“What a way to open the season - 4th encounter between these veteran SWL teams and a rematch of their previous opener in last season's Premier.

With a bit of cash to spare and a few of our guys carrying old injuries into the season we had the option of bringing in some new blood, but decided to push on and hire in extra help instead to bolster the ranks. We brought in the Count for this one and with everyone turning up to play we ended up with more fit players to start the game than the Asgardians, handy against a team packing no less than 4 dirty players.

Unfortunately after winning the coin toss to receive things went downhill fast once the game got underway, with the Norsemen quickly taking the upper hand by sending some of our best players back to the dugout, courtesy of Gnor Bjordsen's dangerous blitzing and Jorn Maggurd's deft work with his boot. After 4 turns we were outnumbered 9 to 6 on the pitch, and lost the ball to a Bjordsen blitz. The Asgardians soon got their hands on the ball but fortunately we managed just enough pressure to prevent the score (helped by Rolf Svennson fluffing a TD pass attempt on the last turn).

Nil all at the half... we lined up on defence with 8 players to 10, however after the Asgardian first turn 2 zombies were KO'ed and it's 6 to 10. In what was probably the most brutal couple of turns of an overly bloody match we managed to even things up a bit... and when dirty zombie Sacheeva Preuk RIP'ed Gnor Bjordsen to even up the player numbers 6 all on the field, it looked like we may even have had half a chance. That's when Niels Reiker stepped up to the plate, ignoring the eye of the ref he laid out 3 decisive boots to remove Jigsaw and the 2 wolves from the pitch in the space of 4 turns. The other Asgardians took care of the rest of our defence, including the Count on turn 8 as Vari Holger stepped over the line for the game winning TD.

What a game - it brings the head to head record between these two teams to 1 win each and a couple of draws. It was a brutal affair with 7 casualties apiece (possibly breaking the SWL record for a match). We picked up another Zombie-Norsemen and managed to avoid any long term injuries so in the end probably a lucky escape for us. Not quite so for the Asgardians as it turned out to be a costly win, losing two quality players.

Twahnlows
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3 votes - Gnor Bjordsen (#4) Tough to call these, but in the end Bjordsen gets the 3 votes despite being killed late game! He was responsible for getting the Asgardians of to a great start and made several great hits.

2 votes - Niels Reiker (#5) Was looking like we might steal a draw until Reiker went to work late game, great return from his 3 fouls.

1 vote - Karl Morheim (#1) Workmanlike performance right through to the end game.




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