“Overmatched and playing against the rub of the green all match, it was all I could do to squeak a fortunate draw in this first Champions League group match.

In Very Sunny conditions, the Kneecappers elected to receive, and were immediately in trouble with a kick deep into a back corner, and a Blitz. Worse, one of the wide Marauders had wandered closer to the side lines than intended, and was promptly despatched into the crowd. The Kneecappers tried their best to recover the situation, but the Guards of PSV tied them down and eventually they conceded. Halftime 1-0 to PSV.

Second half, the Pact held their lines as best they could, unable to capitalise on a handling error as they couldn't punch through the Norse line, until PSV dashed through a hole that appeared on a flank. It was crunch time, and so the Wizard was employed, engulfing three Norse, including the Runner with the ball, in a fireball. Two Norse remained standing, but the ball-carrier was knocked over, and Belial Painwright blitzed his way to the loose ball. He was immediately knocked down, but the Norse lost the ball again with a failed GFI, and Belial recovered, advancing boldly down the pitch with an Ogre bodyguard.

He dashed into the backfield, leaving his large team-mate to deal with other problems, and a Marauder, Silvan Soudan, ran deep in support to provide a second scoring option. Again, Belial was downed, this time by a frenzied Ulfwerner, but he was able to retaliate, with Ogre support once again, downing the Runner with the ball and running free. At this point, BlueDevil420 elected not to attempt blitzing the Dark Elf, and instead elected to man mark him along with the Marauder. He had made a crucial mistake, forgetting the Dark Elf had +Ma, and thus was within range of the endzone. The safest course of action was to hold on to the ball and go for it himself, rather than risk handing it to a clumsy human, so with his way cleared by Silvan, he sprinted into the endzone, almost tripping, but just catching himself, to secure the draw.

I was surprised that the Norse inflicted so little damage, especially as I had to put men in harm's way to defend, vainly, the 1st half TD - the fact I had 2 Babes spared me serious trouble as I suffered 5 KOs in the first half, 4 returning. The Apothecary was not used. Most of the Norse casualties were inflicted late on, between turns 2-5 in the 2nd half, as the tide turned against them.

Hard luck to BlueDevil420, as it was his game to lose, never mine to win. I was well pleased how I played, but I needed Nuffle's blessed intervention, and I got just enough of it. The winnings and lack of permanent damage means the Kneecappers will be taking to the field without a swathe of Journeymen to make up numbers for the first time in a while!”