Buffalo Celtic 3 Blizzard FC 2

Its 2 in a row for Buffalo Celtic! I wish we would of found our scoring touch earlier in the season. The day was warm and sunny with a field that was a bit soft and uncut but a little better lined than last week. The ruts seem to be getting worse though, not sure what goes on during the week at Ken East but we are not happy about our field. We showed up with 19 and Blizzard with about the same. They wearing a dark blue/black uniform and us in our hoops jerseys. I have to add, our hoops jerseys are sharp but would not recommend using Hummel USA for your kit needs...nothing but issues.
First half started with some back and forth but overall, I feel we controlled the majority of possession. After some great individual effort from Kevin Weigel (this young man has an engine on him, never stops) new comer Brent Garner buries the cross in front of the net for a 1 - 0 lead. Blizzard FC ties the game up a short time later after a cross comes in and hits their player in the face than shoulder (or vice versa) and goes into the back side netting. My opinion was he and the other blizzard player who jumped to head the cross were offside (plus the player who sent the cross over, in our opinion, was offsides when he received the ball) but a goal is a goal and another unlucky bounce that goes against us. 1-1. Celtic takes the lead again after a hand ball in the box by the Blizzard player (same player who caused issues all game....issues as in conduct). He argued but hard to change the mind of the ref when your arm is fully extended and you hit the ball with your hand preventing it from going into the net from 6 yards out. Richie "Stone Cold" Brinkman steps up to hammer home the PK for the 2-1 lead. Just before half, a long ball is sent over our defense (again, field is not ideal length) were two Blizzard players are waiting in an offside position. Our opinion is both players make a play on the ball including shielding our player from getting to it, whistle blows, flag goes up... I stop. Their player continues and hits the ball into the net. No goal as the whistle blew, good call from our perspective but Blizzard disagreed. The whistle blew so it didn't matter what happened after that. Half Time.

Second half starts out with a little back and fourth but overall Celtic controlling play. Blizzard have a lot , A LOT of speed but our quick ball control movement around the pitch and some great individual efforts helped us maintain control. Another long ball got over the top of our defense and I came out to challenge one of their speedsters to get to the ball first. Well, as I mentioned earlier in the post, our field is not in top condition and the ball takes a goofy bounce and gets by me to the end line. The Blizzard speedster and I race for the ball as its going out of bounce ( I think it was out of bounce but hey, a goal is a goal and I didn't cry as I should of did better coming out to get it) he dives and somehow gets a foot on it to send it across the net hooking it just inside the far post. Great individual effort by him and another series of unfortunate events that goes against us this season. I even went to church on Sunday... maybe I should of confessed ALL of my sins and not a chosen few. About half way through and us challenging with non stop pressure in their 18, our player is formed tackled by not just one but two defenders... Coach McDermott would be very proud. Problem is this is not the NFL but BDSL and that is a foul...simple right but a few on Blizzard disagreed some not as adamantly as others as they knew deep down it was the right call. Our friend mentioned earlier in this post was not happy at all and with kids at the field was out of line once again. Enough said on that. Stone Cold steps up again for us...Richie "Mr. MVP" Brinkman buries his second of the game. The goalie made a great effort and almost got there but you are not stopping the Brinkman. Celtic up 3-2. Game ended as noted in tweeter posting about 16 minutes early due to some very poor choices. Both teams can say a few calls went the wrong way in the game but what people forget is 1) refs are human and can make mistakes 2) there are 2 sides to every argument and if a call goes against you, you are more likely to say it was a bad call whether it was or not AND 3) the refs are there to maintain the integrity of the game and not influence towards one team or the other. This last part the refs did very well, they were fair and consistent ( not perfect but who is...well maybe the person mention throughout this post thinks he is)...what more do you want from 3 human beings that are charged with dealing with up to 44 grown men/brats (assuming the max of 22 players on each team) for 90 + minutes. Kudos to Celtic on another big win. Kudos to the ref crew for keeping their composure. My prayers go out to those that now have to clean up this mess.

Yes... I know I left out what you all were looking for...sorry, maybe more to come later... maybe but not likely....but still a chance, just not very likely...