Week 9 Results

The top two continue on their merry way but five of the bottom six all win to really compact the table.

Claymore Athletic FC 1 v 3 The Fabulous Artisans
Final Fantasy XI 5 v 0 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Mega Buck Bandits 3 v 2 San Dimas High School
Real Muppets 2 v 0 Aardvark Abacus
The Cheese Makers 1 v 4 You Know Your Boston Rock FC
The Cow-Faced Juniors 7 v 3 York’s Returning Glory
The Dead Parrots 1 v 3 Athletico Phoenix
Trusted By Millions 3 v 2 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI

The Artisans will hold the top spot through the Cup weekend and then the international break. Clive must have thought he'd grabbed a share of the points as the Artisans defence backed away from Moussa Dembele and allowed him to shoot home with three minutes left but Adam Johnson's stoppage time goal and Martin Skrtel's clean keep Ben's team on the top of the pile. Trusted remain a single point behind after beating Fred by the odd goal in five. Hernandez 19th minute opener was equalised by Rafael van der Vaart, Edin Dzeko put Beef in front again but Alex Kolarov got Fred back on terms for a second time. This match also appeared to be drifting to a draw but Stephane Sessegnon was Beef's unlikely hero, heading home with a minute left.

There's a four point gap from second to third and that third-placed team is...Athletico Phoenix. Brian has hit these giddy heights on the back of Robin van Persie being the first player to 10 goals this season. A hat-trick from the dutchman too much for the Parrots this week, an industrial order of cotton wool has been delivered to Kingham to keep RVP wrapped up between games. Another lacklustre performance from the Aardvarks hold them back from a run on the top two. Two cleans brought a welcome win for the Muppets who are struggling to deal with the Carlos Tevez fallout. Ryan's team are still bottom but are only five points off the top half.

The CFJs hadn't won since week one but exploded this week and put seven past York's. With eight minutes to go it was balanced at 4-3 but Richard Dunne, Danny Graham (who'd also scored at the other end) and Grant Holt finished the job for Chris. Boston Rock are off and running now with a second straight win. This week's victims were the Cheese Makers with Juan Mata getting his first goal for Matthew after old stagers Terry and Lampard plus young guns Carroll and Sinclair had scored for Sheriff.

Mega Bucks picked up their second win of the season by holding off a San Dimas fight back. Dave was 3-0 to the good eight minutes into the second half and despite Theo Walcott and Stephen Hunt pulling goals back for me it wasn't enough. Our second hat-trick hero of the week was Demba Ba for Final Fantasy. Ceri's team put Nil Satis to the sword with two clean sheets added to Ba's contribution (the Frenchman is up to seven for the season). Paul had only conceded 11 times before this match and now only has Ryan below him.