[Shastanis Althreduin]

Group F Round 1 - Imladris vs. Rohan

There was not a cloud in the sky as the sun hung overhead, slightly to the west; neither team would be too hindered by sun in their eyes (Rohan might have been slightly worse off, as the halftime switch would have them facing a slightly lower sun than Imladris did in the first.)

Regardless, the game started off slow. Radagast and the horses refused to let the ball remain in their half very long, aggressively charging any Imladris player unfortunate enough to have the ball. Perhaps taking Elrohir's pre-game comments to heart, Snowmane was a bit overenthusastic about running down Elrohir near the end of the first quarter and was awarded a yellow card. Imladris was given a free kick, but Elladan's right cross was caught by a freak gust of wind and passed just over the top of the goal. Gandalf was, of course, suspected of chicanery, but as he'd been sportingly checking to see if Elrohir was okay at the time, nothing came of the suspicion.

The first and only goal came during the fifty-ninth minute, as another of Elrohir's shots was foiled, this time by Felarof rearing to his full height in front of the hapless forward. Intimidated, the elf didn't put as much spin on the ball as it needed, and it glanced off Felarof's right front hoof and bounced down the field. Eorl skillfully scooped it up, dodging past two midfielders and sending it toward Eomer, who met it with his knee and sent it spinning crazily into the goal, its path so unpredictable that the Imladris keeper picked wrongly and dove to the side, missing the ball entirely.

Rohan locked down their defense after that, only allowing two more shots on goal (and one aborted shot, as Figwit booted Radagast in the shin rather than the ball, and earned a yellow for his trouble.)

And there you have it. So far Rohan's innovative defensive tactics have protected their goal from intrusion, but how long can that last?



Imladris 0-1 Rohan
on target 2-4
tot shots 9-13
GOALS:
*59, 0-1 Eomer (Eorl)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Imlad- Figwit
*Rohan- Snowmane


Round 2 - Isengard vs. Misty Mountains

The evening game promised to be a violent one. Misty Mountains had something to prove - not only were they anxious to prove that they didn't need Saruman's help to win, they were also quite displeased that the defector had stolen their previous year's goalie as he left, and were ready to make their displeasure known. And so the game began. Almost immediately both Chief Wolf and Azog rushed for Saruman, heedless of where the ball actually was. Mauhur and Lugdush leapt to the defense of their captain, and chaos ensued. All action on the field stopped as the referees rushed in to separate the players. Both teams were penalized - however, the referees made a wise decision; knowing how likely it was that the game would get even more violent as it progressed, they handed out yellow cards instead of the usual red. There was no sense in removing four players from the field when there would just be more fighting later.

By now, the moon (about three-quarters full) had risen above the pitch, and it was getting slightly easier to see. Thanks to the increased visibility, Misty Mountains made the first goal of the match, as Azog successfully distracted Lugdush and Lurtz with insults while Narvi made a wild dash through them with the ball and slide-kicked the ball past a burst of hail from Caradhras and a dive from the keeper, Ugluk.

The increased light made it easier for Misty Mountains to score, but it also made the onlookers realize something strange was happening to the field; the grass was growing in certain places. This favored Isengard, as many of their players were taller and the shorter Misty Mountains players would have a hard time seeing over the growing grass. Misty Mountains didn't realize this at first, gamely playing as they could against a furious Isengard offensive led by Saruman and Wormtongue. However, the dense foliage slowed Bert and the Watcher so much that Saruman basically had a free kick against the Great Goblin, who wasn't able to block the shot fired off by the canny wizard. The goal was allowed, but after Misty Mountains realized what was going on, Rumil went after Lurtz (who didn't fight back, but received a yellow card for his role in planting the swiftly-growing grass anyway.)

The game basically ended after that; a halt was called to cut the grass on the pitch down to size, and neither team returned to the pitch after that. The referees were forced to call the game a tie, 1-1.



Isengard 1-1 Misty Mts
on target 5-6
tot shots 13-15
GOALS:
*62, 0-1 Narvi (Azog)
*74, 1-1 Saruman (Wormtongue)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Isen- Lugdush, Lurtz, Mauhur
*MMts- Chief Wolf, Azog, Rumil