Victory sail on as Pirates sink

The Chatham Victory chalked up their first series win in franchise history defeating the Fumblesauraus Rex in 5 games, to set up a conference final showdown with the bitterest of rivals, the Stevenage Beef.

It was identified beforehand that rebalancing the special teams would be key to winning the series and Chatham did just that outscoring the Rex 7-4 on the powerplay. In fact the Victory outplayed the Rex in almost every significant statistical category. GMS Buff revealed his team strategy

"We knew that it would be almost impossible to contain their top line of Horton, Richards and Penner so I asked Daniel, Jonathan and Jakub to simply keep pace with them and let the depth of our roster take care of the rest"

The evidence suggests that the tactics paid dividends. The Rex top line combined for 22 points and a +6 rating, the Victory 19 points and +4. Beyond that match-up a further six players paced at a point per game for the Victory, the Rex had none.

Buff, however, cautions against expecting more of the same against the Beefs

"GM Beef has built a more balanced roster and so we cannot simple rely on our depth to outmatch them further down the lines"

He would let on no more of his plans to exploit any chinks in Stevenage's armour. Nor would he confirm rumours that some of the Pirates star players are set to move up to the pro roster for the remainder of the play-offs

"I think it is fair to both our opponents and to those already on the roster that we allow them the opportunity to take us as far as they can, they got us here after all"

The Pirates fell to a "surprise" 4-1 series defeat to the Garden Red Roses in the farm though Buff does not see it that way

"We finished the season in terrible form, the polar opposite to the Roses. I warned against complacency and it was not heeded. We will address this over the summer"

Buff's comments left doubts over the future of Coach Andy Murray who has overseen 4 first round exits in 5 seasons.