“This is my third game against highball, and finally we've managed to score more than a single touchdown between us in a game. And in fact, it's the first time I've been able to score against him, so things are clearly looking up.

I received the first kick, and I went for a quick two-turn score. There were a couple of tricky defenders to watch out for (a shadowing tackler being the big threat) but I managed to free up a catcher who caught the pass and ran it all the way into the endzone...where he fell over.

It then took me three more turns of scrabbling around to rescue myself from this messy situation, get the ball back, and finally score. The dark elf defence was tough and stubborn, and all the more impressive for being only nine-men strong, my first turn having reduced their numbers by a BH and a KO.

On the dark elves' first offensive drive, things started off bad for me with yet another failed sure feet go for it (from the same catcher). However, highball was having just as much bad luck and twice in a row he failed a simple 2+ dodge. The second one left me clear to go in and claim the ball and with it being my final turn of the half, I could either secure the ball and take a 1-0 lead into the second half, or go all out and try for a second score.

No contest. I'd much rather lose than play safe, so I ran the useless catcher into the endzone - this time he made all three of his gfi rolls - and made the throw with the other spare catcher. I never like throwing with catchers, it feels all wrong, but I did it, and found the 4+ I needed for the score.

The second half was all dark elves. I was down to ten men as my good catcher managed to fail every single one of his KO rolls between the middle of the first half and the end of the match. And the dark elves were not making any mistakes this time. The best I could do was try and slow them down a bit, but even this was hard going, and four turns in they made a fairly comfortable score.

Then came the drive during which I threw the game away. I was going to go for the standard two-turn score, but after getting a quick snap on the kick, I thought I'd just run the two catchers down to within one square of the endzone and make sure they were out of blitz range. Well, I got them down there alright, but I miscalculated on where to stick them and it meant one of the witch elves was able to reach me with a gfi and a POW. And then she caught the bouncing ball as well!

Now it became a simple game of stopping the score. The dark elves had to get from one end of the pitch to the other and I was in a fairly good position to slow them down just enough...

It all came down to turn 7. The ball was fairly safe with a witch elf, protected by three other players. Only the other witch was in scoring range so I could forget the ball and just try for a blitz against her. I spent a while sorting out TZs and assists, but right when it mattered, the dark elf assassin started making his shadowing rolls and prevented me from getting into a good position for the blitz.

So the wardancer I was pinning all my hopes on made the leap, then the dodge, but then failed the second dodge and gave himself a SI in the process. highball then had an exciting turn which involved a hand-off and two gfi rolls, but he made them all and secured the draw.

Technically, I did have the chance for a 1-turn TD, but the dark elf front line was all side-steppers and I decided I wouldn't bother (unless I got a riot or quick snap - which I didn't. So instead I went for the good old long bomb to finish things off...and that stupid useless catcher muffed the catch.

So slightly disappointing passing stats - not even a single long bomb in the whole game - and perhaps not surprisingly, some of the fans wandered off afterwards. However, Thursdaynight picked up the MVP (presumably for his first turn BH) so I'm a happy bunny after all.

One of the war dancers will be missing the next game - I could have used the apo on him, seeing as how it was turn 7 and I was fairly sure highball was just going to run in the score on his turn, but I decided not to, just in case. However, with plenty of cash I bought myself a fourth catcher, so I'm still free of journeymen.

Nice game highball. Great recovery after a disastrous first half and a tough and exciting game as ever. Looking forward to the next one.”