The No. 10 Dallas Magpies (2-0) headed to Baton Rouge to take on the Tigers (0-2). What began as a pleasant morning with the sun burning off the cloud cover by the high noon kick off, ended up being a very hot and humid afternoon. A light southerly breeze that favored the golf course end fairly consistently throughout the match. Dallas won the toss and elected to kick with the breeze to the golf course end.

The contest was immediately an arm wrestle with neither ruckmen nor midfields able to win clean possesions out of the middle. A little inaccuracy from Dallas early kept it very close but the backlines did well on both sides in putting a lot of pressure on the forwards of both sides who found it hard to get an easy kick. A couple of late misses from contested marks to Muller of Baton Rouge could have put the home side up at the first change. As it was, Dallas was up 1.5 (11) to 0.4 (4).

In the second quarter kicking into the breeze Baton Rouge definitely had held their own. The presence of big Troy Redman rucking for Baton Rouge seemed to give the home team the toughness and leadership in the middle of the ground they had lacked in the first two games of the season. Breeze seemed to die a little in the second quarter with the game really played between the half backs. Kleinheinz for Baton Rouge prove a wall Dallas could not pass as his athletic marking showed why he is a promising type for the Revolution squad. For Dallas, Duncan Relf worked tirelessly with the help of Steve Moore. At times the Tigers seemed like they might kick away to a couple goal lead by half time but due to some loose checking up forward meant that Dallas were often able to relieve the pressure with some clean skills from full back. Only 2 points in it at half time. Dallas up 1.7 (13) to 1.5 (11).

As had happened in the third quarter in Baton Rouge last year the Magpies came out firing booting 3.4 for the quarter to 1.2 for the Tigers. Although it was still a very even contest across much of the game the Tigers had a tough time moving the ball across half forward resulting in most of the play in the Dallas half of the ground. The wind had freshened a little and to the credit of the Tiger defense again they managed to keep Baton Rouge in the game by not allowing the Magpie lead beyond 20 points. Ultimately the Pies lead by 16 points with 20 minutes to play. Baton Rouge were still a chance kicking with the breeze although given they had kicked 2 goals for the game the challenge of needing to double their score to win was a significant task.

The Tigers had their dream start with a quick goal to narrow the margin to 10 points. Dallas immediately replied with a major of their own which was again followed by another quick one to the Tigers to restore the 10 point margin. With plenty of time on the clock Baton Rouge had a real sniff. Baton Rouge who to their credit kept on fighting gaining crucial back to back goals to reduce the Pies margin to 4. With one last roll of the dice the Tiger midfield was able to win a clean possesion out of the middle. A couple of contested marks to Tiger half forwards saw a 35 yard shot on goal miss everything completely. Still the ball was deep in attack for the Tigers who had now pushed everyone forward in an all out attempt to steal their first win in over 12 months. A scramble across half forward somehow saw the ball spill free to Tiger Kleinheinz who was literally everywhere at this point in time. As he pumped the ball back towards goal a Tiger victory was very much a possibility but once again the determination of the Dallas defense was able to hold strong, harassing the ball to the safety of the boundary where the game would end.

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