Blizard vs Imperial 2s - 25/11/2019

Imperial 2s 9 - 7 BLWP

Dark, cold and wet Monday nights in November are for one thing only. No, not the boys, not even the girls but for the mighty BLizard to continue their campaign in LUSL this year. This time the obstacle in front of us was more terrifying than the previous match, but that’s enough said about the 40 minutes spent on the district line listening to Cutty Shark; IC 2s awaited us in the South Kensington district. Having seen off the attempts of ICSM 2s two weeks previously, confidence among our well-travelled players was high and we were determined to show IC 2s that they might have the pool name, but we in fact had the superior Ethos.

Early on, before the game had even started IC 2s were playing mind games. After successfully stealing one of ICSMs white hats they had managed to sneak a squad of 14 into the pool and even Cyanofish knows you can only have 13. Safe to say we were confused. This confusion only deepened when we discovered that the shallow end goal was larger than Hooker’s appetite which led to a last-minute goalkeeper switch and Tadpole Liam starting between the sticks.

Even after all those tricks we got off to a good start. Drip Drop as usual firing one past the despairing opposition keeper to put us 1-0 up. Our press worked well and we were limiting ICs time on the ball so that they did not dare launch any shots at our hugely oversized goal. Some fantastic defence by Dustbin and Cyanofish kept the wings covered well and ICs setup looked more like a wall than an arc. As the quarter went on, we grew more confident but this left holes in our defence and ICs were able to score 2 goals on the counter to end the first 2-1 up.

Determined to make a difference we tried to keep to our high intensity game plan and this was displayed by Tadpole Ava and Tadpole Theo who worked their socks off in tracking back with their opponents. This high line and tight press allowed another couple of rockets from Drip Drop to find the back of the net. As we went for the jugular, we put too much into our attack and forgot about our defensive duties, Imperial were able to counter us too easily as we let our man go. Fortunately, some good tracking back by Hooker and blocking by Garra Rufa allowed us to keep the score manageable, going in at half time 5-3 down.

The third quarter saw us lose our heads a bit, discipline went out the window and ICs took full advantage of the huge goal to extend their lead further. We summoned our energy and some great work from Angela Mackerel and Barnacle kept us afloat with good play hauling us up the pitch, allowing Drip Drop and Hooker to score well deserved goals. Our very own Manuel Neuer between the sticks in the form of Smegma was still managing to pull off some great saves and kept us in contention going into the final quarter trailing by 2 at a score of 7-5.

Some strong words in the last break focussed our minds and we went out with a new found purpose to try and wrestle the game back from our opposition. We started well but our tracking back still needed work and led to Tadpole Liam sinking an opposition winger deeper than the Titanic to concede a penalty which Imperial converted, somewhat controversially with the aid of the crossbar. VAR in Water Polo anyone? We continued to try our best and Cyanofish gave us a glimmer of hope when she converted following some fantastic coordinated skill on the wing, proving that you can still score even when your finger is half hanging off after being bitten by an opponent. There was still time for Drip Drop to score a consolation and keep his scoring record at 29 in three matches. The whistle blew on a final quarter that seemed shorter than Cyanofish’s patience with Tadpole Tuesday at Tables and condemned us to a disappointing second defeat of the season, finishing up 9-7 to Imperial 2s.

Spirits were lifted slightly when we visited the local Five Guys after the match but even their massive prices could not cover up the holes in what was a disjointed performance from BLizard. We are better, we know we are better, and we will be better in the New Year when we play IC 2s again in the LUSL Cup where anything can happen. For now though, let’s sign off 2019 with a great Christmas, plenty of popping and locking at Christmas Dinner and come back stronger in the new year, which I know we will.

Tadpole Liam over and out xxxxxxxxx

Goals:
Jono – 5
Renos – 1
Emma - 1