Another side receives mandatory Portland scare

The woulda, coulda, shouldas were being rolled out again this past Saturday night as league leaders Burlington escaped with a 15-11 win, and Portland collected another solitary "near miss" bonus point to add to its tally.

Given the late Fall monsoon that was blowing by, the games had been moved to the Fairgrounds; scene of plenty of past Portland heroics. The Pulling Shed once again served as changing room / warm up facility, but I use the term "warm up" in only a figurative sense.

The first half was dominated by Burlington, as they scored three tries due to some lackluster defense and some strong running by the visiting forwards. Portland managed to stay in touch however, thanks to a couple of penalty kicks from Matt Winch and three missed conversions by Burlington. 15-6 the score at half time.

A number of substitutions were made at half time that brought some added strength to the Portland pack, along with a little more beef (and pork) in the midfield. With these in place, Portland was able to guarantee a more reliable supply of ball from the scrum, although lineouts remained a crapshoot in the howling gale.

Portland soon began to pressure the Burlington line, although for a while the slippery conditions meant that a knock-on was more likely to occur before any breakthrough. Eventually however a stable platform was established from a scrum under the Burlington posts, and the ball was worked weak to find itself in the hands of Scotty Derrig, who slipped through to score. The conversion attempt was, not surprisingly, held up in the wind, so the scoreline crept only to 15-11.

Sensing some hesitation from Burlington, the home side continued to pile on the pressure, although again, given the conditions, moving the ball about with any fluency proved impossible. To their credit, despite many goal line mauls that Portland tried to push in, Burlington held them all up and turned them away. In the end, with a limited number of attacking options this saga of immeasurable force meeting immovable object ground to a stalemate and time ran out before either side was able to come up with any other ideas.

Another weekend, and another day pushing that rock up hill. Sisyphus would have been proud.

Once again however, the ray of metaphorical sunshine came from the Killer B's, who took the field with such excitement that you'd have no idea they'd been standing in the rain getting soaked for the preceding 80 minutes.

Burlington however did not display the same enthusiasm, and started the game with only 9-10 players, as the rest had all disappeared indoors to get dry. Gradually their consciences got the better of them, and they filtered back on to the field, only to encounter the fired up B's.

Despite the fact that the game was shortened to what seemed like 10-minute halves, Josh managed a brace of tries and Ryan scored another, while Burlington seemed more interested in when it was all going to be over. Another strong performance from the B's, which only bodes well for the future of the club.

Once everyone had dried off as best they could, it was back to Bleachers to share a pint with our opponents. Oh, wait...that's right, Burlington split before anyone could say goodbye, no doubt still mad about that biting incident from a hundred years ago.

So, for once, there was enough food to go around, and plenty of room to mingle. A side man-of-the-match went to Mike DeSalle, who came on at the half and proved that the game still needs him. B side honors and special mention went to Josh for his strong performance in both games, but he was out in the car, ahem..."medicating" at the time, so his shot went elsewhere.

Portland take the long trip to Hartford this weekend for their final game of the year. A bus has been laid on, so all fans and friends are welcome to tag along. Watch this space for more details.

Normal Service to resume ASAP

Phew! Been sooooo busy at the office, as you can see. There's just been no time for a match report.



Strike!

Also, a slight misunderstanding with the censors has kept me under house arrest for a few days, but that all seems to have been cleared up now. Thank goodness - almost a whole week without spouting off and I was beginning to go into limelight withdrawls.

So let freedom ring! Yes, I will blog you your blog sir, one more time. Just don't mention the you-know-what in the comments. K?