We're now ready to begin the next two matches. Bree take on Mirkwood in what should be a fairly good match. Tom Bombadil has brought his old yellow boots out and is raging to go. Mirkwood sharpshooter Legolas hopes his team win a free-kick as he claims to have a feeling that he will score off every single one he gets in this tournament.
In the other game Rivendell take on Ham in what should be a win for the more experienced Rivendell. Time has taken it's toll though and Rivendell are no longer the team they once were but they are still a formidable force. Ham, newcomers to the tournament have a knack for taking down stronger opponents who on paper should be quite impossible to beat.
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Group F
Bree 1 - 0 Mirkwood
(Tom Bombadil 61st)
Despite Bree holding onto the ball for longer it was Mirkwood that completely dominated the first half making wonderful use of their posession. The managed to get in a lot of shots owing to some wonderful linking play but unfortunately they lacked the killing edge with their shots fizziling wide or taking a deflection at the wrong time. Their best chance came when
Legolas sent in a deadly through ball to
Beorn who lashed in a hard shot which was barely punched away by
Old Man Willow.
In the second half Bree began to tackle hard and sometimes quite viciously. Such play resulted in yellow cards for
Harry and
Nob. However both these fouls were in quite safe positions and Mirkwood were unable to capitalize. Completely against the run of play Bree managed to nick a goal. A well played counter attack led by
Butterbur ended with a save by
Spider but he could only watch helplessly as
Tom Bombadil pounced on the rebound and put Bree one goal up.
It was all insanity after that. Mirkwood launched attack after attack, ceaselessly trying to pull a goal back but Bree managed to hold on. Mirkwood almost pulled one back through
Necromancer after a well designed play resulted in a fanyasyic oppurtunity for him. However his shot was agonizingly cleared off the goal line by
Badger. The Mirkwood players complained that the ball had crossed the line but the referee said it had not and the goal did not stand much to the anguish of Mirkwood. Bree did not deserve a win but stole one right from the jaws of defeat. This reminds me of a certain match Mordor had...
Shots: 3(2) - 10(6)
Posession: 38 - 62
Bookings: Harry, Nob
Group H
Rivendell 2 - 3 Ham
(William 31st, Gilraen 75th) (Farmer Giles 53rd, 80th, Tailbiter 72nd)
Rivendell dominated the attacking flow of the first half and created a couple of chances. All in all it was a fairly good half for Rivendell despite
Bert being booked early on. Around the 30th minute a pulled volley by
William after a failed clearance by
Garm led to the opening goal of the game. Rivendell began to ease their attack a bit after going a goal up.
This turned out to be a costly mistake early on in the second half as Ham finally managed to get together an attacking rhytym.
Miller lobbed in a ball for
Farmer Giles who chested it down and lobbed it over
Elrond to equalize with a fine goal. So far this has been the first time in this tournament that a team has equalized. The game really opened up after this and there were some fine displays of attacking football.
The 70th till 80th minutes were very exciting, producing three goals. It was a fantastic spell. It started off as
Miller played a neat one two with
Farmer Giles and spun past
Elrond but instead of taking the shot himself he played it in for
Tailbiter to finish with ease. Only minutes after play resumed
Gilraen was in a wonderful position owing to a ball lobbed into the area by
Glorfindel.
Gilraen then tapped the ball up and headed it in to equalize.
Right at the 80th minute,
Miller drove the ball in for
Farmer Giles to blast in, honestly it was a bit of mis-hit but the ball knocked off the crossbar and spiked down into the goal. Fantastic build up. It was a well paced match and in the end Ham walked out winners. Rivendell will very much be rueing the fact that they did not press for a second earlier in the game when they had a chance. Hats off to both teams though. They played superbly.
Shots: 9(5) - 8(6)
Posession: 51 - 49
Bookings: Bert
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Fantastic stuff! Mirkwood really did not deserve to lose but that's football for you. The tournament really seems to have picked up now. It was an amazing match between Rivendell and Ham with Ham managing to squeeze in the win. So far all the newcomers have been doing very well in the tournament, even managing some major upsets. However these were just the first set of matches. Theres plenty of twists and turns still to come. Where is the trophy going this year?