FA Cup Final Result

Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 2
Can 45+2
Alli 55
 v

The Cow-Faced Juniors 2
Sigurdsson 79
Willian 86

(two cancelled cleans)

At Wembley,  Att: 90,000

The teams
Fred: Courtois; C.Dawson, Zouma, Azpilicueta, Kelly; Can, Hazard, Alli, Sane; Defoe, Rondon   Subs: Lloris, Mawson, Grosicki, Slimani

CFJs: Hennessy; B.Davies, Sagna, Cameron, Janmaat; Ozil, Sigurdsson, Chadli, Willian; Llorente, Sanchez
Subs: Butland; O’Shea, Boyd; Borini

Match Report

Wembley Stadium was packed to the rafters for this clash of the two top counter-scorers in WSFFL this season. Not only that but there was a lot at stake for the two teams. Fred stood on the verge of being only the second manager to do the treble, the CFJs were looking to be the second team to complete the ‘Grand Slam’ of WSFFL trophies.

The teams went at each other from the off. Eden Hazard and Dele Alli both went close for Fred early on while Fernando Llorente forced a save from close range at the other end. Just when it looked like the first half would end goalless Emre Can produced a moment of magic. Can, who was briefly on the CFJ’s books in 2014, conjured some sort of overhead scissor kick out of nowhere to put Fred one up.

It was two-nil ten minutes after the break. Alli pounced on a rebound to poke in and put the Champions-in-waiting in control. With Sanchez and Ozil making no impression on the Fred goal Chris needed something from one of his other players and it was little surprise that the contribution came from Gylfi Sigurdsson. With 11 minutes left the Icelander placed a free-kick perfectly in the top right-hand corner of the Fred goal for his eighth of the season to set up a frantic finale.

Fred withdrew Hazard from the action after 85 minutes, and a minute later the CFJs were level. Willian burst into the Fred area to get on the end of a cut-back and stroked in from ten yards. The CFJs could have won it in stoppage time, Llorente failing to make a connection when a free-kick sat up invitingly for him inside the six-yard box. Replay this weekend.

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How they got there

Semi-finals

Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 3 v 2 The Wateringhole Society

The Cow-Faced Juniors 4 v 2 San Dimas High School

Quarter-finals

Aardvark Abacus 1 v 4 The Cow-Faced Juniors

Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 4 v 0 Wheel Madrid (after 3-3 draw)

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 0 v 1 The Wateringhole Society (after 3-3 draw)

San Dimas High School 3 v 1 Real Muppets (after 1-1 draw)

First round

FCK2 1 v 3 Wheel Madrid

Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 1 v 0 Cheese Makers

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 5 v 4 Claymore Athletic FC

Real Muppets 4 v 0 Athletico Phoenix

The Cow-Faced Juniors 6 v 0 Mega Buck Bandits

The Fabulous Artisans 0 v 3 Aardvark Abacus

The Wateringhole Society 2 v 1 Trusted By Millions

YTFIB 0 v 4 San Dimas High School

Week 27 Results

Well, that’s just about that then.

Aardvark Abacus 2 v 0 YTFIB

FCK2 1 v 3 Athletico Phoenix

Mega Buck Bandits 2 v 2 San Dimas High School

Real Muppets 0 v 3 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI

The Cow-Faced Juniors 3 v 2 Cheese Makers

The Fabulous Artisans 2 v 0 Wheel Madrid

The Wateringhole Society 0 v 4 Claymore Athletic FC

Trusted By Millions 3 v 0 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

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	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	27	19	0	8	79	52	27	57
2	Real Muppets	27	14	6	7	42	36	6	48
3	The Cow-Faced Juniors	27	15	2	10	80	56	24	47
4	The Fabulous Artisans	27	14	5	8	53	41	12	47
5	Wheel Madrid	27	13	5	9	50	50	0	44
6	Athletico Phoenix	27	11	10	6	57	45	12	43
7	Trusted By Millions	27	12	6	9	53	40	13	42
8	San Dimas High School	27	11	6	10	63	59	4	39
9	Aardvark Abacus	27	11	6	10	45	42	3	39
10	Claymore Athletic FC	27	12	3	12	63	63	0	39
11	Mega Buck Bandits	27	11	4	12	51	46	5	37
12	Cheese Makers	27	11	4	12	43	52	-9	37
13	The Wateringhole Society	27	4	11	12	30	56	-26	23
14	FCK2	27	6	4	17	36	55	-19	22
15	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	27	6	4	17	34	56	-22	22
16	YTFIB	27	6	4	17	42	72	-30	22

Match of the Week

You can stick a fork in this season because it’s almost done. On the first weekend of the season Fred beat the Muppets 5-1, and a 3-0 win over the same opponents, his closest rivals, means that only a bizarre set of results can deprive him of a second league title.

After a cagey goalless first half a brilliant pass dissected the Muppets defence and Dele Alli was on the end to fire home five minutes after the break. Eden Hazard was on target in that Week One game and struck in this one too, firing across the keeper and finding the corner from 18 yards with a quarter of an hour left. Alfie Mawson’s clean wrapped things up.

Elsewhere in the League

Ryan’s defeat means second place in the table is very much up for grabs. The CFJs and the Artisans now both just one point behind the Muppets. Chris and Co. struck twice through Willian set-pieces in the first half but needed a late Robert Huth own goal to give them breathing space over Cheese Makers. The Artisans had a clean sheet win over Wheel Madrid who are three points further back.

Athletico had their first win in six thanks to three cleans against FCK2 after Harry Kane had scored first for Kevin. Trusted had been eight without a win before having too much for Nil Satis. Adobe, Markovic and De Gea getting in the scoresheet for Beef.

The Aardvarks continued their recent winning run despite being down to nine men against YTFIB after 25 minutes. A couple of cleans got the job done for Ady. There was early action between Mega Bucks and San Dimas too. In-form Josh King had Dave ahead after two minutes and a Phillippe Coutinho free-kick doubled the advantage after 24 minutes. My team hauled themselves back for a point thanks to Charlie Daniels scoring and getting a clean.

Claymore's comfortable win at The Wateringhole Society means that the middle of the table is extraordinarily tight. Four teams who’ve had half-decent campaigns will find themselves in the bottom half come late May. No telling which order the bottom four will end up in either.

Week 26 Results

It’s down to the top two now. Probably. 

Aardvark Abacus 3 v 2 Wheel Madrid

Athletico Phoenix 0 v 0 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Cheese Makers 2 v 4 San Dimas High School

FCK2 1 v 4 The Fabulous Artisans

The Cow-Faced Juniors 5 v 3 Claymore Athletic FC

The Wateringhole Society 3 v 1 Mega Buck Bandits

Trusted By Millions 1 v 2 Real Muppets

YTFIB 1 v 3 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI

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	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	26	18	0	8	76	52	24	54
2	Real Muppets	26	14	6	6	42	33	9	48
3	The Cow-Faced Juniors	26	14	2	10	77	54	23	44
4	The Fabulous Artisans	26	13	5	8	51	41	10	44
5	Wheel Madrid	26	13	5	8	50	48	2	44
6	Athletico Phoenix	26	10	10	6	54	44	10	40
7	Trusted By Millions	26	11	6	9	50	40	10	39
8	San Dimas High School	26	11	5	10	61	57	4	38
9	Cheese Makers	26	11	4	11	41	49	-8	37
10	Mega Buck Bandits	26	11	3	12	49	44	5	36
11	Aardvark Abacus	26	10	6	10	43	42	1	36
12	Claymore Athletic FC	26	11	3	12	59	63	-4	36
13	The Wateringhole Society	26	4	11	11	30	52	-22	23
14	FCK2	26	6	4	16	35	52	-17	22
15	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	26	6	4	16	34	53	-19	22
16	YTFIB	26	6	4	16	42	70	-28	22

With four tougher games coming up there was no room for error for Fred this week. He did trail to YTFIB for more than an hour, Marco Arnautovic firing in from the edge of the box for Julian on six minutes, but Leroy Sane struck on the break after 77 minutes to level it up and Lloris and Rojo got the cleans to get the Gardeners closer to the title. The Muppets are keeping him honest though after victory at Trusted. Moussa Dembele was given too much room and crashed in his first of the season from an early corner and an unlucky Ben Mee own goal took Ryan’s team out of reach.

The CFJs are third after just about officially ending Clive’s bid for the runner-up spot. These two high-scoring teams produced a high-scoring game with Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil putting contract doubts aside to score for the CFJs. Claymore did lead 3-2 with ten minutes left after Sergio Aguero’s close range header found the target but Fabio Borini got his first of the season for the Howells late on and cleans from Janmaat and Davies saw the CFJs home. The Artisans finished third last year and might get on the honours board this time round too. Ben’s team saw off FCK2 4-1 with Etienne Capoue cashing in on a defensive mistake and Christian Benteke’s towering header taking him into double figures for the season.

Wheel Madrid fell back after losing to the awakening Aardvarks. All the goals came in a six-minute spell Phil Jagielka and a deflected Ander Herrera shot had Ady two up, Paul hit back through Alvaro Negredo and Jamie Vardy but was only level for three minutes before Vincent Kompany headed the winner. I’ve mentioned The Wateringhole Society equalling the league’s draw record this season, well Athletico are only one behind after drawing with Nil Satis. The Ox did his best to win it for Brian late on but the point keeps Paul S off the bottom. For now.

A host of cleans helped San Dimas leapfrog Cheese Makers and into the top half. Matthew’s men had led through Robert Huth’s early header, Romelu Lukaku got his customary goal for me but Vincent Janssen looked to have won it for the home side in injury time before my cleans were counted. The Wateringhole Society leat to 13th after halting Mega Bucks fantastic recent run. Kiran’s team finished this in 26 minutes. Andre Ayew scored after five minutes when a misplaced shot fell to him eight yards out, Marcus Rashford raced away from Dave’s defence two minutes later and then Wahbi Khazri curled in his first of the season straight from a corner.