FA Cup 1st Round Results - Holders edge through

Aardvark Abacus 2 v 1 Cheese Makers

Claymore Athletic FC 2 v 3 Stanley and Gracie United

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 0 v 5 Real Muppets

San Dimas High School 2 v 3 Markian United 

The Fabulous Artisans 6 v 2 Mega Buck Bandits

The Wateringhole Society 1 v 2 The Cow-Faced Juniors

Trusted By Millions 3 v 2 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI

Wheel Madrid 0 v 2 YTFIB

Stanley and Gracie started their cup defence with a 3-2 win over Claymore, the team they defeated to take the trophy last year. James Ward-Prowse scored two in that final and scored the goal to put Aaron 2-1 up. Dominic Solanke made it 3-1 not long after the break and Clive’s clean sheet reply from Manuel Akanji wasn’t enough to force a replay. The league-leading CFJs and champions Wateringhole were playing for the second week running. There was a winner this time - the CFJs by 2-1, Marcus Rashford’s late goal for Kiran just a consolation. The Cows not regretting Rodrigo’s missed penalty.

The four teams with three previous wins in the competition had mixed results. The Aardvarks came from a goal down against Cheese Makers to win 2-1 with cleans from Kieran Tierney and Japhet Tanganga. San Dimas fell at the first hurdle, beaten 3-2 by Markian. Riyad Mahrez’s 85th-minute penalty looked to have earned me a replay but Oleksandr Zinchenko gave Ian the winning clean. The other two teams with three wins, Trusted and Fred,  were pitched together - Beef’s side getting the 3-2 win. Conor Coady scored for both sides and Beef relied on cleans from Jeff Schlupp and Takehiro Tomiyasu to send him through. 

The big winners of the week were the Artisans who saw off Mega Bucks 6-2. Ben’s team trailed twice but braces from Alexis Mac Allister and Eddie Nketiah turned the game in the Artisans’ favour. The Muppets won this in 2006/7 and the following season but haven’t made the final since, they couldn’t have made a much better start this time with an easy 5-0 win over Nil Satis. The final team into the quarters were YTFIB who make it to that stage for just the third time in eight seasons. Hwang and Dan James scored the goals that beat Wheel Madrid 2-0.