This season saw the introduction of the first ever Mixed Tour 2 – South. With the main event being in Durham, most of us couldn’t head just shy of the Scottish border due to not being back in time for work the next day. Thankfully, UKU realised this and set up a smaller (much smaller) event in Glastonbury. Based on the standings at MT1, we were seeded second and we approached this with an aim to win. In doing so, we opted to take a slightly smaller squad and work on being a little more cohesive. However, in the run up to the event, Foggy had to drop out and due to some family issues, Rob and Cathy also had to bail. We managed to draft in some replacements but, with a back injury causing one of them to also drop out and for one of the backups to then be unavailable, we attended the event with a barebones team. Still, our squad was strong and included myself, Sophie, Chubb, Steve, Cam, Jarod, Mel, Emily, Liv, Jess – who guested for us and Mop for Saturday, and Mojo and Mike Johnson for Sunday.
Game 1 – Curve
We thunder out of the gate and in the space of three seconds stick 5 on the board. After this, we relax a ridiculous amount and just let the buffer do the hard work for us. We make a meal of the match really and allow Curve back into the game. We keep screwing up with soft turnovers and they eat up the deficit. They eventually claw it back to within a point at 8-9. The hooter sounds and we slam our right foot down and bang in two goals to take this incredibly tough game 11-8.
Game 2 – Meridian
Meridian were a nice bunch of players who’d done terribly at MT1. Now, when I say they’d done terribly, that’s not meant as a criticism of their ability, but of what must have been a dire performance because they were certainly not a team you would associate with the dregs of the circuit. They had flow, they worked hard on D and they had hucks that came off well. They are a good team and they showed that at this second outing for their squad. They gained a lead but we knew we could be a little more methodical and began chasing the game about two points behind. I managed to snaffle a D but, in doing so, I land badly due to the surface of the pitch and roll my ankle, putting me out of action for the remainder of the game. We score and I go to get treatment. A slight hiccough on our part sees them score again after we level it and from then on, we again show some second half prowess, gain a lead and extend it to two as Meridian’s tactics are rendered less effective. The game closes out with us taking the win 13-11.
Game 3 – Brixton
Prior to the weekend, I’d predicted that Brixton would have a decent squad and that we could be in trouble if they’d brought Gash – which they had. Over the course of the weekend, Brixton trained hard and warmed up and it became apparent that they were being coached by their resident international superstar. We were a tad apprehensive and that didn’t help much when a local came up to me and Cam while we were throwing around to tell us that we were to get “wrecked by them” as they were doing a warm up and drills. I pointed out that we were throwing a disc around a little bit, but our spectator said it wasn’t enough and, effectively noted that we were in for a world of hurt. We asked if he wanted to stick around and put a wager on rather than the sweepstake he was peddling for the Grand National, but he declined. Anyway, to Sophie’s delight, we lost the toss for kit and went red and set our sights on toppling Brixton and their army. It didn’t go well. While they came out hot, we spent the first 5 points doing our own warm up when it suddenly clicks. Everything that we’d struggled with in the previous two games started to come together and we rapidly chewed up the deficit. Scoring 7 points while they took 3, we took the half. We aimed to take the next point in which we began on O, but they turned us and scored. During the next point, Steve played heromaker and bust out a huge lay that saw him crush his beloved, priceless Cheerios Shake & Bake cap. As he looked at his fallen comrade in anguish and said something about how it was a valuable piece of history, one of their team said “Not anymore, it’s not.” and, in doing so, sealed their fate as we scored another six unanswered points to take the game 15-8. After the match, I noted that this was probably the nicest, most well-spirited match I’d ever played in and Sophie yelled that she was going to say that. We finished second, topped the group and finished top 4. Nice.
We then headed off to wherever we were all staying and headed back the next day for the semi-final.
Game 4: Semi final – St Albans
We played St Albans at MT1 and didn’t foresee much of an issue here. We were wrong. Very wrong. They had a far stronger side than they did in Cardiff and swiftly set about making life difficult for us on pitch two. Fresh rain and an unpredictable wind saw us try to play conservatively and safely, but with fatigue having set in and the conditions begging for tons of cuts on soft, energy-sapping mud, we soon found ourselves in trouble and St Albans capitalised. While we shied from long shots downwind, they pretty much used huck and D. Conversely, when we were going upwind, we played better and scored a few from Chubby hucking it. Downwind, it was as though we felt we’d have an easier time and, rather than bung it ourselves, we opted to force tough lateral swings that made no ground and were too far to be unaffected by the gusts. We therefore turned ourselves plenty and they capitalised to eak ahead. I think we also assumed they wouldn’t be able to bang in their upwind scores, when they absolutely could. In short, we didn’t give them the credit or respect they deserved and we paid dearly. Towards the end of the match, we found some of the good stuff in our pocket and pushed them a bit harder. By this stage, they were far enough ahead to take chances and, flukey as some of the shots were, they nearly all came off. St Albans knocked us out and deservedly proceeded to the final. Early in this match, the ground saw Sophie and Cam twist ankles – putting Sophie out for that match and Cam out for the next.
Game 5 – Curve
Everything that had gone wrong in the previous game reared its head again. While we were annoyed at missing our chance, Curve relished the idea of a rematch having done a lot better since our opening game. They went to town on us, punching in goals while we struggled with shorter passes when we should have been a bit more ballsy and gone for the longer shots. We scored a fair amount but, when we did there was silence. They however celebrated every point they slotted in. It was abundantly clear who wanted it more. At 11-8, the hooter sounded and I remember thinking “if we can just get this one, we’ll be within two and we can win from there”. It was not to be. Clissold banged in a score and we had to get five consecutive goals to win. Then something amazing happened. We score the downwind and Chubby unleashes an amazing pull as the wind dropped for a second, and jammed them right on the sideline. With the swing stood in the middle of the pitch, their handler throws a backhand but Steve has sprinted at full tilt up the pitch and intercepted it, pretty much on their line. We work it around and reduce the gap to within two points. Curve, rocked cough up another two turns and we convert them to level things. The game enters sudden death and they work it downfield. We turn them and a slight lack of communication sees us turn. They quickly take a shot and it comes off to seal the victory for them – 13-12. A superb comeback effort from us, but it wasn’t to be. Hopefully we’ll get to play them again at MT3.
Thanks for a great weekend guys.