Game 8 - Celtic 1 Marblehead 2

It was a cold and breezy morning as both teams warmed up with full benches. This was a critical match and it showed from the start ... a hard fought battle from start to finish with very little between the two teams and relatively few clear cut chances to be had. Marblehead scored the first two goals in the first half and I hate to say it but they were good goals ... not good by our standards mind you .... good for a sub par team of wankers. In the second half Boomer pulled one back for us after a scramble in the goalmouth. Boomer created a second opportunity that Caino put in the net but this one was ruled offside. Overall we created slightly more chances than Marblehead and a fairer result would have been a tie but it was not to be. Stoneham won so they closed the gap and the top three are now Marblehead on 15, Celtic on 14 and Stoneham on 12 with two games left. I don't see Stoneham catching Celtic or Marblehead but what do I know?

This week my crack research team has been working closely with me on a player profile. Our midfield dynamo Rob Lebel is the player in focus. Here are some things about Rob that you may not know. Rob was born on probation and was toilet trained far too early (three months) although he was a bed wetter until his mid thirties. Rob has anger issues as a result of this and this anger manifests itself in the form of violent tackles against opposing players. Rob is clever though and can easily wriggle out of being carded with his happy go lucky nature and witty retorts ... witty retorts that upon reflection are actually biting comments that keep folks awake with night sweats. If you get on the wrong side of Rob you will pay the price ... his biting comments will torture you. A few years ago the gentlemen in the cell next to Rob ate his own tongue after Rob whispered to him through the bars for a few hours. Rob is an avid reader of this blog and freely provides feedback ... feedback that I treat with electric shock therapy. They are cranking up the dosage and have turned up the nob to 11.

Game 7 and Celtic take top spot with a two nil win over Crapoli

This was a cracking game with every single Celtic player hitting the back of the net at least once if not twice. We rattled both posts and the bar multiple times. It was end to end stuff although the game was played entirely in their half. The tackles were flying in all over the shop and we put the cat among the pigeons and showed them a thing or two and left our calling card and made a statement and gave them something to think about and ... and .... and other things too. Sweeney and Caino scored a goal apiece and both were stunners ... Sweeney was a shot from the half way line that had bend and dip and Caino's was a bicycle kick from the edge of the eighteen. After each goal Sweeney and Caino flashed a winning smile with a twinkle in their eye, at the capacity crowd. Celtic had about 93% possession and totally dominated every aspect of the game. Every player on the Crapoli team was red carded, two were deported on the spot and three were arrested for lewd conduct. Elsewhere around the league Marblehead tied Stoneham which cemented our position at the top of the league. The Headers face us this coming Sunday and obviously we will win and put some daylight between first and second place. Basically it's job done for Celtic ... give us the trophy now!

Here are some pictures of the action.

Yeah, it was one heck of a game and I wasn't there at all. I made up all of the stuff about the game and I'm not proud of it because it is very silly. I really just wasted your time for no reason whatever. Cain and Sweeney did score ... this much is true. I was fly fishing the Gunnison River on the Western Slope of Colorado with my boys and I have to tell you ... it was bloody magic.

Game six - we beat Stoneham

The weather was perfect, the pitch was perfect ... the stage was set for a good game between old rivals. Frank was out so Tony was back between the sticks and he played very well and secured the clean sheet. The striking thing about today's game was that everyone played well ... front to back a solid performance. We did not panic, we kept the ball and made relatively few mistakes. Cain scored a couple of goals early on and Captain Flicky decided to drop a striker back into the midfield for the second half. This did limit our chances somewhat but essential eliminated their chances. This was a strategery master class by the cagey veteran.

Doug Vigliolottacanelloni played in a deep lying position for the whole game and put in a composed and solid performance ... what is so special about this I hear you ask? Well, composed and solid are not two words that come to mind when thinking about young Douglas ... more like "wild and crazy". I think that overall the whole team played a composed and solid game and what do attribute this to ... management of course. The thoughtful management of the team by one Captain Flicky. Management that I believe will take us into the play offs and possibly to the ultimate glory of winning it all.

Elsewhere around the league Boxford tied Marblehead so we go into second place, tied on points with Marblehead. Boxford lost to Napoli so it's really a three horse race for the two top spots.

Dimos and Dennis provided the post game feast. Dennis shot a water buffalo in Rhode Island with a muzzle loader and then made it into venison chile. A muzzle loader is a device that secures a muzzle to a horse by way of a system of pulleys and belts. It was invented at the turn of the century by Mr Athur Muzzle of Barking in Essex, England.

Marblehead  map	6	3	1	2	11	2	22	11	+11	1.83
North Shore Celtic FC  map	6	3	1	2	11	3	15	11	+4	1.83
S.S.C. Napoli  map	6	3	3	0	9	7	14	20	-6	1.50
Stoneham Spartans Over 50  map	6	2	2	2	8	6	14	14	+0	1.33
NS Internationals  map	6	2	4	0	6	7	14	17	-3	1.00
FC Boxford  map	6	1	3	2	5	3	8	14	-6	0.83

Game five - tied with Boxford

This was a tough game because we were missing so many players ... Dori, Andy, Rob, Boomer were all out for various reasons but I firmly believe that the main reason was that they are all lacking in moral fiber despite the fact that they all know a lot about Sean Connery ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=_Y2eCJeNgc0

The pitch was in great shape ... smooth and flat with nicely trimmed grass, a thin layer of morning dew to start the game. We had no complaints about the quality of the surface but we just could not get going and probably played our worst game of the season.

We did create some chances but nothing clear cut and we ended the half tied at nil, nil. They took the lead in the second half with a screamer of a shot from way outside the box that shocked everybody including Pablo who put his foot through the ball like our Viking and went on to celebrate like a nutter.

We pressed hard for an equalizer and it looked like we would run out of time when Nigel Hedge managed to poke a ball square to JB who launched a perfect looping shot over a massive crowd of players that dropped  right into the top left hand corner of the net. It was a perfect shot from our tireless right back. JB's goal came about two minutes from the end and with other results around the league put us tied for second place with Stoneham. This means that next weeks game against Stoneham is critical ... a win is all that will do.

We moved on to the feast of all feasts provided by Kate Moorman who has to be the best of the best and will undoubtedly take the award for best post game catering. Kate made salad, soup, meatballs, eggplant, stuffed shells, sausage and peppers and brownies. Everything was amazing and I packed a good amount into tupperware and continued the feast into the evening while drifting in and out of consciousness on the couch.