Week 5 - Claymores 16 Admirals 13

WEEK 5 - CLAYMORES 16 ADMIRALS 13
	Amsterdam, City of Sin became Amsterdam, City of Schlosser thanks to the efforts of Trench Crew Ton, who sacrificed a good Friday night out (see ClaymoresFTP.com) to instead go on a beer hunting mission in Germany. Much appreciated!
	And also much appreciated was the BBQ laid on by that other Trench Crew scallywag Ross. The food was great of course (don't believe the faces in the picture) - but even better was the guarantee of an Admirals loss which happens every time Ross throws a BBQ! Nice one!
	Some mascot violence threatened to spoil the party however and it was pretty much all our fault. Here Shuggie puts the boot in to the Duck! Call it the frustrations of the road ...
	Pre-game was a chance to catch up with the Doctor, thankfully back out on the road again after the Frankfurt faux pas. The incredible horror of his absence was only confirmed to us here. It was the first ever Claymore game he EVER MISSED. As far as we can think nobody else ever has attended every game - so the Doc in our eyes is still #1!
	Uh-oh. Who's that imitating presence looming over the ArenA balcony? Why it's none other than Big Bad Bill Maas - the Cheddarhead nemesis. In a nutshell, we've had our run ins with the Maas man through the years, and we've still to cheddar the ex-Chiefs lineman. Scroll down to see what happened ...
	And the Mad Hatter was back in Amsterdam again this week! This week a shortage of plastic tulips forced a slight audible at the airport but we still think its top notch. Best bit is the little wooden fence at the front - great for hanging your banner off, though Roy disagreed ...
	Amsterdam were led by ex Claymore Kevin Daft. It was nice of Kevin's wife Kesa to come and say hi pre-game. (The two of them got married in St. Andrews). He started well in 2002, but the offense has struggled the last couple of weeks (through no fault of his). First drive summed this up - Kevin moves the team, but a pass in the flat is tipped by the RB and Tony Ortiz picks it off and takes it back into Dutch territory.
	But the O couldn't cash Ortiz's pick into a TD, instead settling on a 42 yard FG from Lawrence Tynes who's proving to be a solid kicker so far. (He did miss a 4 pointer later when the Admirals were offside but the refs incredibly called false start on us and he never got a re-kick as we punted) CLAYMORES 3-0
	The Duck gets his revenge by having a 1st half snack! But there was a Duck in this game that we would finally break ...
	Coach D looking to break his road losing streak, suddenly discovers he's drinking from Tomsula's spit cup by mistake! The Admirals responded with another solid drive, but they too are in a TD drought, and had to settle for a 22 yd FG from Joe O'Donnell. CLAYMORES 3-3
	Here's the Trench Crew and Hell of Shame viewed from the other side of the stadium through the Arena fog. Ross has his arms and looks a little pi**ed off. Niki is trying to order some beer. Ton appears to have something green growing out his head. And Michael looks like he's checking out a girl!
	Mike Deal lets the O-line hear it - but to be honest these guys played great in the Arena, given some of the awful performances we've seen in this noisy stadium before. No sacks allowed and only a sprinkle of penalties. Much improved on last week and last year!

	Whisper twisted and turned his way to his first 100 yard day as a Claymore and it was much deserved. On a 2nd Q drive he carried 5 times in 6 plays for 34 yards to set up another FG - this time from Rob Hart (who'd never won in this stadium in 3 previous tries). CLAYMORES 6-3
	Our D was hard hitting all day. Here Willie Gary lays the wood out on Admirals RB Morgan Kane and loses his helmet in the process. We managed to put the top 2 Admirals RB's out the game, as well as Daft for a few plays at the end of the first half.
	Offense finally got untracked this week. Dreisbach finally looked like he was healthy and had a pretty solid game throughout. We completed 50% of our passes and averaged over 10 yards a completion!!!
	After Dreisbach hit McCready for a big 27 yard catch just before the half, we thought we had a TD when Whisper darted in from 2 yards. But a dubious false start was called (TV replays don't show) and we ended up having to ... (drum roll please) ... settle for another FG! Rob slotted a 25 yarder. CLAYMORES 9-3 (HT)
	Halftime - time to meet the Maas man ... The full story appears in this weeks First Down. Simply put there was one hungry FOX commentator that needed to be fed and we searched the bowels of the Arena to get the man some nosh ...
	In a race to make the 2nd half kickoff we even ended up in some kitchens trying to get the man some food. Eventually some brown slop n' rice from the Admirals post game meal sufficed and we raced back to the booth and laid our offering at the door ...
	WOULD YOU LIKE SOME CHEDDAR WITH THAT SIR???
	Getting Maas was an unexpected triumph and ranks up there with the best of them. This was 3 years in the making! And we didn't suffer any physical violence because of it either! So what if he calls us Packers fans!
	Rafael Cooper had a big game for the Admirals with 242 all purpose yards (130 yards rushing). His running helped set up a 3rd quarter FG from the Admirals. However after he got loose for 43 yards early in the 4th Q he limped off and didn't return. CLAYMORES 9-6
	The Admirals ass in the air belongs to Kenyon Hambrick, and the officials ruled that he broke the plane with the ball and gave Amsterdam a TD. It was the Admirals first offensive TD in 3 games. Could we end our drought also? ADMIRALS 13-9
	What's this? Claymores in the end zone? That's a TOUCHDOWN! Dondre Gilliam turned on the jets and sped past Kory Blackwell and hauled in a 41 yard TD bomb from Dreisbach. CLAYMORES 16-13
	Whoever Dondre is giving thanks to, we'd like to add our gratitude too. It was our first TD on offense since Fontana's in Dusseldorf in Week 2 - 11 long quarters ago!
	Preston's hunch to dust off the "Touchdown Scotland" banner from 2 years ago, looked foolish but paid off! After an Admirals punt, we failed to run out the clock, and gave them one more chance ...
	Thanks to the slightly silly NFLE rules, Joe O'Donnell lined up for a 54 yard FG that would win the game (why reward the offense for moving less distance down the field?) Being a Steeler allocate with the surname O'Donnell we felt fairly confident as the kick went up on its way ...
	NO GOOD! The Mad Hatter's face says it all!
	Cue mass celebrations from the almost 100 strong travelling Tartan Army. Some fans had been to 9 or 10 road games without a win so this was special. It was special for us. After being to every loss on the road of this streak it was extra sweet to see the duck broken. Winning the World Bowl could not feel better than this!
	Two guys that bounced back - Scott and Gene! McCready made some nice grabs and pumped the fans up pre-game. Gene got his first road win and got to flash his trademark smile for the first time in weeks!
	Dondre Gilliam was the TD hero. He's been the big play guy since camp and if one guy was going to get into the end zone from long range it was him. He seems to have an uncanny ability to make the spectacular grab. We need more of these in the 2nd half of the season!
	Ian Allen and Big Mac were in good spirits after the game. We'll award them top marks for their performance!
	Sadly ex Claymore Jim Stull wasn't in as good mood as the apparent politics of allocate vs. free agent are conspiring to keep #71 on the bench for the Admirals. It's a real shame.
	Good job Coach! But as he knows there's still a an awful lot of work to be done in the 2nd half of the season if it is to be salvaged! We
	Finally we decided to celebrate by sneaking on the field in the Arena - no mean feat considering the moat that surrounds it! That's us now done a complete set of field sneakies in the league!
	The next day, Preston was so chuffed with our cheddaring of the Maas man that he decided to open up his own catering business...