“A strange game. It felt like I should have won it 3-0, but it also felt like I was lucky not to lose it 3-0, if that makes any sense. Illumini played super-fast and a lot of the time gave the impression he wasn't exactly giving the game his full attention, but if that's the case, I'm glad I didn't play him when he was on form because I struggled here.

I started off playing my usual game of running multiple targets downfield and keeping the thrower back and this gave me an early lead. Illumini replied with an equally fast score, and it was looking like being a high-scoring match. But then I messed up, failing a block when it mattered and leaving my thrower exposed. Sure enough Illumini made the most of the mistake and blitzed the ball away from him, and then made sure that was the end of his brief performance by fouling him down to MA6. I did think about using the apo - and with hindsight I wish I had - but the way the match was going, I thought a minus move was probably the least of my worries.

The ball carrier then failed his gfi into the endzone and I could have put the ball in a wardancer's tackle zone if he hadn't gone and failed an easy dodge along the way. Then I went and did the same again on the one-turn attempt.

By the start of the second half I really got the impression Illumini was just playing through his turns as quickly as possible so he could head off to bed. Whether because he didn't care, or because he was just very unlucky, he started to fail a lot of dodge rolls and after a bit of a mess of players deep in my half, I was able to get the ball away from the high elves and all the way down for the equaliser.

At this point, with two turns to go, it was looking like remaining a draw, but I made sure I did as much as I could to prevent giving away a late touchdown through stupidity. Also, thanks to some helpful blocking from Illumini, I was able to get my side-stepping catchers downfield just in case.

On the high elf final turn, with no chance of a score, Illumini tucked the ball away where it was almost impossible to get to and that was that, game over... except that it wasn't. There was still the possibility of a score if I made some lucky blocks and got a good bounce on the ball - which I did. I had to dodge one catcher into the endzone and use another to dodge out of one TZ, pick up the ball in another and then dodge back out to get as far downfield as possible. 4+ for the pass... and it was good. A last-minute score for the win.

As I say, a strange game. It felt very rushed (for obvious reasons) and I do think I didn't always give my turns the time they needed. Because I knew my opponent was tired and playing fast, it felt like the right thing to do to play fast as well and I'm sure this was what led to my messing up my second drive - the one that led to my thrower picking up a SI, which is somewhat disappointing for me. MA6 is not exactly terminal, but it will force him to come that little bit further towards the line of scrimmage and make it more likely those annoying MA9 high elf catchers and skaven gutter runners will be able to reach him. Also, he has to miss a game.

The game has left me feeling strangely unsatisfied. Okay, so I got the win, but it really feels like I only got it because Illumini couldn't be bothered to beat me. And he almost did anyway. I guess it feels like a win I was gifted, rather than one I earned.

Anyway, I had the cash, so I've bought myself another thrower. Obviously, he's going to be stepping into the breach next time out, and who knows, he might even end up being a better prospect than the current one. We'll see.”