Thursday 27 December 2012

Charity Shield Roll of Honour

Winners

2 - San Dimas High School
2 - The Cow-Faced Juniors
2 - Trusted By Millions
2 - Athletico Phoenix
1 - Aardvark Abacus
1 - Mega Buck Bandits
1 - Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Paul Cartmell Memorial Trophy Final


San Dimas High School 1
Walker [c]

v

The Cow-Faced Juniors 3
Bale 61, 73, 84

(one cancelled clean)

At Wembley.    Att: 90,000

San Dimas: Al-Habsi; Distin, Lichaj, Fabio, Walker; Milner, Kacaniklic, Dorrans, De Guzman; Odemwingie, Pogrebnyak       
Subs: Mignolet; Naughton; Ben Arfa; Lukaku

The CFJs: Cesar; Cameron, Turner, Chico, Riether; Sigurdsson, Lennon, Michu, Bale; Suarez, Holt    Subs: Mannone; Hill; Wright-Phillips; Fortune

Gareth Bale has been one of the league's star performers over the last couple of seasons and his hat-trick delivered a first WSFFL trophy to the CFJs. The first big move of the match came before kick-off. San Dimas selected Pavel Pogrebnyak to partner Peter Odemwingie and left Jon Walters out after a barren run. Theo Walcott had already been ruled out for the Saints after travel problems left him unable to get to the match. The first half was quiet. A combination of poor weather and two sides not wanting to give much away led to poor fare for the capacity Wembley crowd.

The game burst to life just after the hour mark. A defensive slip let in Bale who rounded the keeper and steered home. That setback seemed to rock San Dimas and Chris' team took advantage. Bale was given too much space and found the corner of the net on 73 minutes and completed his hat-trick 11 minutes later when slamming home from close range. Kyle Walker got a consolation clean for San Dimas but it's Chris that will be booking the open top bus and driving up and down Drove Road.

How they got there

Semi-finals

San Dimas High School 6 You Know Your Boston Rock 0
The Cow-Faced Juniors 4 The Fabulous Artisans 0 (after 3-3 draw)


Quarter-finals

San Dimas High School 2 Trusted By Millions 0
The Cow-Faced Juniors 3 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 1
The Fabulous Artisans 1 Claymore Athletic 0

You Know Your Boston Rock FC 5 Final Fantasy XI 2 (after 1-1 draw)

First round

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

Monday 24 December 2012

FA Cup first round draw

Holders Claymore face a tricky trip to the Stade de Fromage.

Athletico Phoenix v Trusted By Millions
Fred West LG XI v Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Real Muppets v You Know Your Boston Rock FC
San Dimas High School v Aardvark Abacus
The Cheese Makers v Claymore Athletic FC
The Cow-Faced Juniors v Mega Buck Bandits
The Fabulous Artisans v The Dead Parrots
YTFIB v Final Fantasy

The Muppets and Boston Rock have won the competition seven times between them but one of them will be disappointed before the decorations come down.

Games to be played w/c 5 January.

Charity Shield Final

Athletico Phoenix 1
Evra 16

v

The Dead Parrots 2
Snodgrass 23
Barry 90

(two cancelled cleans)

Athletico Phoenix: Lindegaard; Vertonghen, Evra, Zabaleta, Lowton; Cazorla, Rosicky, Maloney, Morrison; van Persie, Suso       
Subs: Tremmel; Mertersacker; Oxlade-Chamberlain; Rosenberg

The Dead Parrots: Hart; Boyce, Williamson, Nelsen, Riise; Taarabt, Duff, Barry, Routledge; Snodgrass, Lambert               
Subs: Pantilimon; Harte; Obertan; Sh.Ameobi

At St James' Park Newcastle. Att: 50,180

The Charity Shield will be making a metaphorical trip 'down under' after Dean's Parrots lifted the first pot of the season.

The opening goal came on 16 minutes and went the way of the Phoenix. Patrice Evra isn't the tallest by any stretch of the imagination but he glanced a header in from a corner. The lead lasted seven minutes. Robert Snodgrass is making a name for himself as a set-piece specialist and his free-kick curled over the wall and into the corner of the Phoenix goal.

Chances were few and far between in the second half and Robin van Persie came close to putting Brian's team back in front when his volley struck the bar on 66 minutes. It seemed as though the game was drifting towards a replay when, in stoppage time, the Parrots found a controversial winner. Record-signing Gareth Barry rose highest in the penalty area to power home a header but the Phoenix defence were convinced that he'd unfairly climbed over the back one of their rearguard. The referee saw no infringement and it was ultimately the goal that took the trophy to Australia.

How they got there

Semi-finals

Athletico Phoenix 4 The Cheese Makers 1
The Dead Parrots 4 YTFIB 0

Quarter-finals

Athletico Phoenix 3 Aardvark Abacus 2
The Cheese Makers 4 Mega Buck Bandits 1
The Dead Parrots 2 Real Muppets 1
YTFIB 2 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 0

Monday 17 December 2012

Week 14 Results

Claymore take another turn on top.

Aardvark Abacus 3 v 0 You Know Your Boston Rock FC
Athletico Phoenix 6 v 1 YTFIB
Claymore Athletic FC 4 v 2 The Fabulous Artisans
Final Fantasy XI 2 v 0 The Cow-Faced Juniors
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 0 v 2 San Dimas High School
The Cheese Makers 1 v 1 Real Muppets
The Dead Parrots 2 v 1 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI
Trusted By Millions 1 v 3 Mega Buck Bandits



Team P W D L F A Diff Pts
1 Claymore Athletic FC 14 11 1 2 38 21 17 34
2 The Cow-Faced Juniors 14 10 2 2 41 24 17 32
3 Final Fantasy XI 14 8 1 5 27 18 9 25
4 You Know Your Boston Rock FC 14 7 2 5 37 23 14 23
5 Mega Buck Bandits 14 7 2 5 26 20 6 23
6 Real Muppets 14 6 5 3 25 22 3 23
7 Trusted By Millions 14 7 1 6 29 25 4 22
8 Athletico Phoenix 14 6 2 6 31 25 6 20
9 Aardvark Abacus 14 6 1 7 25 22 3 19
10 The Cheese Makers 14 5 3 6 24 26 -2 18
11 The Fabulous Artisans 14 5 3 6 24 26 -2 18
12 The Dead Parrots 14 4 4 6 21 27 -6 16
13 YTFIB 14 3 4 7 17 31 -14 13
14 San Dimas High School 14 4 1 9 23 42 -19 13
15 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 14 3 1 10 18 35 -17 10
16 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 14 2 3 9 16 35 -19 9

Claymore are our Christmas number one after ousting the CFJs from top spot. Clive's team were 2-2 after the Artisans' Christian Benteke equalised on 51 minutes but Wayne Rooney and a Goran Popov clean gave The Swordsmen the win. While that was going on the CFJs were suffering only their second defeat of the season, 2-0 to the CFJs. Demba Ba and Yaya Toure got the goals for Ceri who is now 'best of the rest', seven points off second place.

Boston Rock relinquished third after losing 3-0 to old rivals the Aardvarks. Two early goals from Lukas Podolski and Anthony Pilkington set up the win for Ady and Adam Le Fondre finished it off. Did anybody think both Okus teams would be in the top five after 14 weeks? Mega Bucks are in that fifth place (two points behind the missus) after beating Trusted 3-1. A Ryan Shawcross own goal set Dave on the way in this one.

The Muppets and The Cheese Makers finished 1-1 and the teams stay in that middle tranche. Javi Garcia's goal for Matthew equalised by a first of the season from Fraizer Campbell. The Phoenix warmed up for the Charity Shield final with a 6-1 drubbing of YTFIB. Santi Cazorla's hat-trick doubled his tally for the season. Robin van Persie got the opener to take his tally to ten.

Brian's opponents in that Final this weekend are the Dead Parrots. Dean's team warmed up with a win too. Adel Taarabt hasn't always looked like a £10m player but he got both goals and Fred could only reply with a Hugo Lloris clean. The Cromwell Street rebuilding programme may take longer than expected. The basement battle for 14th place went to San Dimas with a 2-0 win over Nil Satis. Theo Walcott broke the deadlock 10 minutes from time.

Monday 10 December 2012

Week 13 Results

The top two starting to run away with this.

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



Team P W D L F A Diff Pts
1 The Cow-Faced Juniors 13 10 2 1 41 22 19 32
2 Claymore Athletic FC 13 10 1 2 34 19 15 31
3 You Know Your Boston Rock FC 13 7 2 4 37 20 17 23
4 Final Fantasy XI 13 7 1 5 25 18 7 22
5 Trusted By Millions 13 7 1 5 28 22 6 22
6 Real Muppets 13 6 4 3 24 21 3 22
7 Mega Buck Bandits 13 6 2 5 23 19 4 20
8 The Fabulous Artisans 13 5 3 5 22 22 0 18
9 Athletico Phoenix 13 5 2 6 25 24 1 17
10 The Cheese Makers 13 5 2 6 23 25 -2 17
11 Aardvark Abacus 13 5 1 7 22 22 0 16
12 The Dead Parrots 13 3 4 6 19 26 -7 13
13 YTFIB 13 3 4 6 16 25 -9 13
14 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 13 3 1 9 18 33 -15 10
15 San Dimas High School 13 3 1 9 21 42 -21 10
16 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 13 2 3 8 15 33 -18 9


Monday 3 December 2012

Week 12 Results

It's as you were with the top six all winning and bottom five all losing.

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



Team P W D L F A Diff Pts
1 The Cow-Faced Juniors 12 9 2 1 37 21 16 29
2 Claymore Athletic FC 12 9 1 2 30 18 12 28
3 You Know Your Boston Rock FC 12 7 2 3 36 16 20 23
4 Trusted By Millions 12 7 1 4 27 19 8 22
5 Final Fantasy XI 12 7 1 4 23 15 8 22
6 Real Muppets 12 6 4 2 23 17 6 22
7 Mega Buck Bandits 12 5 2 5 20 17 3 17
8 The Fabulous Artisans 12 5 2 5 19 19 0 17
9 Athletico Phoenix 12 5 1 6 23 22 1 16
10 Aardvark Abacus 12 5 1 6 22 21 1 16
11 The Cheese Makers 12 5 1 6 21 23 -2 16
12 The Dead Parrots 12 3 3 6 16 23 -7 12
13 YTFIB 12 2 4 6 15 25 -10 10
14 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 12 2 3 7 13 28 -15 9
15 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 12 2 1 9 13 31 -18 7
16 San Dimas High School 12 2 1 9 18 41 -23 7

The league is taking on the appearance of a Neapolitan ice cream this week as it divides into three layers. The top six teams are the refreshing strawberry flavour, the middle five are the take it or leave it  depending what mood you're in vanilla, and then we have the brown chocalatey stodgey mess that is the bottom five.

Top of the strawberry layer are the CFJs who keep powering on. Remember the PCMT semi-final when Chris roared into a 3-0 half-time lead but Ben pegged him back for a draw? The reverse happened this week when the Cheese Makers stormed into a three-goal lead in 33 minutes. Sebastian Bassong, Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini are among Matthew's best performers this season and were all on target. Chris needed all his dodging skills to turn things round and get a result. Carlton Cole and two late on from Michu levelled the game and Geoff Cameron's clean won it, Spare a thought for Matthew who would have beaten anyone else this week. Claymore are managing to keep up with the CFJs but were unconvincing against YTFIB. Clive hasn't got the best out of Wayne Rooney this season but a penalty and close range finish from the England striker proved enough with Julian only finding a Danny Simpson clean in reply.

The Dead Parrots/Boston Rock game was uneventful into Jermain Defoe struck twice in five minutes for Sheriff with around a quarter of an hour left. Defoe has joined Michu at the head of the scoring charts on nine league goals. Chris Smalling and Steven Caulker's clean finished the game off. It was clean sheets all the way for Trusted against Fred. Robert Huth, Phil Jones and Ryan Shawcross keeping Beef just about in touch with the title race.

Final Fantasy took advantage of a San Dimas team with a serious Cup semi-final hangover. Brett Holman smashed Ceri in front on eight minutes, Demba Ba added a penalty five minutes later and Ba struck again, mopping up a rebound, on 21 minutes. I managed not to embarrass myself further until Jose Enrique's clean made it four. The Muppets are the last of our top layer after a come from behind victory over Mega Bucks. Sean Morrison battered a header in on 23 minutes to give Dave the lead on 23 minutes but Carlos Tevez equalised from the spot two minutes before the break. Jose Reina hasn't been at his best this season but got the winning clean for Ryan.

The Artisans had only managed one in the last six league matches but had too much for Nil Satis this week. Cleans from Asmir Begovic and Martin Skrtel proving the difference an getting Ben moving the right way again. Only San Dimas are keeping Paul from being the sloppy chocolate dregs. Have the Aardvarks turned the corner? It's three wins out of four for Ady after beating the Phoenix. Adam Le Fondre opened the scoring with a header on 19 minutes but Robin van Persie equalised 15 minutes later after beating the offside trap. Anthony Pilkington and Craig Gardner were both given too much room by the Phoenix defence on the run up to the break and their fiercely struck shots were too got to handle. It wasn't RvP's best day with a 'goal' being missed by the linesman and an open goal miss in the second half which could have thrown Brian a lifeline.

Paul Cartmell Memorial Trophy semi-final replay result

No respite for Ben this time and the holders are out.

The Cow-Faced Juniors 4 v 0 The Fabulous Artisans