“The Dark Flames first victory, and their first game <I>not</I> to go into overtime!

The Dark Flames started this battle for the cellar of the Sinners' Conference a man down and having to field more Hobgoblins than they would have liked just to put bodies on the pitch. Fortunately, our niggling Troll, Ghanai'm, was able to show up for the game both from a manpower perspective and because he made one of the key plays of the game in his first turn, sending Dead Madness Mummy Intimidator into the BH box and doing much to equalize the playing field. The remainder of the half saw the Dark Flames slowly grinding down the pitch, having the ball knocked loose from the carrier numerous times but one Hobgob or another always managing to recover control and continue until Naqash finally managed to cross the goal line in the closing minutes of the first half. The Dwarves' toughness saw them in good stead, they took their beatings and gave back as good as they got, sending a zombie into the BH box and a number of players into the KO (including a Wight who knocked himself out on a Hobgoblin by rolling two sets of double skulls....)

The start of the second half looked like Dead Madness was going to even up the score pretty quickly. Their remaining Mummy bashed a hole in the Flames' defensive line allowing a Ghoul (who'd received the ball on a touchback) and a number of defenders to pour through the opening. The Flames did their best to recover and managed to put a number of defenders around the ball carrier, but ultimately it was the Ghoul tripping over his own feet as he tried to squeeze out an extra bit of speed to reach the endzone that prevented the tie. From this point the Flames mainly concentrated on preventing the Dead Madness from recovering the ball and continued their aggressive game, sending a few more players to the KO box. As in the first half, the ball changed hands several times but the Flames managed to remove most of the Undeads' ball handlers from the field (including pushing one Ghoul out of the endzone) and block the progress of those who did manage to get hold of the ball. The half ended with the ball essentially where it stayed for most of the game, a few squares away from the Flames' endzone.

All in all a very challenging and entertaining game, with numerous tense moments. Thanks for a good match Animal2020!”