DEA Bedford Over 30

DEA travelled to Duxbury for an 8:30 game against Division 1 South Champions Braintree Celtic, and were promptly sent back to New Hampshire after receiving a 5-1 drubbing. While it was a disapointing end to a solid campaign, DEA is determined to put it behind them and are secure in the knowledge that they are in Division 1 to stay. They vowed to make it back next year. With the early gametime and the 90-minute travel ahead of them, many woke before the roosters cackled and hit the road. What they found waiting for them was a big, beautiful pitch...but a short bench. They would start the game with 11 players, and after two late arrivals were able to at least have a couple of subs. There was an air of anticipation about them. DEA felt they had played well against the top tier squads in the North Division (taking points in half their games), but were interested in testing their mettle against a Braintree squad often listed as the class of the league. ***Editor's note: I attempted to match the players with their jersey numbers as provided, but could not. There wasn't a single player that this reporter could recall that had a name and number that matched. Curious, indeed.*** DEA almost immediately dug themselves a hole. Braintree attacks with skill. Their ball movement is very impressive, and it was this ball movement that sprung a player down the left side. He crossed beautifully to the back post, where it was volleyed at goal in full stride. Incredibly, Lucas Hill saved the initial shot. The rebound, however, was batted back at goal (questionably from a hand-ball) and eventually home to give Braintree an early lead. They made it 2-nil at the 15-minute mark when the Braintree striker took a ball in the right corner. He jockstrapped Chris Cloutier, went around Chris Florek, and hit a screamer upstairs. It was troubling, as DEA was actually playing pretty well. They were playing a bit more direct than is their style, but some of that was predicated by the strong Braintree defenders. Some can be chalked up to DEA’s impatience in getting back into the game. Twice, the midfield combo of Elvis Zukovic and Jerold White sprung Barry Fitzgerald (playing solidly on a bum knee) on the right side. His shots, however, whistled just over the bar. Tom Labonville continued to be a force in the middle. He was dominating in the air and distributed the ball nicely. DEA tried to key of imposing striker Chris Laberge to feed Willie Mungere or Peter Cline coming through the middle. It seemed however strong the buildup was, the last touch just wasn’t there. DEA’s best chance to get back in the game came when Jerold sent a ball to Laberg, who flick on to the corner where Kurt Englehart tracked it down. Kurt took his man to the corner when he fed back to Elvis. Elvis scorched a low shot from a tough angle that was blocked. Kliney pounced on the rebound like he does a thick, 20-oz. steak, and shot toward the open goal. Somehow, the Braintree keeper gloved it aside and the rebound just laid there. With Jon Cloutier and Kliney in the scrum, Jerold’s on-rushing shot from the clearance was blocked and eventually Braintree cleared from harm’s way. At times, Braintree twisted and turned DEA all over the pitch. However, Flo, Jonesie, Tommy, and Chris Cloutier held strong. Lucas did was Lucas does, meaning he came up big on three different occasions to keep DEA in it. While down 2-0 at the half, DEA felt pretty good about themselves. They needed to put one of these chances away, and early, to get their confidence up. Instead, a bad break forced an own-goal ten minutes into the second half and DEA was in an insurmountable 3-0 deficit. The half continued with Braintree running DEA in circles, where a shot was taken and saved by Lucas. DEA would then try to get three goals back with a single play, hence turning the ball over and back came Braintree. The wobbly, tired legs of DEA were really getting ragged. Braintree took a four-goal lead when one of their many attacks beat Lucas down low. He deserved better on the day, but alas it was not to be. Kurt restored some measure of respectability to the match when he was at the end of an Elvis-Laberge-Mungere buildup. Any thoughts of a miraculous comeback were erased five minutes later when Braintree finished off a 2-1 that was scored from an offside position. Tough to take on a long, hot day when you turn to the sideline referee to see if he was in position, and he is instead using his sideline flag like a butterfly net and not watching the play. On a more positive note, his net was full of some prime specimens. He even caught the rare and elusive “Sand Mountain Blue Butterfly”, a species thought to be indigenous to the western US. So, while he missed the call, he surely made the Catch of the Day. 5-1 isn’t a true measure of the match. However, it must be noted that DEA was outclassed today. With an early start, short bench, big pitch, and an unknown opponent, DEA had the deck stacked against them. They leave knowing they can compete, but to honestly say they deserved to beat the well-assembled Braintree squad would be a stretch. It is this reporter’s opinion that Braintree is the class squad of OTHSL. DEA will surely work hard to get back into position to take them on again come this fall, and will play with the confidence that should see a much better result. A great season for DEA. They beat the teams they should have. They can look at two losses as most troubling: Giving up a late lead in the opener against Stoneham and the egg they laid against Seacoast. If they took a minimum of four points from those two games (which is a conservative estimate) we might’ve been talking about DEA as Champions. Look for the end-of-the-season report to be published after the 9th Annual DEAs Award Ceremony to be held at the Las Vegas Bellagio on July 1st.