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@snoops
King Cobras beat Sucker Punch 7-6 at Hackney Downs:
The game was bleak and uneventful for the first 30 minutes, which seemed appropriate to the cold and grey surroundings. Attacks and chances were rushed in the initial Chukkers™ by King Cobras; Sucker Punch managed to stay ahead but never by a convincing lead.
In the final Chukker™, King Cobras increased the tempo. At a faster pace, they unsettled Sucker Punch who could not match their composure to the opposition’s speed. A level-head and experience would be crucial in the dying minutes. As Mat and Pique of King Cobras opened up the staccato game to a performance reminiscent of one of GREEN (Money, Weed, Envy)’s maestuso masterpieces, it was their substitute, Beagle (Beagle Couriers™), who cleaned up with Scholes-like positioning and shot accuracy. Cobras levelled the game before Beagle sunk a 3/4-court shot to make the score 6-5 to King Cobras with less than ten minutes to spare. That, was a goal.
Sucker Punch responded with a gutsy burst by Sean from his D to the oppositions’, which appeared to end with a lunging and committed over-the-bars steal by Mat just outside his team’s top-D. Seemingly from the grave, a struggling-to-balance Sean swung his body around to his left to strike the ball cleanly from behind his rear wheel as he toppled. Cobra's keeper, Beagle, having rolled backwards to cover his rear cone in anticipation of the initial shot, could not adjust to save Sean's fizzing, front-cone bullet. Off the post and in! The keeper had no chance. Spectators awoke to dance from the sidelines and exclaim, “THE BEAUTIFUL GAME!”
Score: equalised to 6-6 with 6 minutes remaining. Spooky.
The final minutes saw King Cobras’ Mat and Pique flying around in the familiar formation that Sucker Punch had adjusted to. Any unplanned diversions from their sweeping attacks led to successful routes to goal. In the final two minutes, one of those diversions saw Mat cut around the Sucker Punch goal with Nik and Sean looking to smudge him out on the far side. As Mat punched the ball through his own BB and began to follow, he squeezed between the two players to cut in on goal with Joe defending the rear cone – a one-on-one opportunity. A desperate swipe from Sean, as Mat slid between Sean’s rear wheel and Nik’s front, led to Mat hitting the deck as Sean’s mallet diverted Mat’s front-wheel skywards. Whistle. 30 second penalty. Sean leaves the court and King Cobras plan their response. Ed was heard muttering that it was “fair play” from behind the ref’s booth. "Not on my watch," said the excellent and fair referee.
King Cobras squandered their 30-second player advantage whilst Sean waited to rejoin. I don’t remember how they won the game but King Cobras eventually scored to win 7-6: a fair result from a game they were expected to win by some spectators. Sucker Punch’s performance in the first 30 minutes looked convincing but they never established the lead they needed to beat King Cobras, whose experience eventually won the game.