“The Red Star Strikers welcomed the Skye Krushars for their Round 2 Conference matchup after triumphing over the United Abominations the previous week 2-1. The win came at a price, however, as Mao Zedong was forced to watch from the sidelines nursing an injury. The Skye Krushars had been unlucky to go down 1-0 to the Angry Asgardians and were keen to make amends.

It was the Strikers who pulled this biggest surprise of the day when they announced pre-game that the legendary Grim Ironjaw had made himself available to temporarily replace Mao Zedong. The sight of the big Slayer warmed the hearts of the Reds' faithful, who were wary of the strength advantage the Orcs seemed to have. The Skye fans were not amused. After their side had won the toss, they threw a rock which levelled Blitzer Vladimir Lenin, stunning him. The Black Orcs got to work bashing the Reds' front line, but the ability of Lavrenti Beria and Pol Pot to hold their ground frustrated them and tied up the Orcish line of scrimmage. The Krushars' Thrower, Toss'Itt, managed to toss it to the Blitzer, Rip'Em, who seemed safe behind the wall of green. Skye, confident they had knocked over enough of the Dwarven resistance, surged forward, with Rip'Em stepping over bodies and handing off to another Blitzer in Hit'Em II. The Krushars', however, had underestimated the attacking game of the Dwarven Runners. Vyacheslav Molotov blitzed Hit'Em II and knocked the ball clear. Klaus Fuchs then managed to pick up the ball and step clear of the Orcs. Black Orc Mash'Um responded by putting Fuchs on his rear but it was not enough. Fuchs regained his feet, picked up the ball, dodged away from his would-be tackler and passed long to Lenin, who had by now managed to pick himself up off the dirt. The Orcs swarmed Lenin's position, but with some assists from teammates he managed to blitz his way out of the pack with some nice hitting and a little dodging. The dodging had by now become a notable feature of the Dwarven game! Several of the more agile Dwarves were dodging succesfully and even those who could hold their ground if they were unsuccesful seemed to be getting it right. An attempt by Hit'Em II and Trip'Em to blitz Lenin was unsuccessful and Lenin surged further forward whilst a melee ensured in the middle, which knocked out both Klaus Fuchs and Krush'Um, the Black Orc. Hit'Em II regained his feet, tried a little of the Dwarven dodging and was finally able to take down Lenin. Unfortunately for him though, the spill of the ball favoured Molotov, who was able to run in a touchdown just before half time.

With Fuchs out, it was up to Molotov to receive the kick in. The Dwarves tried to push through one side of the Orcish defence and seemd to have Voroshilov in the clear to receive the Molotov pass. The pass, though awry, still managed to land safely in the arms of Lenin. Skye tried to use their swarming tactics again but the strength of the Dwarves allowed them to clear a passage for Lenin who managed to score with little resistance and put the Strikers into a 2-0 lead that was always going to be hard to peg back.

There was time to draw if the Krushars were good enough, but Hold'Up put them at a disadvantage straight away when he fumbled whilst trying to pick up the ball! Knowing that all they had to do was slow the Orcish advance, the Strikers happily engaged their entire front line and took out the lone scoring option, Gut'Em. When Toss'Itt failed to pick the ball up, the slim chances of the Krushars seemed to be fading away quickly. Gut'Em did manage to break free and give them something up forward, but yet another error by Toss'Itt was costly. Molotov was able to brush the Thrower aside and claim the ball for himself. Things continued to get worse for Skye as Bash'Um injured himself blocking Ho Chi Minh, an injury that will surely see him miss the next game. When Molotov again brushed Toss'Itt aside to score his second and the team's third, the result was clear.

The Reds rested key players Fuchs and Ho Chi Minh for the final stanza, as the Krushars sought to take out their frustration in the dying minutes. Da Goon, a Goblin on for his first run, fouled Pol pot and put him out for the rest of the game, which was not very long. Determined not to be a victim, Georgy Malenkov regained his feet, dodged away from some Orcs, put in some gut running for some extra distance and smashed Trip'Em, killing the Blitzer! Da Goon tried to foul Malenkov in retaliation, but the referee was watching him after his earlier foul and his sendoff ended the game. A dominant win for the Strikers in which their unusual use of dodging was a feature. The Skye Krushars did not have a good day out. Their skill errors were costly and to make matters worse they copped a few late injuries. The Strikers now advance to 2-0, whilst the Krushars have some work to do at 0-2.

Twahnlow Votes
3 - Hit'Em II

The Orcish Blitzer was the best of the Krushars. He almost scored and then almost prevented Vladimir scoring with a nice blitz. The stats don't show the contribution he made today.

2 - Rip'Em

Charged through the lines early to hand off to Hit'Em II and set up what was very nearly the first touchdown of the match.

1 - Roll'Up

Put a particularly nasty block on Deng Xiaoping which only the apothecary could save the Longbeard from.

(Thanx JoeKano, you had a rough trot with the luck but I'm sure you'll bounce back.)”