The team is in very good hands

Week 3 Match Report - 13.02.15

UK vs Portugal

After a bye week for all national teams, the UK were back in action today in Portugal. The team was virtually unchanged from the starters who defeated Colombia 2 weeks ago, the only exception was the return of Superstar TE Stewart Leonard to the lineup.

The UK received the KO to start the game. Corey McMillian was sacked on the 1st play of the drive but he quickly recovered his composure and marched the team down the field for the opening score of the day, a 6 yard TD to Leonard. The UK defense held Portugal in check on their 1st drive, but Portugal opted to pass on a 4th and 3 when they were 23 yards from the endzone, the resulting incompletion led to them failing to score any points on their opening drive. It took the UK just 3 plays on their 2nd drive to score again, McMillian spotted that WR Rory Gardiner had outpaced his coverage and spiralled a brilliant pass for a 77 yard TD. The UK defense once again forced Portugal to punt and the UK took over at the halfway line. 2 passing plays later and Gardiner ran into the endzone for his 2nd TD of the day and the team's 3rd. At the end of the 1st quarter the UK led 21-0.

McMillian was sluggish at the start of the 2nd quarter and only completed 1 pass from 6 attempts, leading to the UK punting the ball back to their opponents. The Portuguese offense finally clicked as they drove 83 yards up the field to open their account for the day. The UK D gave up a few big pass plays on the drive, and they hoped to be able to hold Portugal to a FG when DL Marcus Millar sacked the QB 10 yards out from the endzone. However, QB Faria found Aguilar in space to score a 16 yard TD. The UK responded quickly and scored again on their next drive, they stormed up to the 1 yard line and McMillian threw the ball up where only Leonard's monster frame could make the catch for a short TD. Not to be totally outdone, the Portuguese showed they were masters of the 2 minute drill and scored their 2nd TD of the day with just 32 seconds remaining on the game clock. The teams went in the locker rooms for halftime with the score at 28-14 in the UK's favour.

The 3rd quarter saw the UK essentially kill off the game and demoralise their opponents. Portugal stalled on their opening drive of the 2nd half and the UK offense took advantage to score their 5th and 6th TDs of the game. The score was 42-14 at the end of the 3rd quarter.

Portugal scored for a 3rd time at the beginning of the 4th quarter but still trailed by 21 pts with time running out. Panic set in and the Portuguese failed to score again. The UK went on to score their final TD of their game; Stewart Leonard's 5th; to wrap up a convincing victory for the UK.

The UK offense performed to a very high standard once again. McMillian recorded another impressive QB rating (142.53) from 603 yards, 7 TDs and no INTs. However, the OL was a bit shaky today. The Portuguese DL are good but not spectacular, so it is disappointing that the UK offensive linemen allowed their QB to be sacked once and pressured 5 times, they will be expected to perform better in the next game. Steward Leonard returned to the team and took all the headlines, he scored 5 TDs with a longest of 77 yards and posted 240 yards with 10 receptions from 16 targets. Rory Gardiner also had a stellar performance and was the UK's go to player, as fellow WR Jacob Barratt wasn't targeted once. Gardiner racked up 323 receiving yards and had an impressive 75% completion ratio (12 of 16), he also scored 2 TDs.

No picks for the UK defense today, but the DL played well. Simon Thomson recorded 4 pressures and Marcus Millar recorded 1 sack and 2 pressures. LB Brian Taylor also recorded a pressure for the 2nd game in succession. The UK secondary did give up some big passes today, as well as 3 scores but they held their opponents when they had to which allowed the UK offense to increase the lead time and again.

The UK never trailed in the game and put in a good performance to record their 3rd win of the qualification campaign. France beat Slovakia 63-28 in the other group F game today which means the UK sit in 1st place at 3-0 with the next team being on 1-1. Next week the UK face Slovakia for their 4th game of the qualifiers.

Final Score: UK 49 Portugal 21


Last edited on 2015-02-13 at 17:52

Going very well!

Just seen Seb Abrahams is on the transfer market. I've put on a bid.

Renegade wrote: Going very well! Just seen Seb Abrahams is on the transfer market. I've put on a bid.

Yeah Brodie Parkes is on the market as well.

mrcasado wrote: Renegade wrote: Going very well! Just seen Seb Abrahams is on the transfer market. I've put on a bid. Good, he needs a good home He was my youth pull

He's a renegade now. Which means porter is available