Sheffield Sabres 12 - 33 LJMU Fury (10/11/19)

The Sheffield Sabres and the LJMU Fury faced off at a chilly JMO Sports Park, with the Sabres wanting to bounce back from their opening week defeat to the Leeds Gryphons and the Fury looking to open their account with a win after an opening week bye. A delayed kick off disrupted both teams pre-game, but it did nothing to stop Mark Price taking the opening kick-off to the house after some great blocks, most notably by LB Raivo Koot and RB Joe Dorr.

The Sabres defence started in a similar vein, with Raivo Koot intercepting the LJMU quarterback on the sideline as he rolled out under pressure from DE Matt Graham. The offence then took to the field for the first time in the game, but similarly to the Leeds game, they came out of the blocks slowly, with LJMU forcing a 3-and-out. On the resulting punt, the snap went over the head of stand in punter Charlie Jones, giving the Fury excellent field position to start their next drive. They duly capitalised, scoring on a 1-yard TD pass and subsequently taking the lead with a successful PAT.

After another 3-and-out for the Sabres offence, the Fury drove the ball 11 plays from their own 16-yard line and took advantage of some blown coverage by the Sabres defensive backs to score on a 12-yard pass over the middle.

In response, the Sabres offence produced some of their best offensive play of the season so far, driving from their own 30, before a 17-yard pass from QB Mark Price to WR Tom Lovatt set Price up for a 3-yard touchdown run. A missed PAT for the Sabres made the score 13-12 to LJMU.

The Fury had a chance to extend their lead before half time, but missed a short field goal after a great stop on 3rd-and-short by the Sabres.

The Sabres defence began the second half exactly as they started the first, with stand-in defensive back Tom Lovatt getting the first of his two interceptions after an overthrown ball by the Fury quarterback.

The teams traded 3-and-outs before a poor punt under pressure gave LJMU another drive starting with excellent field position, which they again capitalised on with a 9-yard touchdown run by their quarterback.

More 3-and-outs followed as both defences got a foothold on the game, neither offence able to get the ball moving. Just as the Sabres offence began to get going again late in the third quarter with a string of quarterback sweeps, QB Mark Price was intercepted by the Fury defence and the defensive back returned it down the sideline, and only a great tackle by Price prevented it from going for 6.

The LJMU offence took to the field for the third time in the game with excellent field position, this time inside the Sabres 5-yard line. Their RB scored on a 3-yard touchdown run after a great push from their offensive line.

The Sabres defence had been on top of the LJMU offence for most the game, only allowing scores from excellent field position and only giving up a single long drive. The Fury added to their lead midway through the fourth quarter, when a deep ball by their QB was excellently batted down by Mark Price, but an unfortunate deflection allowed the ball to fall into another receiver’s hands in the corner of the end zone.

The game finished with the score 33-12 to the LJMU Fury, but there were lots of positives to be taken away from the game for the Sabres, on both sides of the ball. The Sabres now prepare for their first home game of the season, on Sunday 17thNovember against the Hallam Warriors, who are coming in to the game 1-1 after a win against the UCLan Rams and a heavy defeat against the early division leaders the Leeds Gryphons.

It is not one to be missed.