Phantoms earn draw with dwarfs

It had been an inauspicious start to the new league for the Phantoms. Their opening game had been a disaster as they faced a team almost as old as themselves and one they had played, and beate, before. However that was long in the past, and now the Phantoms, despite fielding elves who had played in the previous Albion League, found the re-adjustment to Blood Bowl a struggle. The Surrealists took advantage of this, putting three past the high elves in a one sided game which left many Phantoms fans dejected. 

In their second match the Phantoms put in a creditable performance against the Toon Scrappa'z, but the 2-0 victory was an expectation. The orcs were brand new to the game while some of the players on the Phantoms, and their manager, pre-dated even the Albion League, having competed in the even more ancient Southern Bloodbowl League. 

Their third encounter was a dull affair against Flydene Blade. In classic "8:16" style the chaos team allowed the Phantoms to score quickly, then ground down the pitch to score at the end of both halves. There wasn't much the Phantoms could do against the stronger team, and their opponents made no mistakes the high elves could take advantage of. The Phantoms were slipping down the league and looking a shadow of the team they once were... And even that wasn't too spectacular. 

Their fourth match saw the Phantoms take on Chutney Hamper, a dwarf team coached by a veteran management team who had seen success many times in the Albion League. The Phantoms fans were expecting a defeat, but the high elves had home advantage for once, playing at the recently renovated Vanhaldenbowl in front of 18,000 fans. 

The game started well for the high elves, who put the dwarfs under pressure on their possession after choosing to kick. Only a brilliant interception from a dwarf longbeard prevented the Phantoms from going 1-0 up, and the dwarfs almost made the Phantoms' efforts all for nothing at the very end of the first half, but Chutney Hamper were just unable to score, a dwarf runner tripping over his own feet sprinting for the end-zone in the dying seconds. 

After the break the elves ran a routine passing play to take the lead, and now the dwarfs, who had been struggling all game to remove any of the high elves from the game, now faced a difficult task to claw the game back. Once again the elves put the ball under pressure, but this time the dwarfs just manage to stumble over the line with the ball before the end of the game. Right at the death the dwarfs remembered how to block, taking nearly half the Phantoms off the pitch knocked out, but it was too late. The game ended in a draw with the Phantoms the more satisfied of the two teams. 

With Strigoinometry and Flydene Blade leading the way, the Phantoms now face an uphill struggle to qualify, with many predicting the high elves will finish fifth, as is tradition - one place outside the qualification zone...