“Colcas and Apollo0360 were head to head again, and this time it was the premium teams taking to the field, Barnsleys Chops vs Ashton Boot Boys. The Chops were protecting their unbeaten record, whilst the Boot Boys were looking to continue their improvement, with star player Ivison trying to see just how many lives he actually has.

Colcas paid a pre match visit to the referee’s room, with the outcome being he decided to ignore any fouls committed by the Chops. The Blood Bowl gods decided that the Boot Boys could have an extra re roll to counter any possible buffoonery from coach Pollard.

Barnsleys Chops kicked off, leaving the ball in the opposition endzone with a fantastic kick. Lots of blocks ensued from both sides, but not an injury could be caused in a very low key first turn.

Turn 2 started with Ivison picking up the ball and charging towards the Chops half. Widdowson attempted to give him some support, but failed her dodge miserable, twice. Ivison then had the ball knocked out of his hands, conveniently landing in Josh’s grateful lap. Bury then fouled Widdowson for the pathetic dodge attempt, whilst Summers was knocked out.

Turn 3 started with Johnson picking up the ball after some fantastic play, but looked rather vulnerable. Johnson was knocked over by Bolton, who successfully caught the dropped ball. To make matters worse for Johnson, she was then fouled into a state f stunned disbelief.

Hodgeons decided to dodge herself into the ground on turn 4, causing an instant turnover before Bolton raced through a defensive gap towards the endzone. As usual, Ivison was targeted with a 3 dice block, but displayed his usual strength of character to stay on his feet.

Turn 5 saw Bolton with the ball for the Chops, who made a great pass to BFC, who subsequently dropped the ball
Apollo then made a few defensive moves with, showing very little inspiration, but was rewarded for this conservative style when Orange’s jaw was broken. Colcas decided to retaliate with a s dice block, but a disastrous result left Bury Line with a broken leg.

By turn 7, the Boot Boys had the ball but were playing so defensively they lost any chance of scoring a touchdown, before losing the ball after a successful blitz from the Chops.

Turn 8 saw very little action, apart from Ashton’s Kelly knocking himself out going for the ball.

Second Half

Turn 1 started with Jon seriously injuring Robinson, but a well timed visit from the Apothecary saved him. O2 Throw then failed both his chances to pick the ball up, with Apollo taking advantage of this by directing Widdowson and Wilde to create tackle zones around the ball.

Some good tactical play from Barnsleys in turn 2 meant Widdowson was pushed away from the ball, leaving O2 Throw to pick the ball up from under Wilde’s nose, and dodge away from the incredulous line woman. O2 Throw carried on this fantastic turn by throwing a great pass to Voda Catch who then ran off before successfully handing the ball off to Sub Xtra Line. Sub then charged deep into the Ashton half, ably shadowed by Sub Line for support. U2 Catch then followed up for that little extra support. There then followed some fantastic tactical play form Apollo, not something said very often. Some astute play meant that not only was the ball blitzed out of Sub’s hands, it was caught by Holt.

Turn 3 saw Barnsleys gang up on Wilde, knocking her into the crowd and onto the reserves bench. Before some great moves saw the Ashton ball carrier in the eyes of a block. Luck was certainly on Barnsleys side, as not only was the ball knocked out of Holts hands, it bounced into the crowd who promptly threw it straight back into the grateful hands of Voda Catch, who successfully caught it. Roan managed to blitz the ball out of Voda Catch’s hands, before Ivison ran up to pick the ball up, but failed miserable, spilling it feebly onto the floor.

Turn 4 saw some great dodging from Voda Catch and U2 Catch to surround the ball, but U2 then ruined this good work by failing to pick the ball up, spilling it at the feet of Ashton’s Ivison. Johnson then knocked U2 Catch over, leaving the ball in the clear for Ivison. Unfortunately for him, Ivison not only failed to pick up the ball, but managed to do something no opposing player had managed, stunning himself.

O2 Catch started turn 5 by dodging passed the ball towards the Ashton endzone. Sub Xtra Line then blitzed straight through Holt, before picking the ball up, passing two Go For It rolls and charging into the Ashton endzone, giving Barnsleys the lead, 1:0.
The odds were stacked against Ashton, who only had 5 turns to get a touchdown of their own. Apollo not being noted for his speedy play, this seemed like a tall order. Barnsleys kick off ended up in the Ashton endzone, making Apollo’s job that much harder, but a great start saw Hodgeon race back and successfully pick it up. Ashton finished the turn with some good solid blocking and tactical play, although no Barnsleys players were injured.

Turn 6 started with Jon Blitz seriously injuring Widdowson, smashing one of her hands and causing a niggling that was to haunt her for the rest of her natural life. Colcas then made several defensive moves, safe in the knowledge time was running out for Ashton. Hodgeon ran towards Ivison before making the perfect pass, which Ivison promptly dropped. Judicious use of a team re roll saw Ivison given a second chance, which he gratefully accepted. A good block saw a path cleared through the Barnsleys defence, which Ivison cheerfully raced through. The endzone was now within sight, a lesson Apollo would surely learn from as his direct play had worked a treat.

Turn 7 started with Voda Catch making a 2 dice blitz on Ivison, but being the skilful player he is, Ivison simply sidestepped closer to the Barnsleys endzone. Colcas was not happy, already having an almost perverse hatred of that “Lucky B******” Ivison. BFC Line then tried a block of his own on Ivison, with even worse results. BFC fell to the floor, stunned into disbelief and leaving Ivison only 1dodge away from a touchdown. Apollo of course tried his best to throw the inevitable touchdown away, attempting a stupid block on Voda Catch. Voda’s side step ability meant he simply moved closer to Ivison. I this block had failed altogether, the touchdown chance would have gone, something probably deserved by this latest bout of Apollo buffoonery. Disaster narrowly averted, Ivison dodges away from Voda Catch to score the touchdown that despite his coach Apollo’s idiocy, was richly deserved by Ashton.

Nothing of interest happened in the final turn, leaving the score at 1:1, a fair score with neither coach deserving to lose.
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