ANGELS INDOORS 2004/5 SEASON

Angels B (+ Whiplash ingredients) at Nationals, Bath, 2005

At least this time we would have seven guys unlike regionals. Our squad was to be Aidan, Justin, Sarah, Mike, and myself plus Jim and Spider from Whiplash. Both squads of London based Angels arrived at the strange guest house in Bath.


By Saturday morning, before first game it was obvious that there would only be six of us. So we started the game against Bristol Old Gits. And within a matter of minutes, Sarah was in agony having slipped down a ridiculous hidden rim that circled the pitch. Adam lifted Sarah off court, and we were left with an ironman squad against the current National Indoor Champions. Great. After they scored 6 uninterrupted points we managed to end 10-3.


Malvern's Lords of the Ring offered light relief in the shape of a fairly weak team who enjoyed playing nonetheless. We won easily, and expended more energy trying to follow the after game "Father Abraham" call.


Trigger happy beat us by one point, with some fairly haphazard errors occuring throughout the game from our side.


Flyght club had a confusing squad of North Americans. They played two girls, one of which was very good. A curly haired chap started to impose himself on the match - but only after 10 minutes. Beyond this their game plan was fairly unclear. We managed a draw.


The game against the bow tie wearing Top Shelf sleaze of St Andrews was relatively easy for us. They didn't seem overly serious, and started off rather randomly. We ran out comfortable winners. (On Sunday they picked up the Discuits captain - probably making them a tougher proposition)


The final game of the day was against the physical BLT, and frankly was a little tough for us to get to grips with. While Jim had a good game, Aidan and Justin were outgunned, and exhaustian got the better of me. We struggled to keep our heads above water and managed only a couple of points.


So with Saturday played out, we had done reasonably well - mirroring the first teams score in their harder pool. Two wins, one draw, three losses. But with two of the losses going to undefeated teams, it looked certain we would beat our 16th seeding. The evening was tailed off by a good Indonesian restaurant and some quiz machine antics. Some players also tried to go for a bath.


Sunday started with Discuits on the bigger pitch. As I knew only too well, they would be many, disciplined, sober and hard running. They actually played very well to boot and we were never allowed to leave first gear. We managed to score a couple, including a pitch length backhand from me to Jim after he decided to run deep. But overall, not the best way to start a Sunday.


We had eased into a regular pattern of playing. Jim and I would throw break force passes to each other then find Mike on the left sideline. Mike would refuse to dump, look unconfortable for a couple of seconds then produce a great break force pass to Aidan on the right side. Aidan would stare at Justin, then throw a knife despite the tall marker. Justin would then score. Aidan was finding his length, and the Justinater was catching everything thrown at him.

Our crossover was against Dischunters, another ironman squad with the imposingly tall Gaz. For reasons unknown, the rest of their fairly short squad chose not to throw to said tall player - leaving the managable task of closing down their smaller guys. This we did - leaving us to compete for the plate.


Our plate semi final was against our previous foes Trigger Happy. They came out probably expecting to beat us again, but by now the Aidan / Justin combination was on fire, scoring for fun, and our "do nothing" D was biting hard. With Sarahs useful support from the sideline we ground then down and came out comfortably on top. Mike was finding more acute angles to break the force, and Jim was taking the slack from my lapses into exhausted delusion.


Improbably we enterered the plate final against Flyght club on the big pitch. This time we knew not to let the good girl go unguarded, and that the curly haired one might go for late game athletics. And so it came to pass. The game was not wonderful for spectators, but appeared to end after another heroic take from Justin. A foul was called and we calmly scored at the other end to take the Plate.


I have to thank everyone involved for what turned out to be a great weekend. Special thanks to Sarah for watching us when she would have been wanting to play.


David









Angels A at Nationals, Bath, March 2005

We all eventually arrived on Friday night at the Hotel St Clair, run by a guy taken directly from the League of Gentleman. We sensed that this hotel was only for “local people.” Unfortunately, the hour was late so it was an early night in preparation for the next day.

We arrived at Bath’s University campus, driving past the spangly new Sports Training Village and settled in the rather less spangly Sports Hall. Ultimate is clearly not high on the pecking order in Bath sports either (sigh). Upon reading the pool allocation, it was clear Bristol Old Gits had done themselves a favour with an easy pool, whilst we faced a substantially tougher one. This was borne out later in the tournament, when 3 out of the 4 semi-finalists were all drawn from our pool. Still, we hoped to make an impression so on to game one,


Game One v Hulltimate

Hull, a good team on their day, looked just as promising this weekend. We traded points early on, as both teams got their feel for the endzones. After a couple of their knives beat us we wised up and were more aware, and several D’s later they stopped that tactic. We had fought our way back level by this point and scores were traded throughout the last quarter of the game. With about 2 minutes to go, teams were tied, with both having opportunities to take the win. Ultimately (no pun intended), neither team did, and it was probably the fair result. A reasonable start against a team destined for the top 8.

Game 2 v Slippery When Wet

This team of Loughborough people minus the galacticos were definitely a force to be reckoned with, but perhaps not to the degree that we realised. They looked hungrier for every disc, rarely threw away, and tired us out with long spells of possession. Nerves and tempers (!) started to fray and we lost our shape and cool. In the end, we lost out by about 5 or 6. Duncan gave us a dressing down after the game and we vowed to come back stronger.

Game 3 v Kamaya Maya

The Stourbridge team came out hard, ran hard, threw well, kept possession, worked hard on D and generally outplayed us. We had had barely half an hour since the previous game, and it showed, as cuts were not coming hard or fast enough and discs slipped by our fingers. We went down by about 8, which was probably a fair result against a team who lost in sudden death in the final.


Game 4 v Discology

3 games into our Nationals dream, and still no victory. Something had to give, and it gave against Discology. This team were characterised by one guy with his head a good foot above everyone else, and one guy who could be technically classified as a midget. Little and large fought hard, but we were far too good, Duncan and Matt providing some killer discs to the endzone. Si was constantly gearing us up to get our points difference up, and we walked out deserved victors. Finally, we had registered that all important first victory, and left ourselves in with a shout at a top 4 spot.


Hooray – promotion to the Sports Training Village and some of the best Ultimate pitches imaginable.


Game 5 v BAF

The eventual tournament winners had a wealth of tall, experienced and generally very good talent available to them. We knew that we had to beat them to be in with a chance of the semi-finals, and we gave it our best shot. As with Kamaya Maya, this was just not quite enough. Disc after disc was plucked with seeming ease from just above our flailing fingertips. We put a couple of early points on the board, after realising too quickly that knives were a no-no, and for a while we dreamed of glory. But alas, dreams of glory had finally evaporated.


Game 6 v BLT2

It was back to business for this tie, as we still had two group games to go, and we showed our superiority against this second string side. They were young and fit, and ran us hard, but some lovely ISO play between Duncan and Paddy, plus a general all round composure, saw us put in our best performance of the day, and we won by about 10.


Saturday night involved a trip into Bath to the Java Restaurant, where we had very nice Indonesian cuisine washed down with a few Tigers. Afterwards, some of us went on to the “party pub”, which was probably the biggest exaggeration of all time, since there was just one other team there. We did take about a tenner out of their quiz machine though – ha – that’ll show ‘em.


Game 7 v Disconduct

Tired and sore despite a relatively quiet night (Duncan and Justin excluded – trespassing on the Roman Baths and a dogmeat kebab), we took to the field against a fresh-faced team of Dischunters. Boosted by the return of Si Barry, we knew that victory only against this team would likely put us in the top 8, and crossing over against a weaker team. This game was reminiscent of the Hull game, very tight, very hard running. No team was ever more than one point up I believe, and it was always going to be a grandstand finish. With less than a minute on the clock, we squandered possession, and they kept a cool head to score the point that condemned us to any narrow defeat.


Crossover v BLT1

This was our last possible chance to make top 8, but due to poor results earlier, we were crossing over against a much higher seeded team. Their dominance showed through, and we lost. I can’t actually remember any of the details of this game. Or indeed if it was BLT1. Probably best forgotten.

Plate Quarter Final v Top Shelf Sleaze

Knowing that we were destined for the bottom half, we set our sights on meeting our counterparts, the Whiplashed Angels, in the Plate Final. First of all came Top Shelf Sleaze, a bunch of guys from Scotland who had worn shirts and bow ties all weekend and were generally a good laugh. Another incredibly close game saw ISO point being traded for ISO point – their play just as unstoppable as our lethal Paddy – Dunx combo. Once again, it went to the wire, with scores tied at the hooter. No draws allowed here though, so sudden death ensured. Watching this from the sideline was agony. We had possession, and surely had to score or they would punish us. A pacy disc to the corner bobbled out of our hands. Disaster! They worked it up the pitch, their handler threw the killer blow, a deadly knife to the corner. Their giant endzone man reached high, but to no avail, as it sailed over his outstretched hand. We lived to breathe another day. Working it up the pitch, the disc is popped to hand, but the catch is rushed and again it’s a turnover. This continued for what must have been 4 minutes, until we had finally squandered one chance too many. Once again, we had been denied by the smallest of margins, and the plate dream was no more.


Penultimate Game v BLT2

There was little but pride to play for now, but we were still gonna give it a good go. We played the BLT2 guys again, and once again showed we were the better team with a dominant display.


Final Game v Discology

On the enlarged pitch we got to show off our skills to the (few) watching fans. Having beaten these guys comfortably before, we did it again, even at half pace. More than anything, this game showed how we deserved to be in much higher position, as we ran out comfortable winners.


So final position 13th. Perhaps a little disappointing. We could have done better certainly, and events such as a tough draw and unlucky breaks transpired against us. However, excuses are not enough, and inspiration can be drawn from the Whiplashed Angels, who despite playing Ironman for 99.9% of the tournament, deservedly walked away with the plate. Congratulations guys. If you’re still not satisfied with my justification for finishing 13th, just think, it we were playing football and were 13th in the country, we would be playing for Birmingham FC and earning £20,000 a week. Maybe one day Ultimate will be like that….


Cheers for a great weekend


Gonzo