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!

GAME IS ON TODAY

Guys the game is on   Field looks ok  1015 kick off Bring your black shirts!