Week 28 Results

The CFJs still need a point.

Athletico Phoenix 1 v 2 The Fabulous Artisans
Cheese Makers 1 v 3 Aardvark Abacus
Markian United 3 v 1 Real Muppets
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 5 v 0 Wheel Madrid
Mega Buck Bandits 2 v 2 The Cow-Faced Juniors
San Dimas High School 3 v 4 Claymore Athletic FC
The Wateringhole Society 0 v 1 Trusted By Millions
YTFIB 1 v 1 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum


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	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Cow-Faced Juniors	28	18	6	4	67	28	39	60
2	Aardvark Abacus	28	16	6	6	65	36	29	54
3	Real Muppets	28	13	11	4	78	47	31	50
4	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	28	15	4	9	80	59	21	49
5	The Fabulous Artisans	28	14	7	7	59	46	13	49
6	San Dimas High School	28	13	5	10	59	61	-2	44
7	Claymore Athletic FC	28	12	7	9	61	47	14	43
8	Trusted By Millions	28	13	3	12	58	51	7	42
9	Markian United	28	11	5	12	44	47	-3	38
10	Athletico Phoenix	28	11	2	15	46	54	-8	35
11	Mega Buck Bandits	28	9	5	14	49	59	-10	32
12	Cheese Makers	28	9	5	14	35	51	-16	32
13	YTFIB	28	8	7	13	38	63	-25	31
14	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	28	8	4	16	33	46	-13	28
15	Wheel Madrid	28	8	2	18	35	65	-30	26
16	The Wateringhole Society	28	5	3	20	27	74	-47	18

The CFJs are keeping the engraver waiting. Another chance to tie up the title has gone begging.

It might have been worse for Chris and Sons too as their team trailed 2-0 to Mega Bucks, first half goals from Wilf Zaha and Josh King doing it for Dave. Clean sheets from Ben Davies and Shane Duffy grabbed a point that may prove important in the final reckoning. The Aardvarks are still in with a chance of what seemed a very unlikely Double recently after beating Cheese Makers 3-1. This was another game that changed late on. Cenk Tosun fired Ady ahead six minutes before the break but Marouane Fellaini looked to have grabbed a share of the points for Matthew with an injury time header. Cleans from Emerson and Phil Jagielka gave the Aardvarks the win and keep the pressure on at the top.

The Muppets’ title dream is over for another year though. A strange set of results could have got it done for Ryan but he needed to win his last three and tripped up at Markian. A first of the season from James McArthur, yet another from Harry Kane, and Fernandinho finishing off a sweeping move had the home side three up and Ryan could only reply with a James Tarkowski clean. Fred hasn’t given up on getting back on the league honours board and battered Wheel Madrid 5-0 to show his intent. Leroy Sane and Dele Alli scored in a four minute first-half burst to get the game under control, three clean sheets put a gloss on the scoreline.

The Artisans have finished 3rd and 2nd in the past two seasons and are still chasing a top three place this time thanks to a late comeback at Athletico. Ruben Loftus-Cheek opened the scoring for Brian with less than ten minutes left but Patrick van Aanholt soon equalised and it was left to Christian Benteke to win the game with a falling over 90th minute penalty. A four goal first-half has put Clive hot on the heels of their opponents San Dimas for sixth place. Cesc Fabregas curled in early for Claymore, Dusan Tadic was the only person to score twice this week, either side of Matt Phillips pulling one back for me, and Aaron Cresswell curled in a free-kick just before the break. My two cleans weren’t enough to get back on terms and I’m now looking over my shoulder at Claymore…

… and Trusted who are also in the sixth place race after edging the Wateringhole Society 1-0. The only goal came from Gabriel Jesus, knocking in from close range on 53 minutes. YTFIB and Nil Satis scrapped out a 1-1 draw. Henrik Mkhitarayan looked to have won the game with his shot from outside the box but James Milner got the clean for Julian that shared the points.

2017/18 FA Cup Final

Aardvark Abacus 4
Monreal 51
Herrera 62
Lacazette 85, 89

v

The Fabulous Artisans 0

(3 cancelled cleans)

At Wembley. Attendance 90,000

Teams

Aardvarks: Cech, Trippier, Emerson, Kompany, Monreal; Herrera, Son, Matic, van La Parra; Ramirez, Tosun Subs: Pickford; Dunk; Davis; Lacazette

Artisans: Begovic; Femenia, Baines, Walker, Tuanzebe; Lingard, Sobhi, Eriksen, Shelvey, Hernandez, Firmino Subs: Fabianski; van Aanholt; Wijnaldum; Benteke

Report

A week after these teams met in the league (the Artisans coming out on top 2-1) there was a full house at Wembley for the ‘re-match’. It was a subdued first half though - Cenk Tosun looked lively for the Aardvarks early on but the teams soon cancelled each other out and went into half-time goalless.

That all changed after the break. It took just six minutes for the deadlock to be broken when Nacho Monreal escaped his marker at a corner to volley Ady’s team ahead. Ander Herrera was the unlikely scorer of the goal that doubled the lead on 62 minutes. Herrera strode on to a crossfield pass to shoot through a defender’s legs and under the despairing dive of the Artisans keeper for his first goal since week 26 last season.

Now the game was stretched and the Artisans were always going to be vulnerable as they pushed to get back on terms. Five minutes from time Alexandre Lacazette found himself unmarked in the Artisans area and had time to fire in at the near post with the aid of a deflection. The game was up now and four minutes later Lacazette stepped away from a defender and stroked in from close range..

So it’s disappointment for Ben in his first FA Cup Final, it’s another trophy for Ady has he narrows the gap to becoming the most decorated WSFFL manager of all-time.

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How they got there

Semi-finals

Aardvark Abacus 3v 0 Claymore Athletic FC (after 1-1 draw)
The Fabulous Artisans 5 v 1 San Dimas High School (after 2-2 draw)

Quarter-finals

Aardvark Abacus 2 v 1 Athletico Phoenix
Markian United 2 v 4 Claymore Athletic FC
San Dimas High School 1 v 0 Mega Buck Bandits
Trusted By Millions 1 v 2 The Fabulous Artisans (after 2-2 draw)

1st Round

Aardvark Abacus 5 v 1 YTFIB
Cheese Makers 2 v 3 Athletico Phoenix
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 0 v 3 Mega Buck Bandits (after 0-0 draw)
Real Muppets 0 v 3 San Dimas High School
The Fabulous Artisans 3 v 2 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI
The Wateringhole Society 0 v 4 Markian United
Trusted By Millions 5 v 0 The Cow-Faced Juniors (after 1-1 draw)
Wheel Madrid 1 v 3 Claymore Athletic FC

Week 27 Results

The CFJs have to wait.

Athletico Phoenix 1 v 0 San Dimas High School
Claymore Athletic FC 3 v 1 YTFIB
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 0 v 0 Markian United
Real Muppets 2 v 1 The Wateringhole Society
The Cow-Faced Juniors 1 v 1 Cheese Makers
The Fabulous Artisans 2 v 1 Aardvark Abacus
Trusted By Millions 3 v 2 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI
Wheel Madrid 3 v 2 Mega Buck Bandits


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	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Cow-Faced Juniors	27	18	5	4	65	26	39	59
2	Aardvark Abacus	27	15	6	6	62	35	27	51
3	Real Muppets	27	13	11	3	77	44	33	50
4	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	27	14	4	9	75	59	16	46
5	The Fabulous Artisans	27	13	7	7	57	45	12	46
6	San Dimas High School	27	13	5	9	56	57	-1	44
7	Claymore Athletic FC	27	11	7	9	57	44	13	40
8	Trusted By Millions	27	12	3	12	57	51	6	39
9	Markian United	27	10	5	12	41	46	-5	35
10	Athletico Phoenix	27	11	2	14	45	52	-7	35
11	Cheese Makers	27	9	5	13	34	48	-14	32
12	Mega Buck Bandits	27	9	4	14	47	57	-10	31
13	YTFIB	27	8	6	13	37	62	-25	30
14	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	27	8	3	16	32	45	-13	27
15	Wheel Madrid	27	8	2	17	35	60	-25	26
16	The Wateringhole Society	27	5	3	19	27	73	-46	18

The CFJs had a chance to clinch the title this week but the Cheese Makers put the party on hold. Glenn Murray put Matthew in front but an unlucky rebound off Kyle Laughton’s face meant it was level at the break. And that was how it stayed. A win would have been enough for Chris and Sons as the Aardvarks fell to the Artisans in the Cup Final warm-up. Andre Lacazette put Ady in front on the quarter hour but Christian Eriksen, just before half time, and Roberto Firmino, right on full time means it’s Ben’s team that have the momentum going into the Final.

The Muppets have still got second place in their sights after beating Wateringhole 2-1. Sadio Mane and Kevin Long scored within the first 10 minutes but Kiran’s team then kept the Muppets at bay until 18 minutes from time when Raheem Sterling notched the winner for Ryan. Fred’s charge up the table has come to a sudden halt and it was defeat for the reigning-for-a-little while-longer champions at Trusted. Beef was two up at the break thanks to Gabriel Jesus and Jose Izquierdo but Fred was back on terms with a quarter of an hour to go, Mo Salah’s clever header soon followed by a goal from Eden Hazard. Trent Alexander-Arnold, who looks like a good prospect, got the winning clean for Beef.

San Dimas are sixth after defeat to Athletico. Chris Wood scored early for Brian and not much else happened. The Phoenix are now level with Markian in the race to be top of the bottom half. Markian held Nil Satis to a goalless draw - was trying to think of something else to say, nope, nothing.

Claymore had been seven without a win before beating YTFIB 3-1. Dusan Tadic’s opener for Clive was soon cancelled out by Ilkay Gundogan’s penalty and it was left to bearded benchman Olivier Giroud to net a brace and deliver the points to Claymore. Wheel Madrid came from two goals down to condemn Mega Bucks to a first defeat in six. Dave was ahead of an early Wilf Zaha brace but Matt Richie and Jamie Vardy scored to level the game and Loris Karius got the winning clean for Paul W who now looks like escaping bottom place this season.