After an absence from last year's Nationals, Brixton Angels were taking not one but two teams to Reading in an attempt to qualify for the Indoor Nationals.

Angels 1: Si Brasse; Si Barry; Kim; Gonzo; Matt; Dunx; Aidan; Kenee; Kathy

Arriving in Reading with enough time to warm up was a strange feeling, but Barry evened it out by stretching out as we started our third point of the first pool game.

Pool Game 1 vs Brighton 2

We came out fighting against the bottom seed in our pool. There were some rather fractious moments in the first 10 minutes, with a number of calls going this way and that, including one point where Gonzo caught the disc in the end zone three times before the score was given. We eventually pulled away to take the victory by 4 points.

Angels 7 – 3 Brighton 2

Pool Game 2 vs HFC

HFC comprised mostly beginners, and it showed as we dished out a lesson in clinical finishing. The ISO play was working well, and when Matt laid out into the curtain we knew we were home and dry.

Angels 10 – 1 HFC

Pool Game 3 vs Woof

We started slowly in this match against a fired-up Woof, but kept pace with them and at about 4 – 2 to them, we suddenly stepped it up a gear. Matt and Kim were everywhere – laying out and putting some sweet discs in for a score. Woof only got one more point and we ran out deserved winners.

Angels 7 – 5 Woof

Pool Game 4 vs Mexican Horse Bandits

The eventual tournament winners were fast, efficient and aided by some at times comical mistakes by Angels. The pick of the bunch has to be Si Barry offloading a dump pass straight to the opposition. Well, they did have dark shirts on.

Angels 5 – 12 Mexican Horse Bandits

Pool Game 5 vs Discuits

Discuits were up for this game, but so were we – not wanting to get hung up on our poor performance in the last game. We ran hard from start to finish, and claimed a comfortable win.

Angels 7 – 3 Discuits

So, 4 wins from 5 games summated to a fairly successful day. Best of all, we were finished and showered before the 3pm, so the local pub provided beer, food and a sterling performance by a certain Johnny

Wilkinson.

Later, we had Italian food and Australian beer until the early hours…

SUNDAY

Pool Game 6 vs Fever

The 8.50 start was horrible. The loss of Matt and Duncan (partly offset by the addition of Kathy) didn't help either, and Fever outplayed us in this game. It was all over in a blur, and time to regroup for the last pool game.

Angels 3 – 7 Fever

Pool Game 6 vs Curve

Curve had been the surprise package, only losing one game on the Saturday. We refused to get complacent, and showed how lethal we could be when we put our minds to it. They never got close to our end zone and the Angels dished out a bagelling.

Angels 9 – 0 Curve

Quarter-Final vs MFS

So we'd finished 2nd in the pool, 3rd seed overall, and were very unlucky to come up against MFS, who had come 3rd in their rather tough pool. MFS are ex-Sublime, and principally now Fire boys, who as you can imagine, are strong, fast and skilful. We fought hard, but they always had the edge on us and took the game with relative comfort. If we were to make Nationals, it was going to have to be the hard way.

Angels 4 – 8 MFS

Semi-Final vs Sublime

Nothing less than a win was needed to keep in with a chance of making Nationals. This game went point for point the whole way, no team getting more than two ahead. With 20 seconds on the clock, Angels led 7 – 6. All we needed to do was keep the disc. Did we? Of course not. A speculative huck to the end zone went down, and Sublime punted it up field with seconds remaining to send the game to sudden death. We had possession, and knew that all we needed to do was hold the disc until we were ready to score. Minutes passed whilst we casually tossed it between ourselves, probing for that opening to score. At such a tense time, there were always likely to be plenty of contentious calls. A contested stall out; contested out of bounds; travel were all called. Kim thought he had jumped in to score, but again we were denied. Disaster struck as we turned over, but some heroic D put us back in possession. Kim threw a (frankly terrible – sorry, you were awesome all game apart from that!) disc to Si Brasse who caught it in the end zone but it looked like it might have hit the floor first. Did it? Didn't it? One of the Sublime players called it up, and Brixton were rather controversially through to the "Game to Go."

Angels 8 – 7 Sublime

Game to go vs Mustard

It had been a long weekend. We were all tired. We made silly mistakes. Mustard were up for it – they played hard, exploited our tired (and considerably older) legs and kept possession well. The game was tight, but Mustard took it.

Angels 6 – 9 Mustard

So, after all of the blood, sweat and tears, we had not qualified for Nationals, finishing in 6th position overall. Everyone had given their all, but it proved to be not quite enough. Over the course of the weekend we had some awesome periods of play: sweet handling; hard cutting; layout grabs; huge Ds and a great team spirit. Consistency was probably what ultimately let us down, with disappointing moments in several key games where elementary mistakes were made. However, MFS may not be taking their place at Nationals, and you can bet that if we sneak in the back-door, the Angels will be looking for some serious revenge!

Gonzo