“This game started brilliantly for me. First a vampire niggles out, massively swining the odds in my favour. Next a vampire kills one of his thralls, a few more get removed from the field of play. SillySod used his wizard early, but the ball was still my side of the maul. The vampires ran around the back to try to both of Nobbla and/or the ball, and I punted it down the pitch with my players much better positioned to chase it. Then it all basically went a bit wrong, as both of us started rolling snake eyes, and I was unable to take advantage. Every time I had the ball close, he squeezed in a hit and took out my player. In the end it was SillySod's team that nearly scored, with a rare failed thrall dodge having made a near-spectactular full-field play. As it was, 0-0, but with SillySod lining up players short in the second half, more of the same would surely bring victory to my side.

I made a few mistakes in the first half. I left my dirty player exposed, and he got booted off the field of play. I messed about with Nobbla, although he did distract the vamps. I rerolled a double-push out of frustration at the number of dice passing by without a pow, and double skulled the next block. Even so, I was in such a strong position that it shouldn't have mattered. After the first quarter of the game though, I just couldn't get consistent runs of pows whenever it was half-way important.

So, my turn to kick, and a blitz. It was just out of reach, but I positioned well. That was when it started to unravel. At this point, SillySod essentially stopped failing anything of note. His thralls gained elf-like abilities, allowing him to roll a cage down the side of the pitch. My players lost their ability to knock over players. I did nothing wrong but just had no way of stopping the touchdown.

Then things just went from bad to worse. The vampires blitz, but this time the ball lands in a perfect position for them. (We both had kickers.) Still, I get a decent hit with a tackler on the vampire (who caught the ball) but 4 dice, only pushes, and that is 2-0 and the match won. Had I been a bit more focused, the first half may have seen me score, 2-1 would have been recoverable, and now I reflect, that's where it probably mattered most. I would have been a strong favourite to win extra time with rerolls drying up. Then again, I was a strong favourite to win the game to start with.

I don't like Nuffle much any more. He keeps kicking me in the nuts in competitions when I have strong teams. This was another of those days. Congratulations to SillySod on a good victory, because he played well without mistakes and deserved his result.”