[the phantom]

Shire-Bree hosted Anduin in the always-comfortable Michel Delving, and the two fought their way to a well-earned draw.

Gandalf gave Anduin fits most of the game, but they did well enough on everyone else that he wasn't able to make them pay until 10 minutes left- to the delight of the home-crowd. At the other end of the field Anduin got their goal in the first half- a long-range boomer by Boromir.

Each side got in a few shots at the keeper, but frankly most of them weren't quality. It wasn't the fault of the offenses, but rather the Ds were just on their game. The Nazgul did a nice job marking Eorl, and Gildor & Shadowfax were solid. Grimbeorn was able to come free often, but only going away from the goal, and if he turned his run was always blocked by the girth of the Fellbeast.

Oddly enough Bandobras nearly got into a fight with Felarof (at least we assume- the horse looked like it wanted to kick him). The refs might've sent them off, but went with yellows and stern warnings so as to preserve the full sides thus allowing it to truly be a warm-up game.

Looking back at the tape it appears Bandobras kept ducking beneath Felarof and then grabbing his two front legs and essentially hitching a ride wherever the horse was heading (usually towards the action), and as fast as Felarof is we can see the advantage. Felarof of course took issue with this, but the refs never seemed to spot it.

Anduin 1-1 Shire-Bree United
on target 6-5
tot shots 14-14
GOALS:
*37, 1-0 Haldir (Boromir)
*80, 1-1 Gandalf (Ferny)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Anduin- Leod, Felarof
*SBUnt- Bandobras, Fellbeast#5

These two met at nearby neutral-site Bree, and the folks there were treated to a fine display by Elrond and his defense. Asfaloth and Arwen were both tasked with Bombadil and Bombadil alone, and the rest of the team filled in the field around them. Using this strategy and then building attacks slowly and carefully suited them just fine, and they looked sharp.

NogWight had an early assist, so perhaps he'll fit there well, and really the BDowns had no answer for Glorfindel. On the bright side Alien had a couple of excellent saves, so perhaps the keeper position is better for him, as he's kept more on-task there and is less likely to pull pranks and get carded.

Finally the Barrow-Downs did figure out how to muster a bit of offense in the second half and earned a couple shots for defenders coming up in support, but that left them wide-open for the counter that Isildur converted at minute 55, and after that they seemed to just want to get the game over with.

An impressive start for last year's runner-up.

Eriador 3-0 The Barrow-Downs
on target 8-3
tot shots 16-9
GOALS:
*14, 1-0 Glorfindel (NogWight)
*32, 2-0 Arveleg (Isildur)
*55, 3-0 Isildur (Glorfindel)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Eriador- NogWight
*BDowns- Lumpkin, Barrow-Wight

Following that contest Arnor and Imladris took the field, and this one was definitely more competitive. It was very good-natured and very clean, but they were definitely giving it effort. Arnor for the most part controlled the pace of things and held possession the longest, but Imladris looked the most flashing, with Lindir working with the Sons of Elrond quite well. Arnor always seemed to stem the tide just long enough to receive some help from the defenders catching up to the play.

Finally in the second half they were caught just a bit too much off guard, except Malbeth, but he couldn't handle Elladan and Lindir both and Imladris had the lead. But 20 minutes later Arnor's constant pressure finally paid dividends and the Witch King put in the equalizer. A surprising number of folks actually cheered for him. Though he once worsted much of the region, his cooperation with Eriador last year seems to have earned him some goodwill.

Arnor 1-1 Imladris
on target 5-3
tot shots 13-12
GOALS:
*57, 0-1 Elladan (Lindir)
*77, 1-1 Witch King (Arassuil)
YELLOW CARDS:
*Arnor- Valandur
*Imlad-

These two played at a stadium in Westfold (the same used by BSK Westfold of the Central League), and though it was officially neutral naturally Rohan dominated the crowd.

But the Dwarves didn't care, and just put on an absolute clinic of suffocating defense. At the offensive end Gamil Zirak and Telchar showed their mastery of the dribble, while Fili, Kili, and Celebrimbor were called upon to support them and facilitate side-switches when Rohan started getting too heavy around one of the craftsdwarves.

Shortly before the end of the 1st half one such side-switch caught Hama and Snowmane up too far and too far right and Celebrimbor led Gimli right into the box with a pintpoint pass and he one-touched it across to Telchar, wrong-footing the frantically recovering defense, and Telchar deftly lifted it to the top corner for the game-winner.

Dwarves United 1-0 Rohan
on target 4-2
tot shots 12-9
GOALS:
*41, 1-0 Telchar (Gimli)
YELLOW CARDS:
*DwUnt- Kili
*Rohan- Brytta, Hama