounded things off in style when they were awarded a penalty. Roniildo dispatched it into the net with his customary ease only for the ref to chop the goal off for player infringement in the box, Tano? The Celts finished off the last 5 minutes of the game keeping the ball and ramming home  their superiority.  A great 3 points for the Celts that allowed them to leapfrog Fairfield into the safety zone. This leaves three big games for the bhoys to hold on to their Div 2 status!

MAN OF THE MATCH; So many players to choose from and some fantastic play but it was too difficult for me to distinguish between two goal hero Alex and debut boy Mike, so two MOM's heading their way!

MATCH REPORT; Eagles 1 Madison 2

The Celts produced their best form of the season to claim all three points against a stubborn Albanian Eagles team. It was a strong looking Madison team that started the game. New player Dan  was installed in the back line with Tim and Edmilson, and new striker Kevin and Tano were leading the front line. The midfield, shorn of Johnny B and Rob Bz, still looked capable enough with Roniildo, Jodingo!!, Fribeka and Alex, who was given a more attacking role away from his normal defensive duties.
The Celts started the game well with good possession and some early probing of the Albanian defense. Fribeka and Alex took charge of the midfield battles with their counterparts, and Dan and Tim were closing out any attacks before they got anywhere near the Hulk. That's what happened in the first five minutes! After that the game evened out to a good give and take clash with Madison always having that little bit more in the tank than the Eagles. Having said that, when they attacked they did so with speed that sometimes caught out not only the defence but also the linesman. The Hulk had to pull off a string of dead certain goal attempts with superb, body crunching saves. Just when it looked like this might be one of those frustrating games where the Celts get a lot of possession with no payoff Kevin and Tano burst into life.  A great shot by Kevin was fumbled by the opposition goalie and Tano was there to whip the ball into the net for the go ahead goal.  The Celts had a few more attempts at goal including another rare headed attempt by Johnaldo that went narrowly wide of the mark. All during the first half Fribeka was playing out of his skin and Alex was linking up with whoever was beside him in the midfield and making great bursting runs into the box. On one of those forays he beat the offside trap, raced into the box and slotted it past the goalie only to see the goal chopped off for an offside call on one of his team mates. Still a very strong first half. The second 45 was a very similar performance with most of the possession going the way of Madison and every so often a break away attack from the Albanians. The next goal was going to be crucial and when it came it was a superb first goal for new boy Kevin as he blasted a shot past the despairing dive of the Eagles goalie. Of course that should have been game over but as ever the Celts try to make everything a bit uncomfortable and on one of those rare Eagles attacks they managed to get the ball past the superb Hulk. After that, the Celts really closed the game down and some excellent play by the midfield and defence blunted any further attacks by the Albanians. The game ended with a nice three points in the bag for the Celts

Man of the Match;  Some superb performances by Alex, Dan and Kevin were of note but the stand out was Hulk and also the 'best in career" performance of Fribeka. So two man of the match awards go out to Jacques and Bruce!

MATCH REPORT; Guilford 2 Madison 1

Another tough result for Madison Celtic as they fell to a narrow 2-1 defeat to local rivals Guilford. The Celts got off to a bad start in the this pre-dawn game as only ten players turned up for the kick off. By the time TomP slowly trundled to the field, ten minutes after the whistle, the Celts were 2  0 down. A great strike by Guilford for the opener and then a defensive blunder for the second set up a potential hiding for the Celts. But maybe it was Tom or maybe it was the team attitude but after those ten minutes this became a very tough and close game. Roniildo, Johnny B and Rob Bz played very well in midfield with Ruggero moving easily up and down the wings. The defense, after the opening blip, were solid as Tim got back to his best form of the season. Alex was powerful and Jodingo!! and Tom P were great on the defensive back positions. When Guilford did get through the back line Hulk was there to block. The only issue we had was the fairly insipid attack. There was only a couple of attempts on goal in the first half by the Celts. One was a fantastic whipped in cross that was met by Johnaldo's head but went wide of the goal, the other a fairly tame shot on goal. The second half was much the same as the second as Madison increasingly got more of the ball and pushed Guilford further and further back. Unfortunately there was not enough consistent pressure on the Guilfrod goal. But just as the game was edging to an end the rampaging forward runs by Johnny B and Alex were rewarded  with a goal by Alex. With only a few minutes left on the clock it was too little too late although Guilford ended the game the more anxious team

MAN OF THE MATCH; Some great performances by the midfield and defense but in my humble opinion Tim won out the MOM

NEXT GAME; Sunday June 9th vs Greenwich Arsenal

We have a home game this weekend against Greenwich Arsenal with a 10 am kick off. We played the twice last year losing one and drawing one. It should be a close game but we need to up our work rate and shots on goal if we want to capture the three points.

We have 5 on the roll call so far so let me know if you are playing or not!

Anyone want to be on beer duty for this weekend?

MATCH REPORT; Fairfield 2 Madison 0

Yet another bitter defeat for the Celts this weekend. This time the loss was to their fellow hooped rivals Fairfield GAC. On a hot and increasingly humid day the Madison team just wilted and to be fair Fairfield were up for the game and by far the better team. They attacked the Celts right from the beginning and if it wasn't for the heroics of Alex in goal and La Boca and Jodingo!! at the back we could have been onto a hiding. Though most of the opening twenty minutes of the game the Celts could not get hold of the ball and when they did they gave it away cheaply. In contrast, the home team were fast and could move the ball around their team with ease. They had a few simple but very effective tactics that basically involved lobbing the ball down the left or right wing and letting their fast strikers out run the Madison backs. Unfortunately that tactic was all that was needed for them to score their first goal. A distracted Celtic team, arguing for a foul with the ref, allowed the Fairfield team to hit the ball straight down the middle of the field to their fastest forward. He outstripped the last defender and coolly slotted the ball into the net. The most frustrating part of the game for Celtic in this first half was their inability to read the offside trap. At one point almost every forward pass was adjudged to have found a Celtic player in an offside position. Unfortunately, to this observer at least, the linesman got it right about 90% of the time. It's something that has to be fixed and a really basic problem for a forward line to have.
The second half was marginally better as the Celts got more of the ball and threatened the opposition goal a bit more but Fairfield still looked the most likely to get the next goal. And that they did, with the same tactic of lobbing the ball over the back line and allowing a player to burst through on goal giving Alex no chance. After going two nil down the Celts played their best football, hitting the post and coming close a few times. But way too many times they had to rely on a last minute tackle by La Boca or a great save by Alex to save further humiliation. The last five minutes or so got a bit rough as both teams started to put in some meaty challenges. Fairfield saw the game out and got a well deserved three points. The Celts really need to come up with some smarter tactics than they are currently deploying if they want to gather any more points in this league.

Man of the Match; great play by Jodingo!! and Alex throughout the game really had them as potential MOM's but the award goes to La Boca for his many last minute tackles and break up play

NEXT GAME; Sunday June 2nd VS Fairfield GAC

Our next game is an away game  against Fairfield GAC. They are the other team that plays in green and white hoops! This is a 10 am kick off and the directions to the field are below;

SOUTH PINE CREEK PARK (also known as OLD DAM ROAD):

I-95 to Exit 21. Southbound left, Northbound right and go under I-95 and railroad underpass to traffic light (Post Road / Route 1). Take right onto Post Road, go to next traffic light and turn left onto South Pine Creek Road, go past stop sign for about 3⁄4 mile, and turn left onto Old Dam Road. Field on left behind softball and football fields.

We played Fairfield a couple of times last season winning once and drawing once. They can be a tough opponent but if we are up for it we should win.

Who is in?  Lets get a good away team list

MATCH REPORT; Madison 0 Norwalk S.C. 1

Another tough day at the office for the Celts as they slumped to a 1-0 home defeat to Norwalk S.C. It was a fairly evenly matched game throughout the 90 minutes but Norwalk took their chance when it appeared. The Celts got off to a very scrappy start with really poor passing and tactical naivety. As the first half proceeded it was obvious that the different sections of the home team were struggling to connect. An old problem also reared its head when a huge gap appeared in the middle of the field allowing the opposition to control the ball in midfield with little challenge. This problem occurs when the left and right midfielders hug the line and the two center midfielders get caught on opposite ends of the field. Its a problem that is easily solved by having the two center players stay withing a few yards of each other and for the 'wingers' to close in. Simple, but difficult to make happen during the game. The problem led to the opposition goal as the Norwalk team attacked easily and took advantage of a mix up between the goalie and his defenders to score the go ahead goal. The second half was a much better performance by the Celts but they could not get enough shots on goal and when they did their goalie was on form. A frustrating defeat for the Celts who are playing reasonably well in patches but need to score to make sure they can at least get a share of the points. After 5 games they are very close to the bottom of the table although others teams are losing at the same rate as the Celts. Still a long way to go!

MAN OF THE MATCH;  Alex had a great game in defence and in attack and gets a deserved MOM