Horsham's hardship in the 4NCL rds 7 and 8

The online 4NCL is a series of matches on Tuesday evenings between teams across the country. Its one of the biggest chess competitions ever.

In round 7 we were up against West is Best 2, one of the top two teams in our group who had beaten everyone else comfortably. Unfortunately, we didn't fare well with the team going down 4-0.
First to go was Marian whose queen's pawn opening led to an equal middlegame that his much higher rated opponent managed to get the better of him tactically with rooks taking over the 7th to spell a quick end. Second to go was Richard on 3, his opponent was again much higher rated and played a very aggressive advanced line against the Caro-Kann to bring Richard down. Third to finish was me on board 1, my opponent played a tricky line against my King's Indian with Ne2-g3 combined with h4-h5 that I didn't handle well enough. Last to finish was Chris on board 2, in a Giuoco Pianissimo that was anything but quiet, unfortunately after some fireworks his opponent had won a pawn and in a rook and knight endgame managed to convert.
Full results: http://www.4nclresults.co.uk/2019-20/online/7/3/export/#t15

After round 7 we had finished playing the other 7 teams in our group and in the final 3 rounds we had to play against 3 teams that were on a par with our team.
In round 8 we were up against Catford Cosmonauts 2. Disaster struck straight away as Richard couldn't log in due to a technical issue so not only did we lose board 4 but we had a 1 game point penalty, effectively rendering us 2-0 down to start. Second to finish was Nick on board 3 whose queen pawn opening got decidedly tactical and Nick nabbed a piece. Not content with being a piece up Nick went on an attack against the king that netted the full point in short order. Next to finish was me on board 2, my opponent played a c3 Sicilian that managed to grad some space leaving me a bit cramped. After some accurate play by my opponent my cramped position was getting worse and worse, with a bit of desperation I tried to complicate matters only for this to backfire and for my opponent to win a nice game. Last to finish on board 1 was Dix, whose English was met by a King's Indian and a middlegame full of fireworks. These tactical shots went right through until both players were down to a minute and Dix held his nerve to clinch the win.
Final score Horsham 1 - 2 Catford Cosmonauts 2
Full results: http://www.4nclresults.co.uk/2019-20/online/8/3/export/#t7