Zombie United vs. Rotten Apples
This from Rupert, who refereed the game:
3, 2, 1, POLO! (loud)
A predictable sprint start from Yorgo followed by an even more predictable smack it into the top left hand corner. Zombie collected around the Apples goal, Mike got into position and BAM 1-0! Zombie retreat to their goal, Apples regroup, they looked miffed. Gabes and Em took it up court, interplay ensued, 1 minute and 46 seconds later Em leveled the score line 1-1. Zombie restart play, they take it up court, Apple intercept, passes between Em and Gabes push play into the back left hand corner behind zombies goal. Gabes follows Em into the corner, a Zombie is drawn in, Em breaks back into open field with the ball, he rides across the apex of the D, another Zombie lunges towards the ball, Emilie, in a moment of polo enlightenment, pushes it around the undead, picks it up on the offside and flicks it across goal (YES ACROSS GOAL) it hits the far post mid height(YES I KNOW) makes a gorgeous ‘polo sound’ and goes in.
The crowd literally went wild, for the second time of the night (the first being Bill’s Cosmic arrival).
After an eventful and skillful opening the Apples dominated the game scoring goals at 7 minutes then 10 minutes, bringing the score up to 4-1. Zombie dictated the speed of the game, Em matched it, making valuable interceptions, Gabes held the mid field and cleaned up any loose balls, Rik held fast in goal.
A final goal at 14.40 from Mike for Zombie left the scores at 4-2 to Apples. Great game.
4-2, Apples Win.
3, 2, 1, POLO! (still loud)
Zombie regrouped in the very brief break between games, Hassan opened the scoring at 2 minutes, there was a sense of urgency, if Zombie didn’t try and wrestle control of the fixture it could have easily ended up a scrumping. The regroup was marred slightly by a puncture suffered by Yorgo, his front wheel went flat. At this point Hassan and Mike presumed he would take up camp in goal and they would play out the game in attack, with over 400psi between them it was looking like a good idea, however Yorgo did not share that premise, his eyes lit up as he saw a stray franklin dribble towards his lame front end, he picked up posession and began to crunch up field on a bare rim.
Hassan – ‘YORGO WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING’
Mike – ‘PASS THE BALL’
Yorgo – ‘AH CAHNT, AH ‘AVE A PUNCTUHRE’
Mike- ‘PASS THE FUCKING BALL AND GO IN GOAL’
Yorgo saw the light, and returned to goal, leaving the ball about 3 yards away from where he found it. Unfortunately for Zombie, Em bit back with a goal at 5.47 bringing the scores level at 1-1. At this point Mike seemed to take responsibility for marking Em, they played the rest of the game at full speed, Mike challenged Em twice during the game in an extremely aggressive way, on both occasions he came off worse, hitting the deck extremely hard on the second one, Em grinned with sadistic pleasure throughout. Mike regrouped and scored an equaliser at 6.14, bringing the score to 2-1 to Zombie. What followed can only be described as a trouncing, Em scored at 7.40 (at the wrong end) making the score 3-1 Zombie. He went on to score at 10.08, 11.40, 13.30, and 14.30. It was crazy, that’s four goals, in a row, by one player in less than five minutes, bare in mind that the Zombie had to regain posession after every goal and then be dispossessed by Apples. An incredible game.
5-3, Apples Win.
3, 2, 1, POLO! (bit quieter, but still loud)
Yorgo opened with a goal at 1.30 (oh la las all round), puncture fixed. Mike followed at 3.50. Zombie had regained composure after a hectic second game. Mike’s marking of Em was less brutal and more effective. Em regained a goal for Apples making it 2-1. Zombie played more coherently as a team, with passes, yes passes, that lead to goals. Mike put another away at 8.10. Em brought it back to 3-2 at 10 minutes and fifty seconds. The game played out in a frenzied attack on both goals by both teams.
3-2, Zombie Win.
A fantastic fixture, although Em dominated the score sheet it was a unified performance by Apples. Rik made some very important saves and countered various ‘Seattles’ throughout the games. There seemed to be a clear structure to the team with Rik taking up the first third, Gabes dominating the middle and Em owning the final third. The ball made its way up field within this structure, and inevitably into goal. Zombie had less structure with no obvious tactics or positions. At times this worked as two players would swamp the box up-field and test the Apples defense, but all to often it left space for the counter, and Em’s interceptions were just incredible. A court the size of Mitch leaves too much room behind the front line to have two attacking outfield players in the box. Great game with great polo all round.
APPLES WIN FIXTURE 2-1.
27/10/2009 1:07 pm
By Jon, 27/10/2009 @ 2:35 pm
Nice write up Rupert… also worth noting:
Brilliant tactic from Rik of leaving goal and heading to the attacking man when the ball was heading slightly to the side or a corner… he calmly blocked/hustled and it left enough time for team mates to get back too and stopped a straight-up attack on the goal.
Rik was also challenging the attacking man last-minute and leaving goal to get a mallet on the shot, pretty risky, but seemed to work (for the most part).
Rik\\\’s \\"here\\\’s the corner of the goal\\" draw tactic when in goal was a bit odd in my opinion though (requiring fast reflexes), but i thought he played excellently.
By snoops, 27/10/2009 @ 2:38 pm
Yep we discussed that tactic last night, it was very effective. Never seen it work before though.
And I also left out Yorgo’s own goal.
By Rik, 27/10/2009 @ 4:31 pm
Rupert, excelent report, but more than just a report an analisis of the game and teams.
brilliant!!
By Rik, 27/10/2009 @ 4:33 pm
Jon, the tactic is a bit like the one the football keppers use, if the ball is coming to you and you have time, go for the ball.
of course is risky, and a couple of times Mike score, but, I think, is better than wait for the attacker to short from a meter of you BB
By snoops, 27/10/2009 @ 5:04 pm
http://www.rewp.net/images/angles.gif
By MAX, 29/10/2009 @ 12:11 am
AWESOME write up snoopert… particularly liked the yorgo quotes!