AMERICAN FOOTBALL: Galaxy continue London gloom

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

BY NICK HALLING

Problems continue to build for the London Monarchs, who fell to their third home defeat of the season when they were beaten 27-7 by Frankfurt Galaxy before a crowd of 9,000 at White Hart Lane last night.

Despite the fact that they were well beaten, the early signs had been encouraging for the home side, who scored with ease on their first possession, the quarterback Brad Johnson throwing a three-yard pass to Phil Bryant.

However, one of London's concerns this season has been their inability to hold on to the ball, and despite the fast start, old problems continued to haunt them. Johnson fell away horribly, finishing the game with four interceptions. The player allocated to the London Monarchs from the NFL's Minnesota Vikings struggled to establish his rhythm in the face of a determined Galaxy pass rush.

Throw in a couple of fumbles and a failure to convert a fourth down and the Monarchs made it virtually impossible for themselves. The defeat drops London to 0-1 in the second half of the season, and their prospects for qualifying for next month's World Bowl are remote.

The Frankfurt running back Craig Thomas enjoyed his most productive day of the season, rushing for over 130 yards. However the damage was done by quarterback Paul Justin. The Indianapolis Colt player threw scoring passes to Mario Bailey and Bob Brasher, then Thomas completed the scoring with a six-yard run.

The only positive note was the size of the crowd. Despite being down considerably from the 40,000 throngs of four years ago, some 9,000 turned out on a Monday night, allaying some of the World League executives' worst fears.

However, it looks as if the Monarchs will continue to struggle this season. Their inability to stop the run has been a serious concern throughout, and with four games remaining time is running out.