FA Cup Final Result

Honours even between the top two...

Claymore Athletic FC 2
Aguero 28
Luiz [c]

v

The Cow-Faced Juniors 2
Bale 9
Vlaar 31

(two cancelled cleans)

Claymore Athletic FC
Howard; Ivanovic, Luiz, Clichy, Hooiveld; Osman, Robson-Kanu, Schneiderlin, Gomez; Aguero, Rooney   Subs: Mucha; J.Olsson; Cleverley; Gouffran

The Cow-Faced Juniors
Cesar; Scharner, Hill, Bramble, Vlaar; Bale, Dempsey, Michu, Sigurdsson; McCarthy, Graham   Subs: Elliott; Onuoha; Lennon; Holt

At Wembley Stadium. Att: 90,000

Match Report

All the talk before the match was of the ban handed out to Luis Suarez but the CFJs showed thy can get goals without the Uruguayan and took an early lead, albeit in bizarre circumstances. Gareth Bale's scored some great goals this season but on nine minutes he charged down a clearance and the ball flew past Tim Howard off Bale's outstretched boot. Claymore shrugged off this setback and were level after 28 minutes. Sergio Aguero getting enough room at the near post to turn in a low cross. Clive's team only had parity for three minutes before Ron Vlaar restored Chris' lead. The big defender latched on to a loose ball and let fly from 30 yards and watched his low strike scud into the corner of the goal.

There weren't a lot of chances in the second period. Michu was kept quiet, Danny Graham ran around a lot, Wayne Rooney dropped back into midfield and it all got a bit cagey. With the CFJs unable to finish the game off if it was left to David Luiz to grab an equalising clean and earn Claymore a replay this week.

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How they got there:

Semi-finals:

The Dead Parrots 1 Claymore Athletic FC 6
The Cow-Faced Juniors 3 Trusted By Millions 2

Quarter-finals:

Aardvark Abacus 2 Claymore Athletic FC 4
Final Fantasy XI 0 The Dead Parrots 2
Trusted By Millions 3 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 0
The Cow-Faced Juniors 3 You Know Your Boston Rock FC 2

First round:

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

Cup Final Teams

Which of this season's 'Big Two' will make off with the trophy?

Claymore Athletic FC
Howard;
Ivanovic, Luiz, Clichy, Hooiveld;
Osman, Robson-Kanu, Schneiderlin, Gomez;
Aguero, Rooney

Subs: Mucha; J.Olsson; Cleverley; Gouffran

The Cow-Faced Juniors
Cesar;
Scharner, Hill, Bramble, Vlaar;
Bale, Dempsey, Michu, Sigurdsson
McCarthy, Graham

Subs: Elliott; Onuoha; Lennon; Holt

Week 27 Results

With the top two winning again it looks like the pursuers are running out of games.

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

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Cow-Faced Juniors	27	17	6	4	86	53	33	57
2	Claymore Athletic FC	27	18	3	6	70	43	27	57
3	Athletico Phoenix	27	16	4	7	71	41	30	52
4	Aardvark Abacus	27	15	4	8	56	36	20	49
5	Final Fantasy XI	27	13	4	10	50	45	5	43
6	Trusted By Millions	27	12	6	9	66	57	9	42
7	Real Muppets	27	11	7	9	54	56	-2	40
8	The Fabulous Artisans	27	11	5	11	51	56	-5	38
9	San Dimas High School	27	11	2	14	55	61	-6	35
10	Mega Buck Bandits	27	10	4	13	41	38	3	34
11	The Dead Parrots	27	8	8	11	39	48	-9	32
12	YTFIB	27	7	9	11	33	56	-23	30
13	You Know Your Boston Rock FC	27	8	5	14	57	61	-4	29
14	The Cheese Makers	27	7	6	14	36	56	-20	27
15	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	27	6	6	15	32	62	-30	24
16	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	27	6	1	20	30	58	-28	19

Our top two win again so the chances of a team coming from outside that duo to take the title have receded. The CFJs boosted their goal difference by one more than Claymore though.

Chris' team conceded a headed goal to Nil Satis' Oscar mid way through the first half but a three goal burst in the last quarter of an hour won the day. Clint Dempsey steered in a Gareth Bale cross for the equaliser, Bale skipped through to chip the advancing keeper seven minutes later and Luis Suarez headed home on the final whistle. It might be the Uruguayan's last act of the season though as he could be in for a lengthy ban. Claymore only got the one goal in downing San Dimas. Yoan Gouffran flicked a header in after eight minutes and that was that. My team's purple patch mid-seasson looks a long time ago.

Athletico Phoenix keep up the chase with a big win over the Artisans. Robin van Persie scored another hat-trick (his second goal was a cracker) and Per Mertersacker nodded in before the break. Patrice Evra's clean completed the rout. The Aardvark Abacus defence is looking rock solid and four clean sheets turned round Ady's game against Fred.  The Gardeners were ahead through Eden Hazard's spot-kick but then came the four Aardvark cleans.

Final Fantasy's brilliant season is in danger of petering out. Ceri's team went down to an Andy Wilkinson clean for the Cheese Makers.  Beef is now closing in on Ceri's fifth place after winning the battle for sixth against the Muppets. Stephane Sessegnon is back on song for Trusted and he fired in the first goal just before the break. Daniel Sturridge equalised for Ryan seven minutes into the second period but cleans from David de Gea and Robert Huth claimed the win for Trusted.

It was cleans for Mega Bucks as well (from Artur Boruc and Guy Demel) that snapped Dave's four game losing streak and enabled his team to leapfrog this week's opponents, The Parrots. YTFIB and Boston Rock stay 12th and 13th respectively after a 2-2 draw. Samir Nasri got a fifth minute opener for Julian but Sheriff had the lead with ten minutes left after Jermain Defoe and Kevin Nolan scored within a minute of each other. Joey O'Brien's clean grabbed a point for YTFIB.

Week 26 (catch-up) Results

Wins for the title chasers in the rearranged matches.

Final Fantasy XI 0 v 7 Athletico Phoenix
The Cow-Faced Juniors 5 v 2 You Know Your Boston Rock FC

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	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Cow-Faced Juniors	26	16	6	4	83	52	31	54
2	Claymore Athletic FC	26	17	3	6	69	43	26	54
3	Athletico Phoenix	26	15	4	7	66	41	25	49
4	Aardvark Abacus	26	14	4	8	52	35	17	46
5	Final Fantasy XI	26	13	4	9	50	44	6	43
6	Real Muppets	26	11	7	8	53	53	0	40
7	Trusted By Millions	26	11	6	9	63	56	7	39
8	The Fabulous Artisans	26	11	5	10	51	51	0	38
9	San Dimas High School	26	11	2	13	55	60	-5	35
10	The Dead Parrots	26	8	8	10	39	46	-7	32
11	Mega Buck Bandits	26	9	4	13	39	38	1	31
12	YTFIB	26	7	8	11	31	54	-23	29
13	You Know Your Boston Rock FC	26	8	4	14	55	59	-4	28
14	The Cheese Makers	26	6	6	14	35	56	-21	24
15	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	26	6	6	14	31	58	-27	24
16	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	26	6	1	19	29	55	-26	19

The CFJs re-assumed league leadership in their rearranged fixture but had to fight for it. Clint Dempsey steered Chris in front but two quick strikes from Jermain Defoe and Kevin Nolan had Boston Rock ahead. The lead lasted briefly though as Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez (lucky to still be on the pitch perhaps) swung the game back in the CFJs favour and cleans finished the game off.

The week's rest certainly did Athletico Phoenix some good. Robin van Persie in particular had looked jaded but opened the scoring inside two minutes and completed his hat-trick just after the half-hour. When Per Mertersacker stooped to nod home before half-time there was no coming back for Final Fantasy.

Week 26 Results

Claymore put the points in the bag while their rivals sit it out.

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

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Claymore Athletic FC	26	17	3	6	69	43	26	54
2	The Cow-Faced Juniors	25	15	6	4	78	50	28	51
3	Athletico Phoenix	25	14	4	7	59	41	18	46
4	Aardvark Abacus	26	14	4	8	52	35	17	46
5	Final Fantasy XI	25	13	4	8	50	37	13	43
6	Real Muppets	26	11	7	8	53	53	0	40
7	Trusted By Millions	26	11	6	9	63	56	7	39
8	The Fabulous Artisans	26	11	5	10	51	51	0	38
9	San Dimas High School	26	11	2	13	55	60	-5	35
10	The Dead Parrots	26	8	8	10	39	46	-7	32
11	Mega Buck Bandits	26	9	4	13	39	38	1	31
12	YTFIB	26	7	8	11	31	54	-23	29
13	You Know Your Boston Rock FC	25	8	4	13	53	54	-1	28
14	The Cheese Makers	26	6	6	14	35	56	-21	24
15	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	26	6	6	14	31	58	-27	24
16	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	26	6	1	19	29	55	-26	19

Claymore did what they needed to do in the Evertonian Derby this week. David Luiz hit a screamer to open the scoring for Clive but had a late scare when Mikel Arteta equalised from the spot with five minutes left. Olivier Giroud hasn't been a roaring success for the Swordsmen but notched an important goal three minutes later and Luiz got the clinching clean. Last season Ady slipped up by drawing too many games when the title was in his sights and the's season he's at it again with a second successive draw. Trusted led through two smart finishes from Stephane Sessegnon and Charles N'Zogbia but the Aardvarks nicked a point thanks to cleans form Carlos Cuellar and Phil Jagielka.

The Muppets overtook Trusted thanks to an emphatic 4-0 win over YTFIB. The game was all square until Fabian Delph skimmed a header into his own net and then Ryan's team kicked on for an easy win. The Artisans hold eighth place after coming from a goal down to beat Mega Bucks through Adam Johnson and a Leighton Baines clean. Dave's season turning very average after a good start.

Michael Carrick scored a rare goal to give the Cheese Makers an early lead over the Parrots but Dean got an equaliser 86 minutes later thanks to Joe Hart's clean sheet. In the last match on the highlights show San Dimas and Fred sleepwalked to a goalless draw.

Week 25 Results

The top two unable to pick up a win which allows the Phoenix to close the gap.

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

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Cow-Faced Juniors	25	15	6	4	78	50	28	51
2	Claymore Athletic FC	25	16	3	6	66	42	24	51
3	Athletico Phoenix	25	14	4	7	59	41	18	46
4	Aardvark Abacus	25	14	3	8	50	33	17	45
5	Final Fantasy XI	25	13	4	8	50	37	13	43
6	Trusted By Millions	25	11	5	9	61	54	7	38
7	Real Muppets	25	10	7	8	49	53	-4	37
8	The Fabulous Artisans	25	10	5	10	49	50	-1	35
9	San Dimas High School	25	11	1	13	55	60	-5	34
10	Mega Buck Bandits	25	9	4	12	38	36	2	31
11	The Dead Parrots	25	8	7	10	38	45	-7	31
12	YTFIB	25	7	8	10	31	50	-19	29
13	You Know Your Boston Rock FC	25	8	4	13	53	54	-1	28
14	The Cheese Makers	25	6	5	14	34	55	-21	23
15	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	25	6	5	14	31	58	-27	23
16	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	25	6	1	18	28	52	-24	19

Our top two are both pegged back late on, giving a bit more encouragement to the chasing pack.

The CFJs still hold top spot but blew a three-goal lead at YTFIB. Close range goals from Michu, Michael Turner and Gylfi Sigurdsson looked to have wrapped things up for Chris but a late Michu miss gave Julian encouragement and he banged in three cleans (including one from recent signing Mapou Yanga-M'Biwa) to get a point. Claymore blew a lead too and missed the chance to go top. Clive had gone 2-1 up when Sergio Aguero skipped through the Trusted defence and ripped into the roof of the net but Papiss Cisse is making a habit of scoring late goals and he fired home in injury time to grab a point for Beef.

Athletic Phoenix finished with nine men but held on against the Muppets. Tomas Rosicky got his first goals of the season for Brian but in-between these efforts Bobby Zamora got himself sent off for a high foot. Per Mertersacker saw red for a professional foul but a spot-kick from Sean Morrison and an excellent free-kick from Shaun Maloney doubled the advantage. Ryan roared back with three cleans but it wasn't enough. That result puts Brian third as the Aardvark/Fantasy game ended all square. Ady had raced into a two-goal lead inside 15 minutes through Emanuel Adebayor and Phil Jagielka but a Vincent Kompany og put Ceri back in contention and a Jose Enrique clean earned the draw that means we're still not sure who the league's top Bevan will be.

The Artisans have taken over the last place in the bottom half after a 4-1 drubbing of San Dimas. Armand Traore bagged a half-time clean to give Ben the lead, I was level six minutes after the break through James Milner but all changed late on. Loic Remy's brilliant shot on the run with five minutes left put Ben ahead and a Christian Benteke breakaway and James Collins clean put the gloss on the win. The Dead Parrots are still in the top half race too after edging Nil Satis 1-0 thanks to a Robert Snodgrass winner.

Two long streaks were broken this week. Boston Rock got back to winning ways (playing for their futures perhaps), beating Mega Bucks with a Steven Taylor clean, and The Cheese Makers jumped above Fred in the table beating those opponents thanks to an early Davide Santon clean and a Cesar Azpilicueta (known to his team mates as 'Dave') own goal.

Week 24 Results

Clive goes level at the top and the Aardvarks are up to third.

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

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Cow-Faced Juniors	24	15	5	4	75	47	28	50
2	Claymore Athletic FC	24	16	2	6	64	40	24	50
3	Aardvark Abacus	24	14	2	8	48	31	17	44
4	Athletico Phoenix	24	13	4	7	55	38	17	43
5	Final Fantasy XI	24	13	3	8	48	35	13	42
6	Trusted By Millions	24	11	4	9	59	52	7	37
7	Real Muppets	24	10	7	7	46	49	-3	37
8	San Dimas High School	24	11	1	12	54	56	-2	34
9	The Fabulous Artisans	24	9	5	10	45	49	-4	32
10	Mega Buck Bandits	24	9	4	11	38	35	3	31
11	The Dead Parrots	24	7	7	10	37	45	-8	28
12	YTFIB	24	7	7	10	28	47	-19	28
13	You Know Your Boston Rock FC	24	7	4	13	52	54	-2	25
14	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	24	6	5	13	31	56	-25	23
15	The Cheese Makers	24	5	5	14	32	55	-23	20
16	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	24	6	1	17	28	51	-23	19

Six games to go and it's “levels you devils” at the top but is the momentum swinging Claymore’s way?

The CFJs hold on to top spot but only on goal difference after a hard-fought draw with the Phoenix. Brian’s side grabbed an early lead when Jan Vertonghen marauded up field and then superbly controlled and slotted home. Chris was level on 21 minutes through none other than Gareth Bale who rifled home from the edge of the area before the Phoenix keeper could move. (It reminded me of me, the 'keeper bit, not Bale. My left foot was barely good enough to stand on.) It was a similar story in the second half. Santi Cazorla put Brian back in front with a beautifully curled strike straight after the break but Michu’s towering header to share the points was the last action. While this was going on Claymore were dealing a fatal blow to Final Fantasy’s title hopes. After a goalless first half Ceri took the lead with a Mark Schwarzer saved penalty. The game turned with two goals in a minute. Olivier Giroud fired in a crisp left-footer and Hal Robson-Kanu dived to head in at the far post. Cleans from Tim Howard and Gael Clichy mean Clive is right back in the title mix.

With Athletico Phoenix drawing the Aardvarks are up to third after beating the Muppets. Carlos Tevez gave Ryan the lead four minutes before the break but Vincent Kompany, returning after injury got the goal and clean to give Ady the win. I looked up 'Inconsistent' in the dictionary and it said 'see Trusted By Millions'. Beef's team slipped to defeat against the Parrots this week. Rickie Lambert gave Dean the lead with an excellent free-kick 15 minutes before the break but Steven Gerrard levelled from the spot on the hour. The winner came from an unlikely source, Parrots defender Emerson Boyce getting the deciding clean.

San Dimas have the last spot in the top half after a come-from-behind win against Boston Rock. Sheriff looked like breaking his winless streak when headers from Andy Carroll and John Terry had him two up by 33 minutes. An injured Rafael limped off with a clean soon after to reduce the deficit but the game looked over with ten minutes when Carroll restored the advantage with a superb controlled volley. Steve Sidwell then got himself sent off and things changed. Graham Dorrans got his first of the season from the penalty spot and cleans from Sylvain Distin and Maynor Figueroa (a first of the season) gave my team the 4-3 win. All the scoring between Fred and Ben was done in the first half. Christian Benteke powered the Artisans ahead on 31 minutes but Ben's team left David Silva too much space in the area and he doesn't miss those opportunities.

YTFIB beat Mega Bucks with two goals from Dimitar Berbatov. The Bulgarian has been a superb signing for Julian and is now in double figures for the season. The Stade de Fromage has turned into Fondue Fields in recent weeks. The Cheese Makers soft underbelly was exposed by Mikel Arteta with a 77th minute penalty and John Heitinga and Seamus Coleman cleans completed the victory for Nil Satis.