Tempo Ray Mutineers 2-0 1337 Flatliners

Weather: Light Snow

Gate: 50k

A sprinkling of snow was in the air around Mutiny Island to welcome the visit of the Flatliners as the first Southern Conference side made their way to the home of the Tempo Ray Mutineers. The Mutineers entered this match on something of a high having put their conquerers in the 2003 final, the Mugaz, to the sword last week. The Flatliners were coming off their first loss of the campaign, against the Tragedy. As the South is an expansion conference, there was no previous form between the sides. Perhaps it was curiosity then that saw a full house and 17,000 fans refused entrance to the ground.

A solid midfield defence was the opening defensive priority for the Flatliners, probably not that keen to engage with the more experienced side on the line of scrimmage. A touchback was not what they were looking for though, it allowed the Mutineers to attack from their angle of choice, and that was on the left-hand side of the line of scrimmage. The charge was led by Dwarf Longbeard Kerval Axebreaker with a stuning blow on Flatliners Wardancer Billy Mahonie. The hole that hit created was kicked out thanks to Chaos Dwarf Longbeard Zzharg Zzhargson who knocked out his man, Orc Blitzer Hacken Slazch but the ball remained fairly deep in the home side's midfield area under the possession of Goblin Fester Rustblade. The visitors were unable to put any successful blocks together to counter the forming of a pocket just within their territory and this allowed a slow build to take place that never once put the ball carrier in danger.

Having secured their base and with no difficulties in terms of reprisals from the Flatliners, the Mutineers started inching forwards. Fester Rustblade retained possession while a series of options were run into positions inside the Flatliners half. The visiting side could make absolutely no impression in the blocking game but the Mutineers were not doing anything more than putting players down, the big hits were absent. With no real damage being inflicted, it was time to break out of the comfort zone. The seam was so large that it was no trouble for the diminutive Fester Rustblade to find it, the Goblin moved from behind the shield of his blockers towards the goalline. It seemed for a moment as though Fester was attemting to make it all the way by himself but it soon became apparent that the play had been designed for someone else. Amazon Blitzer Boa Dicea broke in at an angle from the right hand flank ahead of Fester. The Goblin halted his run before reaching the final line of defence and completed his first ever pass. The Amazon, who was the team's only receiving target in 2003, showed her usual soft hands and broke at pace through the Flatliners backfield. Her run was so well timed that the visitors d did not have a chance to react. Her run only ended when she crossed the line to open the scoring, her second touchdown of the season.

The Flatliners had not got their blocking game going and that part of the team was dealt a crippling blow at the next kickoff. Flatliners Flesh Golem Lester Hayfriends was too pumped up, he had made no impression at all during the initial drive and was clearly keen to make amends for that. His attempt to make an impact was not well-thought out. Before the kickoff was complete, Lester struck out at Chaos Warrior Warring Slapp. The foul shot was picked up by the ref, Chirchire Treehugger had no option but to send Hayfriends from the field. Perhaps the sending off distracted the team, particularly up front. They had held out reasonably well during the Mutineers offense but Zzharg Zzhargson capitalised on the sending off to further weaken the blocking unit when he Badly Hurt Black Orc Two Jabz. That hit was followed up by one on the flank from Kerval Axebreaker. The Longbeard had clearly been under orders to play Billy Mahonie out of the game, his hit did just that by knocking out the Wardancer and removing the high first round pick from the pitch.

In their own backfield, the Flatliners were also having difficulty. Dark Elf Thrower Goale Ong was unable to secure the ball in time before Orc Lineman Rip Sorepain got to him. The Orc had not previously picked up a tackle but he was able to bring down Ong and disrupt the offensive gameplan. Lineman Dave Hartnett attempted to restore some order to the situation but he could only get 3 yards downfield before being blitzed by Kerval Axebreaker. The Dwarf was not content with taking on Billy Mahonie but also killed off the rescue effort, the tackle knocking out Hartnett.

Things were not going well for the visitors but there was some small glimpse of hope. Orc Blitzer Hacken Slazch collected a casualty with a blinside chop block on Mutineers Beastman Kotek Gorefest. It was not enough to help around the ball though as Amazon Linewoman Jane could not get through the forest of tackle zones and was tripped up before she could get close. It looked fairly bleak for the Flatliners though they did receive an un-expected boost in the form of yet another fumble from Savogand Thrall. It was the High Elf's 4th of the season and incredibly, the 19th of his career. Despite the spillage, the Mutineers were still able to hold the Flatliners off to allow time for one final attempt at the endzone before the half. This time, Savogand managed to take the ball with him, racing towards the line. Seeing the referee check his watch it was clear that he would not get to the endzone in time. The only player in striking distance was Blitzer Merik Crooks. Savogand always has good vision and was able to assess the situation quickly enough to fire out a bullet to Crooks. It was bang on target but perhaps a little too hard, Crooks could not hold onto the ball.

The half ended at 1-0 to the Mutineers. The Flatliners had been bullied on their own offense, only generating 3 yards of rushing. As everyone is aware, a single touchdown lead at the break is never a dominant position and despite struggling in the first half, the Flatliners would consider themselves to still be in with a shout for the second. The major drawback will be the loss of the two main members of the blocking unit. That loss was compounded by problems with the medical staff who were simply not performing well enough. Knocked-out players were not being revived and that was always going to pose problems.

Without their team captain, and with only 8 fit bodies, breaking down the best defence of 2003 was going to be a tough challenge. A cautious defensive formation covered heavily behind the line of scrimmage and in the secondary, indicating that the Mutineers were not ready to throw everything forwards and risk getting caught out even by just 8 players. The challenge was taken up by Goale Ong. The Dark Elf Thrower initiating the play after a short kick left the ball perilously close to the front line. Numerically disadvantaged, the Flatliners were not able to make much of an impression in the early blocking game but just as in the first half, the Mutineers also found it difficult to put their opponents away. Ong began to follow behind an Orc blocking team of Blitzer Hacken Slazch and Lineman Quagmire Giggity backed up by much of what remained of the Lineman core. They showed themselves to be a relatively effective squadron as the Mutineers were unable to make a dent in the protection.

Though the Mutineers could not get through to the ball, the Flatliners were not making much progress. The blocks were doing little more than pushing players back, there was no clearing out of a path down the flank. To try and make some difference, Lineman David Varney broke from his position to try and escape through the multiple threats in front of him. It came as very little surprise that he did not make it against a solid formation that had not pushed up and so had not generated any holes. What did come as a surprise was that Varney got back to his feet quickly and proceeded to make a bounding leap into free space. The audacious play was a real scoring threat. Varney ran at full speed to the end zone where a completion to him would have meant an equaliser. It was a brave play but fortune did not favour him. It was just too far to reach and in his effort to do so, Varney stumbled. The window of opportunity had closed.

With that opportunity missed, the Mutineers ensured that there were no more chances. The pocked surrounding Goale Ong was finally breached by Zzharg Zzhargson. The Chaos Dwarf dragged Goale Ong down and forced a turnover that the Flatliners could not recover. The tackle signalled the end of the drive for the Flatliners. Amazon Blitzer Boa Dicea followed the tackle up and took hold of the ball. Although she was isolated, there was only one Flatliners player who was in position to track back. That player made a great play. Goale Ong recovered his senses from the previous tackle, managed to evade his blockers and launched himself onto Boa Dicea from behind. The tackle wrenched the ball away but his team-mates were not able to provide adequate support. Amazon Linewoman Jane tried but she could not manage to dodge away and was brought down.

With nobody except Goale Ong to protect the area around the ball, it was too much to ask the Dark Elf to hold out against a gold tide. Merik Crooks the Blitzer was the player that ended Flatliners resistance by clearing Goale Ong out of the way and allowing Boa Dicea free access to the ball. The Amazon was not put under any further pressure and had the simple task of finishing off the score and the game. As she ran in, and with most eyes on her, Savogand Thrall attempted a cheap shot on the referee. It didn't work. Chirchire Treehugger sent off Savogand, the second player to be dismissed in this match. The dismissal had no effect on the scorer. Boa Dicea secured her third score of the season and confirmed the 2-0 win as time expired.

It had been a strong performance from the Mutineers against the expansion team. Having beaten the Mugaz last time out, the Flatliners will have recognised that this was going to be a tough match-up. The team from the South were in the game for a long time, they came very close to creating something out of nothing but in the end their offense was pretty much shut down. They will probably find themselves relying more on their defense if they are to recover from their now two consecutive defeats as their offensive total of five yards is one of the lowest recorded so far.

Injuries: None

Key Stats

Team	CAS	Rush	Att	Blocks	Downs	Falls
Mutineers	1	43	5	46	27	0
Flatliners	1	5	2	39	15	7

MVPS: Fester Rustblade, Quagmire Giggity>