Newent IX - Monday June 16th | Results: Page 6

[gdh82]

Congratulations Rob Swift, Newent Champion!

And to enjoy your title glory once more, have a look here...... 'Latest Tournament News'

ko-gathering.com/tournaments

[Robert Swift]

Another great tournament last night without Autoslides of any kind.... everyone happy with this.

There is now an interesting case of the slide-you-did-and-don't-want-to-own-up-to. I heard JB saying a couple of times "OMG Bounty Bob turned Autoslides back on!" and later "Argh!! Bounty Bob ffs!".

I hereby suggest that we refer to this kind of slide as a 'Bounty Bob' from now on. The slide that you know you did, and it was just stupid, and you could have blamed it on the AI before.

[Steve1977]

What another fantastic tournament! Had a fantastic time but combine the high intensity of Kick Off with the rising temperatures and it made for some very intense games!

First game for myself was against Rob and I knew after the previous tourney and the forum hijinks he would be gunning for victory and he was lethal! I was a tad rusty and couldn’t score for toffee but that was probably cause Rob was so ruthless and simply wouldn’t give me a look in.
By the time we played our second game I knew I had to win to prove my worth and if I won, I reckoned I would have a fine chance of winning the Newent trophy once again. For the first 2 minutes I was played great, attacking with gusto and defending galiantly but then disaster struck! I had a player sent off! Shit!
Even though I was losing 2-1 at the time I thought back to the previous Newent where I had a player dismissed and drew. So when I got the score back level I thought I may have some good fortune but then Rob just obliterated me with some fine attacking. Although I scored a fantastic goal at the end…it wasn’t enough.

After my first game with Rob it was time to play 4Fries and he’s certainly coming on leaps and bounds I have to say. Although our scores would indicate some superiourity it was only through Nicks defensive errors that I would capitalise. The same error I would perform in my game against James!
In that first game though it was 1-0 to Nick with 3 minutes gone! I simply couldn’t score and was facing a possibility that I’d go through the entire night without scoring! Lol
Our second game was a goodun, lots of great attacking and whilst Nick was getting into good positions in the first game and there wern’;t going in. For the second game he was scoring some crackers. Really fine executed moves.

I think it was Martin up next for me and our games were I N T E N S E!!! With the score deadlocked at 3-3 in the first game, I failed to execute a kick off routine which was the only was I’d scored in the game (bar the first goal) and going around in my head was ‘you should have scored, you’v lost the chance’ but then with Martin’s defender going awol I had a small window of opportunity to score and duly slotted it home. But it was soooo difficult to win! I had to keep my nerve and just concentrate, concentrate and concentrate! Very funny during our second game when there was one moment where Martin’s grunts as he wielded his joystick were very loud! It was as if I was playing the Incredible Hulk! Lol In that returning game I thought I’d done enough to draw but unlike the first game which I’d managed to see out, Martin was the tougher mentally to get the win!

I’m struggling to remember the first game with James but when the final whistle went during that second game I was unsure who exactly had finished second…so was a bit relieved when I saw it was me, although I didn’t realise by just how little I scraped it! In the first half I had loads of opportunities but struggeled to slot them home and even went 1-0 down. But the second half was the direct opposite and a draw was a fair result.

Finally, in my games with Gaz I knew…I just knew we would drop points against each other! Hehe A pulsating 5-5 draw was our first but the drama which I’ll remember from the night is from the second game. Suffering fatigue and with my throat quite hoarse from the nights proceedings I resorted to dirty fouls to try and see the game out. But as we all know this results in a fair bit of injury time. So when Gaz equalised in the last seconds (even though he’d been winning for large portions of the game..I thought I was gonna steal it) I figured I’d have more chances to get the win….and I would have done had it not been for some of the best defending of the night! Twice he foiled me with some excellent precision and judgement.

Couldn’t argue with the result and indeed couldn’t argue about the results all night! Was superb that the league was incredibly close! At one stage there was 3 points (or less) separating the top 5! By half time I couldn’t believe that KOBRA was going to strangle the opposition but if we thought our prey had been consumed once more then we were mistaken. Rob continued his surge to the title and Martin did superbly to make it go to the last game! After not playing for so long and also with 4-3-3 this guy was lethal! With more tournaments under his belt he'l be unstoppable!
In a way, Rob’s performance reminded me of JonG’s at the last Kobra. I thought I’d be in with a shout but the standard was so high…well…it was difficult to get anything from the games really.

Cheers to James and indeed everyone for the night! Had a cracker!

[Bounty Bob]

There is now an interesting case of the slide-you-did-and-don't-want-to-own-up-to. I heard JB saying a couple of times "OMG Bounty Bob turned Autoslides back on!" and later "Argh!! Bounty Bob ffs!".

I hereby suggest that we refer to this kind of slide as a 'Bounty Bob' from now on. The slide that you know you did, and it was just stupid, and you could have blamed it on the AI before.

[Sid]

Did someone post something? I'm too busy looking at the previous tourney. (and feeling very full from 1 BigMac and 1 Legend - will go nice with a few trap and pass goals later

well done on Newent 8 Steve!!!!!

[Sid]

There is now an interesting case of the slide-you-did-and-don't-want-to-own-up-to. I heard JB saying a couple of times "OMG Bounty Bob turned Autoslides back on!" and later "Argh!! Bounty Bob ffs!".

I hereby suggest that we refer to this kind of slide as a 'Bounty Bob' from now on. The slide that you know you did, and it was just stupid, and you could have blamed it on the AI before.

well done on ur tournament win Swift....

[gdh82]

Another great tournament last night without Autoslides of any kind.... everyone happy with this.

I gather after playing a few pre-tourney games James asked Martin (who hadn't played since WC06 and hadn't been on the forum much either) if he could notice any changes to KO2, whether it 'felt' any different. Martin couldn't tell any difference whatsoever and said it felt exactly like the great game we all know and love.

There is now an interesting case of the slide-you-did-and-don't-want-to-own-up-to. I heard JB saying a couple of times "OMG Bounty Bob turned Autoslides back on!" and later "Argh!! Bounty Bob ffs!".

I hereby suggest that we refer to this kind of slide as a 'Bounty Bob' from now on. The slide that you know you did, and it was just stupid, and you could have blamed it on the AI before.

(After the recent forum heat, its great its now become another source of amusement! )

[gdh82]

So when Gaz equalised in the last seconds (even though he’d been winning for large portions of the game..I thought I was gonna steal it) I figured I’d have more chances to get the win….and I would have done had it not been for some of the best defending of the night! Twice he foiled me with some excellent precision and judgement.

Amazing KO2 moments these were - playing on the fly, moments of chaos and instinct!

What about when you fired in this scorching goal bound shot only for the keeper to dive cat-like to dip the ball on to the post, and your other striker to show lighting reactions to get in postition and pick up the pieces and score!!!! Did anybody suggest KO2 was in danger of becoming robotic ???

[gdh82]

Just wondered James, how did the team photo come out ?

[JamesHBeard]

Team Photos.. arse.. forgot to upload.. will do that tonight when I get the camera.

My review on Newent IX...

Games Versus..

Garry C
My first game of the night was versus Garry and I knew I was in for a tough game, following our battle royale at the UK Champs.
To my surprise my finishing was on top form and I scored two quality goals from my first two shots. Unfortunately for me, this led to a series of events that led to my demise.. firstly I think I went into cruise mode, not a wise idea against a battler like Garry, then Garry scored from a corner with a well practiced routine which upset me loads (must learn not to lose focus), this in succession boosted Garry and he soon started firing goals in from left right and center.. I just fell apart.. .very non-Beardlike behaviour... but Garrys win here was superb and much deserved, especially being 2 goals down so early on.

My 2nd game against Garry was a massive one for me as I did not want two defeats against anyone that night and knowing Garry would be confident of beating me again, I tried to raise my game. The match was very tough but the goal I scored to win the game was amazing, my finishing seems to be improving and this goal alone deserved victory for me.

Robert S
Why is it that I always do really well against the person who wins the league and then feck up against other players?
My first game against Robert was the 2nd game of the night for me, after suffering a heavy defeat against Garry, so it was already a make or break game I thought to myself.
As always with Robert games, there is always something special about them and this gave me enough reason to try to forget my early defeat and start again.
The game started off much as normal with us trading goals, but then one of Roberts players decided to fall over the ball and I ran up the wing and carried out an elite BLC move, which definately hit a nerve on Robert as he shouted out "I FRACKIN HATE BLCs" and along with the weird player behaviour of before, the two incidents broke his concentration, enough for me to gain the advantage required.
Knowing Robert hated BLCs I purposely went for another early in the 2nd half and scored it, shouting out "WONKA HAS BEEN TRAINING ME BLCs, WONKA TAUGHT ME WONKA TAUGHT ME.. BLC BLC BLC".. trying to add to the psycological advantage I had...
Final score a resounding win against the soon to be Newent Champion..

Our 2nd game was a totally dire episode, neither of us seemed to have enough willpower to win the game and no risks were being taken.. the final score being a low draw with hardly any shots at goal either end.. I do think both of us had chances to win in the last 10 seconds but neither of us could even manage that... really really poor game.. no idea why.

Nick H
Knowing that goal difference was going to be really important in this league, poor Nick had to suffer the onslaughts from everyone and for me, my 1st game against Nick saw me score 9 goals in a league game, for the first time in absolutely ages.. I was firing on all cylinders after my boost from winning against Robert.

Our 2nd game was completely different, Nick had already improved defensively from the 1st time I played him tonight and the final score showed it.. in fact Nick had improved loads and everyone was finding him a much tougher opponent by the 2nd round of games.. well done Nick.. keep up the training and you will start getting some points.

Martin B
LOL, what a great moment for me, to have my bro back playing KO2, despite him thrashing me in our first game...
Again, I think this was an over confidence scenario that caused my demise.. as I had stuffed him 5-0 in a pre tournament practice (he literally had 3 games before the league started, 1 against me and 2 against Nick.)
I loved Martin beating me as his amazing 433 abillity was showing through really clearly. The anti 532 goal moves he has got are really really really really tough to defend against and amazingly he seemed to have remembered all those routines and so he kicked my arse.
The 2nd game was much more of a normal fight between the Beards. I had the lead twice but could not hold off my brothers fight back and the draw was a fair result.

Steve E
Steve E games for me are now always sooo frackin hard its not something you want to have to do more than two times in one night. If you dont take your full effort to the game, you are going to lose basically.
The first game, Steve E pipped me to the post and won a real hard fought game, which I must admit I felt bad about as I think I deservered a draw but if you cannot finish your chances, you gotta pay the conseqences and that is how it turned out.

Our 2nd game was a 3rd place decider, Steve E needing a draw and I had to win to get 3rd place. The game ended in a draw and this was a fair result, both of us seemed exhausted from the league games (there was no relaxation games at all tonight) and both of us missed chances we would normally have taken.

Finishing 4th place in this league was good for me, especially as I was equal 3rd on points with the previous league winner and I had not lost to this months league winner during the night. I have never felt so drained after playing in a league as I did in this one.. I think everyone else felt the same way..

A GREAT TOURNAMENT !

[gdh82]

which definately hit a nerve on Robert as he shouted out "I FRACKIN HATE BLCs" and along with the weird player behaviour of before, the two incidents broke his concentration, enough for me to gain the advantage required.
Knowing Robert hated BLCs I purposely went for another early in the 2nd half and scored it, shouting out "WONKA HAS BEEN TRAINING ME BLCs, WONKA TAUGHT ME WONKA TAUGHT ME.. BLC BLC BLC".. trying to add to the psycological advantage I had...

I remember hearing all this during my match too!

Finishing 4th place in this league was good for me, especially as I was equal 3rd on points with the previous league winner and I had not lost to this months league winner during the night. I have never felt so drained after playing in a league as I did in this one.. I think everyone else felt the same way..

A GREAT TOURNAMENT !

Completely agree. The intensity of each match was tiring but all the more enjoyable for it. Got that carried away with events I even left my joystick behind and didn't realise until James' pm a couple of days after!

Although I perhaps anticipated a 5th place finish before the night started, I was nevertheless pleased to be so close to the mid-table pack!

[Robert Swift]

Garry you should take serious satisfaction from your development.

In Manchester, when you first turned up, you were cannon fodder. Since then you and Steve Evil have been getting better - he's the one that's attracted the most attention with his recent exploits, but you're following very close in his slipstream; rather like Waynie on the Motorway following very closely behind an HGV to save petrol.

On Monday night there was no obvious difference between your level and that of the other competitors. Instead of being hammered you were very much a competitor. Indeed your position at half time very much illustrates this.

Jon G himself used to be at the lower end of the UK elite spectrum; in many tournaments he finished slightly below myself, Steve C and the Beards. But then he went through an acceleration period and now seems marginally ahead. So, if you hang around in the pack, even at the lower end of it, take satisfaction from the fact you're IN the pack, and your time may come where you'll develop on through. I was very impressed by a couple of your finishes, actually. Certainly if you play regularly with the Newent group AS WELL as Kobra/Koohl, you give yourself every chance to 'do a Jon G'.

One thing however.....maybe you should consider moving to PBD? It takes a special kind of player to be elite without PBD. You either need to score goals that don't require PBD (like Spyros) or that are enhanced by NOPBD (like Gianluca, Sascha and Steve Evil). You're not doing either and a sprinkling of PBD could significantly enhance your chance-to-goal ratio.

[gdh82]

Cheers Robert!

Sounds cliched but I just try to be as good as I can be, without getting hung up on 'I must beat this guy', or 'this next match is a dead cert loss'. That way I can get 'stuck in' and still enjoy the thrill/fun of each battle! The balance to strike for me is for KO2 to remain good fun and at the same time to strive to improve my gameplay. I'm realistic enough to know I don't have the natural flair/skill of some but I know my strengths (corners! hehe) and besides KO2 has such depth that every dog has its day, imo!

Funny you should mention PBD 'cause Ive only recently been thinking about it anyway. On the one hand I'm sure PBD would open up new possibilities of scoring but I'm not sure if playing PBD will unsettle the few goals that I do score at the moment! I'm bound to have the short-term losses with no obvious gains. Still, as with any change in approach/tactic, I guess you've got to take the plunge and then experiment with it for a few tourneys at least before deciding whether to stick with it or not. Will think about it....