Week 30 Results - Trusted take the title

Claymore Athletic FC 1 v 1 Wheel Madrid
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 6 v 3 Cheese Makers
Mega Buck Bandits 2 v 1 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Real Muppets 6 v 1 YTFIB
San Dimas High School 3 v 0 Markian United
Stanley Athletic FC 4 v 1 Aardvark Abacus
The Cow-Faced Juniors 0 v 2 Trusted By Millions
The Wateringhole Society 0 v 4 The Fabulous Artisans

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Trusted By Millions	30	17	6	7	78	52	26	57
2	Stanley Athletic FC	30	17	4	9	78	65	13	55
3	Claymore Athletic FC	30	15	7	8	82	57	25	52
4	Aardvark Abacus	30	15	6	9	57	48	9	51
5	The Fabulous Artisans	30	14	8	8	61	48	13	50
6	Real Muppets	30	14	7	9	77	55	22	49
7	Mega Buck Bandits	30	14	4	12	55	54	1	46
8	San Dimas High School	30	14	3	13	46	46	0	45
9	YTFIB	30	13	5	12	42	41	1	44
10	Cheese Makers	30	13	4	13	60	61	-1	43
11	The Wateringhole Society	30	10	7	13	56	62	-6	37
12	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	30	11	4	15	55	65	-10	37
13	The Cow-Faced Juniors	30	11	4	15	37	55	-18	37
14	Wheel Madrid	30	8	8	14	57	57	0	32
15	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	30	10	1	19	37	62	-25	31
16	Markian United	30	2	6	22	21	71	-50	12

Well, we got there! And Trusted got there best of all.

It’s Beef’s third title and coincidentally each one of them has been secured on the last day of the season. This one was sealed with a comfortable 2-0 win at the CFJs. Realistically only needing a point, Gabriel Jesus settled the Trusted nerves on 11 minutes. Jeff Schlupp got the second after 53 minutes and the celebrations could start. Beef was 12th after week 11 with half the points of the leaders but only lost three league games after that. That level of consistency ground down and eventually saw off the other contenders. The CFJs, champions two years ago, were left short of strikers when Morata and Sanchez went out on loan and were consigned to a second straight bottom half finish.

Stanley Athletic did what they could with a 4-1 win over the Aardvarks but had to settle for the runner-up spot. Ady had the lead through Kieran Tierney but Aaron’s team turned that round before the break with a Virgil van Dijk header and a Chris Wood strike. Lindelof and Maguire got cleans to make the win emphatic. Aaron could be a formidable opponent in his first full season. The Aardvarks late charge fell six points short but Ady will go into next season in optimistic mood after his post-lockdown form improvement.

Claymore finished third after a 1-1 draw with Wheel Madrid. Olivier Giroud opened the scoring for Clive, but the title was gone when Jack Grealish equalised for Paul with six minutes left. Claymore seemed set for the treble but a seven point pre-lockdown lead wasn’t enough after Sergio Aguero was injured. A Cup Double is an excellent season but it could have been legendary. Wheel Madrid were one of the best teams in the first half of the season and the worst in the second. Injuries to Maddison and McGinn didn’t help but Jamie Vardy can’t do it all on his own.

The Artisans brushed aside the Wateringhole 4-0 to seal fifth place for Ben. Mason Mount’s great free-kick in first half injury time gave the Artisans the lead and Divock Origi struck on the hour to make it two. Walker and Williams doubled the final score with cleans. Ben will be kicking himself that a first title might have been in his grasp if it hadn’t been for a shocking run of one win in 11 after that. The Wateringhole Society fell back from last year’s excellent fifth place. Kiran’s team is packed with attacking talent but now might need tightening up at the back a bit.

No team finished the season stronger than the Muppets and Ryan’s team fired another six past YTFIB. Kevin De Bruyne (2), Raheem Sterling and Sadio Mane were all on the scoresheet again. If Ryan can add another striker (or get Sebastian Haller back fit and starting) there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be at the sharp end next season. YTFIB had a brilliant campaign and just missed out on a deserved top half finish. It’s still Julian’s best finishing position and highest points total. Manager of the Season?

P-E Aubameyang has done much of the damage for Dave in this campaign and got both goals in the 2-1 win over Nil Satis. It meant Mega Bucks had their first top half finish for 12 seasons and their highest position for 17. Nil Satis fell back from seventh last season to end up in the bottom two for the first time in six seasons.. Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Rui Patricio and Matt Doherty need support.

San Dimas nicked the last top-half place with a 3-0 win over beleaguered Markian. Dwight Gayle scored in the first 30 seconds, Rudiger and Cancelo added cleans. My team are now the definition of mid-table obscurity, finishing seventh or eighth in the last five seasons. Whether there’s been one or two people in charge Markian have been a rudderless ship for most of the season. This defeat added more unwanted records (fewest goals scored, biggest gap to 15th, worst goal difference) to the Hall of Shame.

Cheese Makers missed out on a first top-half finish for four seasons with a 6-3 defeat to Fred. Goals in the last ten minutes from Junior Stanislas and Danny Ings from the spot had Matthew 3-2 up but Fred had cleans from Azpilicueta, Wan-Bissaka, Zouma and Dawson. Fred’s title defence has been a poor one but mid-season signings of Bruno Fernandes and Mason Greenwood mean, as with the Muppets, there’s a lot to look forward to. Cheese Makers are building slowly and wisely and it won’t take much for them to improve again.