Week 4 - Claymores 10 Galaxy 14

WEEK 4 - CLAYMORES 10 GALAXY 14
	And so it was back to the Cambridge Bar on Saturday night to resurrect the great tradition of fan parties!
	It's a time to reacquaint yourself with old friends!
	And then dance silly! Further evidence of this can be seen at ClaymoresFTP.com Gregor's Web Site We
	After a hard night, the best cure for a hangover is a round of pre-game sneakies at the Murrayfield Hotel! It was great to be back at the Murrayfield Hotel on a super sunny Edinburgh Sunday.
	Among the Galaxy fans were 2 young ladies with nice t-shirts (a picture of 2 bare asses with the tag "We love the Scottish Tradition"). It took some time, but Preston first deduced the asses belonged to the Cheddarheads! Then the hard part was working out who was who! We won't tell you how we figured it out!
	Then all the Triple-Headers started to turn up! These guys were in Amsterdam on Friday, Dusseldorf on Saturday and Edinburgh Sunday, matching our feat from 1998. We know Garbage knows his football - but predicting the number of first downs the Claymores were going to get is ridiculous!
	Velcro too, seemed confident of 3 first downs also. Or maybe it was an order for the bar!
	The other half of the Trench Crew Teflon, was a little more subdued! Just thinking about the Claymores offense is enough to send anybody to sleep!
	Last but not least - The Mad Hatter, who scaled new heights with his behemoth effort this week! Roy got to do the coin toss at the first game in Amsterdam, and made the cover of First Down this week for doing so. However it looks like his picture was upstaged ....
	By another Sean Ryan masterpiece instead. This one was entitled "Cheerleader of the Week" and bizarrely graced Page 23 of First Down. Sadly the picture was one of Shuggie and not an actual cheerleader! Just to state for the record - Shuggie has NEVER missed a flight (although he's flown to the wrong airport on occasion ...)
	The Photo Session got interrupted by Scott Wilson, who must be in desperate need of mates these days, as he summoned us up on stage again - to make another incorrect match prediction among other things. Preston gave a shout out to the tripleheaders, despite Scott insisting it was the following week it was taking place!
	This was the touchdown of the day.
	NFL Europe is quirky. We borrowed Ken Mastrole, the Admirals #3 QB, for a week as injury cover. But he flew back to Amsterdam on Monday to rejoin the Admirals who we play this week. We can only hope he has learnt our intricate offense and teaches it to the Admirals!
	Doc "The Doctor" Wilson was back so we figured that might be the lucky charm we needed but alas it wasn't enough. Another player did get temporarily hurt though, so Scott Wilson showed his DJ'ing skills by having "Doctor, Doctor" cued up in record time!
	Ever wondered why we can't complete passes any more? Just who is Scott chucking too? We did get our completion rate up at one stage by hitting 3 straight passes for the total of 1 yard ... But that's enough picture of our offense. They don't deserve any more coverage!
	This game would have been a lot more comfortable for the Galaxy if the magic boot of Ola Kimrin hadn't intervened. We actually tried to jinx Ola last week in Frankfurt when he sounded a little cocky to us about this week. Guess it worked as he missed all his 3 attempts - including this one that was blocked by Yubrenal Isabelle in the 1st Q.
	The Galaxy did get a TD in the 1st half when WR Brian McDonald squeezed in on a 13 yard TD from Joe Hamilton. GALAXY 7-0
	Defensive Coordinator Ray Woodward lets off some steam at the defense. Sure they missed quite a few tackles on the day, and weren't as sharp as previous weeks,. but it's tough to play 35-40 minutes on the field every week! They still haven't given up more than 17 points in any games so far this year.
	Lawrence Tynes saved the Claymores from getting shut out in the first half with a 42 yard FG. It was set up by a Dreisbach 26 yard run, that padded the Claymores stats to 48 yards offense at the half! GALAXY 7-3 (HT)
	Poor Kevin Gogan. The ex NFL lineman (once voted the dirtiest player in football) gets to come over and commentate on 2 games and he gets to see the Claymores offense 2 straight week stink the joint out! We did 'cheddar' Kevin by the way - picture evidence will arrive soon ...

	Our D didn't get as much pressure on Hamilton this week, and when they did he got away. Here Flick has Joe pinned for a sack, but alas "In the Grasp" is no more a rule, and Houdini Hamilton squirted out for a 1st down run. Flick did have a good day however, 5 tackles and a sack and was named National of the Week. But he was pretty mad after the game about not getting this 2nd sack!
	The D was always more likely to score, and our prayers were answered when Scott Shields stole a wobbly Hamilton pass and criss crossed the field for a 48 yard TD to give us a shocking lead. Could we hold on? CLAYMORES 10-7
	In a word - no. Jamal Fobbs pulls in this 14 yard TD from Hamilton to seal a 10 play 89 yard drive. That's more yards on one drive than we managed the whole game! Our offense never threatened to change the score after that. GALAXY 14-10 (FINAL)
	The final stats say it all 62 total yards 27 yards passing (later upgraded to 28) 3 first downs All league records. And we thought we had bottomed out in Germany!
	Many have called for the coach's head after Sunday. We are different. We just place a lump of foam cheese on his head (and his wife Toni), and wish him good luck for next week. We can't see how any mid-season change would be beneficial. We still possess the blind faith that the good times are a coming!!!
	Of course we only say "Gene Must Stay" after we tried to anoint Ray Woodard as the new head coach and he turned us down! Apparently Ray has a fear of press conferences, and so wouldn't appreciate the post match grilling from the Scottish Press!
	First Down's Richard is slowly coming round to the idea of Claymores football. It's often not pretty, we generally lose, and we like to drink. Rich had it easy this week, with Colvin on IR. However we were sadly disappointed that he didn't fall for our trick of getting the beers in, in order to make him miss his flight. Maybe next time!
	Since the offense has long been dismantled we decided to try and rebuilt it somehow. It remains a work in progress!
	After a tough loss, Claymores fans have been known to loot, pillage and vandalize. Here Dom was the unlucky target, as her chest got vandalized with graffiti! We believe it says "FTP Shuggie #1". We still have no clues who did this mindless act. Lothian Police are still looking into it.