Magic v Southwark Storm

As we continue the saga of a quack whose gone to the dogs......

Looking to turn back the clock to the glory days of last seasons successful Championship run, Magic traveled to the cauldron of Surrey Quays Stadium in an attempt to weather a Storm, in the form of Southwark Storm, in what was billed as the clash of the spoons.

The Magicians having gone into this game on the back of a couple of results, that seemed to have watched the opposition pull the rabbit from the hat, and claim results that seem to create the allure of black magic, BUT this week, it seemed "Magic" had dabbled well into the VooDoo Magic and the sense of change was apparent.

With the return of the Kiwi duo, Dave and Joe, and a much more focused warm up....(Yes we did just about forget we were on the field!) the glimmer of victory was shining in the dull glazed over sleep deprived eyes from the a rather large weekend, one in which some of the people in the team would rather just...um well...remember.. where did it all go wrong? But fighting through a terrible bout of obvious "food poisoning"..um.. from the opposition, Michelle, made it to the start blocks.

The Game started with a hiss and a roar, as teams traded opening blows, in an attempt to thrust themselves off the foot of the table. Magic looked very sharp on the well engrained Train runs, hitting the ball on the advantage line from dummy half, with explosive speed Dale,Skips and B gaining invaluable ground forcing the opposition back, whilst the extra room created was enjoyed by the ball playing duo of Elvis and Dave, consistently stretching the Storm into desperate touch's on the flanks. It was felt from the sidelines, with little concern, that it was only a matter of time before the pressure would tell.

Having created opportunities to score but failing too, Magic turned to their immense defensive system of "The Blitz", to rattling the opposition into errors in there own half. With quick turn over ball provided by Simon "Im sure I wasn't on the field when we scored" King,who quickly subbed to allow Magic the ability to spread the opposition with great width, exposing them out wide to allow a welcome back try to Joe " I never liked the bus shelter in any case" Sharp. 1-0 and with our tails up, Magic continued to press the opposition and through Anya and Bex controlling the dummy half, and organizing the defense through great communication, Magic swept out for another score to Andy " Its not just Golden Boots" Wood, who as always was looking dangerous running into gaps at will.

2-0, Magic applied pressure on the opposition who in turn conceded a try on the heart break of half time, (definitely an amateur error), and left Magic with a spring in their steps at the break 3-0 up.

Previous half time talks have being with haste, as we try to rectify our mistakes and get back into the game, but this was a changed team, with players cool, calm and collective. A slight smile emerged and laughs were a plenty as the team stood in unison with few words spoken, Magic felt they were on the verge of something special.

Having quickly scoring after 1/2 time, Magic began to give the ball some air, with Dale and Elvis working the right hand corner together the final pass eluding Cath for what would have been something special. As with any large lead The Storm, made their come back to split the defense on a rare occasion to pull one back 4-1. Again with the freelance attitude of enjoying the 2nd to last Spring season outing, looking to score at every opportunity using the newly found depth and width, enjoying more room to weave their skills Al,Daz,Dave and Elvis began to spilt the opposition leaving Michelle, Bex and B to link and lead to some great ball movement, for Joe to grab his Hat trick and Woody to follow up with a couple of meat packs in the finishing movements. The only concern of the outing was a twisted Gluteus Maximus for Michelle after an imposing defensive stretch. Physio's seem upbeat regarding her chances although she did sub off as precaution.

With the pea blown out of the whistle, by the ref,the Spring season had just hit a high for Magic, with a well earned and worked victory over Southwark Storm, who in plea bargain with the ref reduced the score to the Official 6-2. Having the grace of a god, our inspirational Skipper accepted, and the points were on the board. Although confusion about who actually scored the tries continued over at committee headquarters AKA The Old China.

A fine victory for the team, and with an eye toward the Summer season, competition for places will be tough, but for tonight this was a moment to remember and enjoy for Magic have opened their account in style.

There were no animals hurt during the production of this, and any names, similarities are a credit to the Hoff. Show your continual support by visiting the website www.gethasselhofftonumber1.com This had been a report from Kermit De Frog Productions.

Living the dream

JOE SHARP