2 weeks and 4 rounds of games completed and it’s pretty tight at the top with 3 teams still in the running. Here’s all the action from week 2 as well as a few clips of the Glasgow vs Edinburgh women’s match that followed.
Video highlights:
Match reports:
Pirates vs Big Cats 
Week 2 saw a big show of Stirling players representing the Big Cats. From up and coming young women in their first year of playing, to Stirling Ultimate alumni such as team captain Matt Tomlinson, all were ready to show the league what they could do. Whether it had anything to do with Cone the day before or the party that had raged into the early hours of the morning, the Big Cats started their first game on the wrong foot with a few unfortunate errors, going down early on in the match. Pirates were playing without a captain at the helm this week but enlisted experienced reserves to keep them on course. Good decision making and well executed deep shots were the order of the day and although the Cats fought back valiantly towards the end it was plain sailing for the Pirates who won 11-8.
Farflung vs Iron Mandelas 
It took a while for Flung to show up to this game, literally. Despite several members of their squad falling casualty to the previous nights partying, a suspected broken nose and a delayed departure, they managed to rush 6 players onto the line. Mandelas kindly lent Flung some of their players to balance out numbers but were less generous when it came to scoring points, racking up a 4-0 lead at the start of the game. Having now warmed up, Flung gathered their composure, started looking after the disc and went on a run of their own to level the game. Both teams then traded an offense point to take the game to sudden death and Iron Mandelas were able to snatch the victory 5-6.
Pirates vs Iron Mandelas
This was a game of great consequence, a win for Iron Mandelas would put one hand firmly on the trophy and a loss for the Pirates would see them out of contention altogether. Survival is a great motivator and the Pirates brought a cutthroat, never-say-die attitude to this game, ruthlessly slaying their opponents in the opening encounters, stacking up a quick three point lead. Mandelas could not reproduce the dynamic, pacey style of play that saw them succeed in this match-up 2 weeks previous, perhaps another victim to the Cone hangover. The pirates deep game continued to impress with Audrey MC the obvious target striking deep as they clinched an 8-3 victory.
Farflung vs Big Cats
A game of runs – Big Cats started strong, Farflung stronger. Throughout the game, it was clear that the less experienced players on both teams were gaining in confidence and this lead to some really nice team plays and crisp offense on both sides. The score see-sawed for most of the match as leads of 2 or 3 points were quickly snuffed out by the opposition. However, the renewed energy of Big Cats 11th hour recruit Fraser ‘Franchise’ Macdonald banded the team together to secure a run to victory. Great spirit was shown by all, with players being shared between teams to even out numbers and gender match-ups. Big Cats went on to win 7-10.
Table, Scores and Fixtures:
All the Indoor League info is available here.
Week 3 Preview:
One more week of games to go and 3 teams are still in contention for the league title. Here’s where each team is at and a few words from their captains:
FarFlung
The league is now out of Flungs grip and though they could tie with Big Cats by pulling out a couple of wins the head to head result would still put them in 4th place. Their main concern will be putting up a fight in the last few games, showing how far they have developed and trying to get a W on the board.
“We can’t win the league, but we won’t lie down, we’re ready to F*#K S&)T Up!” – J Sng was unavailable for comment but I imagine this is what she would have said.
Big Cats
Down but not out. Big Cats still have a chance at topping the table and have the perfect fixture list to mount their challenge. They need to win both matches to have any chance at the title. Wins against Mandelas and Pirates would level the head to head results, so we might be looking at goal difference. If Big Cats are to emerge as Kings of the jungle it may come down to the narrowest of margins.
“The Big Cats are still in the hunt for the series win, or at very least, a classic Panthers second place” – Matt T
Iron Mandelas
Iron Mandelas currently sit joint top with a level head to head match-up with Pirates but a far inferior goal difference. It’s likely that they’ll need to win both games and either rack up a ton of goals or hope that someone else does them a favour.
“Will get it sorted …” – C Simpson (perhaps out of context).
Pirates
Pirates lead the way with a pretty comfortable goal difference, 13 points clear of IM and 9 ahead of Big Cats. Regardless of the result against Farflung they will go into the final match against Big Cats knowing exactly what they need to do to clinch the league.
“We’ve landed at Treasure Island, now we just have to dig” – S Webb
See you all on the 14th for the final showdown!