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Those hats may have struggled for speed, but these boys have grown sharply since we last met them. They've gotten mean too, more claws and tacklers, and they've bought a Wizard instead of that intolerable menace skitter.

Still, our ball, Anarchy unleashed, and for a bit of a change Intimidation tried from all the way up the back, questioning their associations with scattered menacings. Their defence was perfect, Anarchy left wandering, nothing went down. Auspicious.

Soon enough we were in a tight spot, pressure abounding, Anarchy went for their sweeper and ... stumbled off. The bolt came, Hush Money down, Thieving couldn't dodge, and they were away. Intimidation was cut, Tartarus quite the silencer. Volos left a mark on Secrecy. Bribery saw off Hades in return, and then Nepotism was cut. They were comfortable scoring early.

The kick for our reply, terribly deep. Extortion was on, but our fans let the ref know he wouldn't be seeing him off, nothing to be done about scoring though.

Their ball, 6 gobs and 2 trolls. Thieving stole it, but couldn't hold on as Volos neatly nicked the scatter and hid deep in a stinking mess of them, then was gone. Game done, they scored.

Our ball, just 3 gobs and 2 trolls. Quick one tried, but Intimidation was lost in thought. Kickbacks retreated with it, then passed to Conspiracy, Tartarus losing his feet in a long-range effort, and then Volos slapped down, Conspiracy trotting it in for a fine leveller. Rats and Goblins together are basically cheating, after all, -1 to them.

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