“This was a fun game, against a nice opponent, who is probably now wondering what he has done to annoy the dice gods. Because absolutely nothing went right for pedro_fgomes today and every time he tried something a little bit risky, it just made things worse, because I wasn't failing anything - at least nothing vital.

I did fail my first proper pass, but Baby Dice God made sure I didn't suffer as a result, and by then pedro_fgomes had already rolled a double double skulls. And he rolled another one soon after.

And in between failed blocks, he also failed pick-ups and go-for-its that no dark elf team has any right to fail. And to add insult to injury, I was doing the same kind of stuff and making every roll.

The first half was tough though. After my first score the dark elves mounted a solid drive of their own, but the wood elves were able to do enough on defence to mean there was only a single dark elf blitzer free to go for the score, and in keeping with the rest of the game, he failed his go for it on turn 7, meaning there was no chance for a last-minute score.

Still, 1-0 was not too bad, especially as the dark elves were receiving. Had the dice been a bit kinder, pedro_fgomes could well have pulled back a score after a few turns. But as it was, the wood elves managed to get to the ball and knock it free. There were so many players around it I wasn't able to pick it up, but then neither was pedro_fgomes on the following turn and finally my thrower got hold of it and threw a short pass from a TZ for the score.

Now things were looking tough for the dark elves, and of course now they managed a two-turn score - although they did fail a 2+ catch along the way.

A blitz now, or a mess-up from me, could well have seen pedro_fgomes getting in a late equaliser which would have forced me to have to go for the one-turn TD on my final turn, but unsurprisingly, given the way the rest of the game had gone, I didn't fail anything and even had the luxury of scoring with a long bomb, just because I could.

I'm happy for the win - of course I am - but I do also feel sorry for pedro_fgomes. 3-1 was not the result he deserved. He has a strong team with a couple of genuine stat-freaks in there, and if only they could have managed some actual injuries on my players, I would have been in a very sorry situation. But as it was, the only injury in the entire game was caused by me, because that's how one-sided it was.

Good conversation though, and pedro_fgomes was very gracious in defeat, never raging about bad luck even though it would have been justified. I hope we play again soon, and I hope for his sake that he is allowed to show how good a player he can be when the luck is more balanced.”