Blizard vs UCL - 28/10/2019

UCL 18 - 15 BLWP

To brush away any post-tour woes the mighty LUSL BLizard opened their campaign to secure the title that had eluded the two teams of last year, one team within touching distance of securing the famous prize and the other team being LUSL 1A. UCL at the base is always a tough place to go but before the match, spirits were high, after a weekend filled with practicing popping and locking, we hoped the only popping in the match would be the ball flying into UCL’s net and the locking being the barn door we would shut in our opposition’s face. After a refreshing warm up where a few players were still wanting their tour back, the game began.

We started about as well Liverpool in the Champions league final in Istanbul, losing three quick goals in rapid succession as the alcohol was still slowly leaving the legs of our players. As the intoxicating substance left our systems, our judgement and play improved dramatically, we stuck with our man and neutralised UCL’s lowly counterattacking play. Step by step we edged back into the game, some great work by drip drop in pit ensured we scored 3 quick goals to get within touching distance of a team who had once threatened to dismiss us without even getting out of first gear. A drive from Hooker ensured we ended the quarter with a penalty that Drip Drop convincingly dispatched to give a first quarter score of 5-4 to UCL.

A planned start to the second quarter involving ¾ of the horsemen of the apocalypse had us in dreamland as Tadpole Liam won the swim off, tipped it back to Cutty Shark for a quick 1-2 and then playing in Drip Drop to level the scores. At this point, Barnacle and Plaice became victims of refereeing more questionable than Liam’s at the charity tournament to allow UCL to stretch out a three-goal lead. Some excellent tracking back from Cyanofish and Mudskipper nullified the counterattacking threat that our opponents had relied so heavily on earlier. Smegma found her locking gear and made some excellent saves to keep us in contention going in at half time 9-7 down.

Half time was characterised by a goalkeeping swap with Liam taking up position between the posts and some strong words where we emphasised that UCL were here for the taking. Gone were the hungover heads that defined the first quarter, and in their place 13 warriors hungry to claw their way back into the game. Our defence was impenetrable with Angela Mackerel, Garra Rufa and Tadpole Leo epitomising the hardworking unit with a tight press that ensured only the weakest players of UCL launched efforts at our unpractised keeper. The long quick ball into Drip Drop was working a treat and our man ups became clockwork with Barnacle opening his account for the season with a 5-metre rocket into the top corner. After the 3rd quarter the game hung in the balance at 12-12. We had begun to dream that it may be possible.

The fourth quarter played out in similar fashion to the third, just with less energy, the intent from our depleted troops was still there in everything that we did but our bodies seemed to be feeling the effect that a weekend of alcohol probably does have. UCL began to counter again and scored a couple of 2 on 1s and a penalty that nearly put them out of sight before the opposition’s keeper launched a tirade of verbal abuse to our supreme leader Drip Drop leading to the calm club captain to brand him Chaldish and complain to the referee that the keeper was using ‘naughty words’ causing a red card to be brandished by the referee which was accompanied by goodbye waves from the subs on the sideline. We scored 2 more but some incredible blocks by our opposition meant that they hung on for a 18-15 win.
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This was a fantastic game and every player put in a supreme shift that made this a great game and I am very proud of all of LUSL BLizard that played.

Tadpole Liam

Goals:
Jono – 12
Renos – 2
Rory - 1