Week Nine Results - Lead changes again

Garth Crooks' Team of the Week 4 v 1 The Fabulous Artisans 

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 1 v 0 Wheel Madrid 

Real Muppets 3 v 0 San Dimas High School 

Stanley and Gracie United 2 v 1 Cheese Makers 

The Cow-Faced Juniors 6 v 2 Markian United

The Wateringhole Society 1 v 1 Aardvark Abacus 

Trusted By Millions 5 v 1 Mega Buck Bandits 

YTFIB 0 v 4 Claymore Athletic FC

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Garth Crooks' Team of the Week	9	5	4	0	22	11	11	19
2	Real Muppets	9	5	3	1	22	12	10	18
3	The Fabulous Artisans	9	5	2	2	23	11	12	17
4	Markian United	9	5	2	2	17	15	2	17
5	Cheese Makers	9	5	1	3	24	16	8	16
6	The Cow-Faced Juniors	9	4	3	2	30	19	11	15
7	Stanley and Gracie United	9	4	2	3	15	12	3	14
8	The Wateringhole Society	9	3	4	2	13	13	0	13
9	YTFIB	9	4	1	4	12	15	-3	13
10	Aardvark Abacus	9	3	3	3	20	19	1	12
11	Claymore Athletic FC	9	4	0	5	16	22	-6	12
12	Trusted By Millions	9	3	2	4	26	24	2	11
13	Mega Buck Bandits	9	2	2	5	6	20	-14	8
14	San Dimas High School	9	1	3	5	13	20	-7	6
15	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	9	2	0	7	5	21	-16	6
16	Wheel Madrid	9	0	2	7	6	20	-14	2

Cup Quarter-final Results

Paul Cartmell Memorial Trophy Quarter-Finals

Claymore Athletic FC 2 v 0 Trusted By Millions 

Mega Buck Bandits 3 v 2 San Dimas High School

The Fabulous Artisans v YTFIB/Markian United - Postponed

Wheel Madrid 2 v 3 The Cow-Faced Juniors

The Fabulous Artisans v Markian United

Charity Shield Quarter-Finals

Aardvark Abacus 1 v 2 The Wateringhole Society 

Cheese Makers 2 v 1 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Garth Crooks’ Team of the Week 2 v 5 Stanley & Gracie United

Real Muppets v YTFIB/Markian United - Postponed

Real Muppets v YTFIB

Paul Cartmell Memorial Trophy

The PCMT holders are out and I haven’t even had the chance to give him the trophy yet. Wheel Madrid led, then looked to have earned a replay but ultimately went down 3-2 to the CFJs. Chris Wood headed Wheels in front on 27 minutes and it stayed like that until half-time. But not long after. Brennan Johnson converted at the far post to level and the Cows took the lead when Jorgen Strand Larsen placed through the keepers’ legs on 67 minutes. A brilliant James Maddison free-kick looked to have earned Paul another chance but the Cows won it with a Tino Livramento clean.

Mega Bucks are yet to win the PCMT but are through to the last four after edging San Dimas 3-2. Vitaly Janelt’s belter had Dave one up at the break and Evanilson stretched to double the lead on 64 minutes. Josko Gvardiol headed me back into it with eight minutes left. But injury time specialist Jordan Ayew finished off a one-two to make it 3-1. Kyle Walker-Peters’ clean wasn’t enough to get me a replay. Two-time winners Claymore are in the semis after a 2-0 victory over Trusted. Trevoh Chalobah fired in from an angle on the hour, Joao Gomes got his first WSFFL goal to make it 2-0 12 minutes later.

Charity Shield

SGU won the FA Cup in Aaron’s first season and that’s the only knockout trophy available to Ollie in his first campaign after the Garths went down 5-2. Goalless at the interval there was a crazy ten minutes in this one. Bruno Fernandes’ penalty put Ollie ahead. Two minutes later it was 2-0 with a trademark Mohamed Salah cut inside and left foot finish. Three minutes passed and SGU were back in it with Dominic Solanke’s clever lift over the keeper. Three more minutes and the game was level when Ola Aina smashed in from the edge of the D. A minute later Solanke’s second from close range put Aaron in front and cleans from Aina and new signing Jan Bednarek finished things off.

Cheese Makers and The Wateringhole are also looking for their first knockout trophy. Kiran’s team came from a goal down to beat the Aardvarks 2-1. Morgan Rogers converted the easiest chance of the weekend to put Ady ahead, the Society turned it round after the break with Callum Hudson-Odoi and Cody Gakpo goals from range in the space of five second half minutes. Cheese Makers trailed Nil Satis until the end before they turned it round to win 2-1. A stunning volley from Leif Davis put Paul ahead, cleans from Rico Lewis and Nikola Milenkovic were the deciders for Matthew.

Cup quarter-final draws

Mrs Co-ordinator did the yellow bag honours…

Paul Cartmell Memorial Trophy QFs

Claymore Athletic FC v Trusted By Millions

Mega Buck Bandits v San Dimas High School

The Fabulous Artisans v YTFIB/Markian United

Wheel Madrid v The Cow-Faced Juniors

Charity Shield QFs

Aardvark Abacus v The Wateringhole Society

Cheese Makers v Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Garth Crooks’ Team of the Week v Stanley & Gracie United

Real Muppets v YTFIB/Markian United

Most of the games to be played this week - Markian and YTFIB still need to sort themselves out.

Week Eight Results - Artisans return to top

Aardvark Abacus  0 v 3 YTFIB

Cheese Makers 3 v 3 The Cow-Faced Juniors

Claymore Athletic FC 2 v 1 Real Muppets 

Markian United 3 v 2 Trusted By Millions

Mega Buck Bandits 1 v 1 Garth Crooks' Team of the Week

San Dimas High School 1 v 1 Stanley and Gracie United

The Fabulous Artisans 3 v 0 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Wheel Madrid 2 v 2 The Wateringhole Society

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Fabulous Artisans	8	5	2	1	22	7	15	17
2	Markian United	8	5	2	1	15	9	6	17
3	Cheese Makers	8	5	1	2	23	14	9	16
4	Garth Crooks' Team of the Week	8	4	4	0	18	10	8	16
5	Real Muppets	8	4	3	1	19	12	7	15
6	YTFIB	8	4	1	3	12	11	1	13
7	The Cow-Faced Juniors	8	3	3	2	24	17	7	12
8	The Wateringhole Society	8	3	3	2	12	12	0	12
9	Stanley and Gracie United	8	3	2	3	13	11	2	11
10	Aardvark Abacus	8	3	2	3	19	18	1	11
11	Claymore Athletic FC	8	3	0	5	12	22	-10	9
12	Trusted By Millions	8	2	2	4	21	23	-2	8
13	Mega Buck Bandits	8	2	2	4	5	15	-10	8
14	San Dimas High School	8	1	3	4	13	17	-4	6
15	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	8	1	0	7	4	21	-17	3
16	Wheel Madrid	8	0	2	6	6	19	-13	2

The Artisans are this week’s leaders after a 3-0 win over Nil Satis. Nicolas Jackson side-footed home from a perfect cross to put Ben ahead but he had to wait until the 85th minute for the second. That came from Evan Ferguson and the boss will be delighted to see his young striker back on the scoresheet. Marc Guehi finished the scoring with a clean. Markian are back up to second after beating Trusted 3-2. Beef was two up through Jean-Philippe Mateta’s deflected strike on the half-hour and Cole Palmer’s low shot just inside the box straight after half-time. Ian’s first reply came from an early Ferdi Kadioglu clean and then Maxime Lacroix and Destiny Udogie (from the bench) added two more to take the points. Trusted shaping up as the league’s unluckiest team at this stage.

Cheese Makers drop to third after a 3-3 draw with the CFJs. The Cows took control before the break with Yoan Wissa and Danny Welbeck both finding the target in the two minutes before the interval. Bryan Mbeumo got one back from the spot six minutes after the resumption but Chris and Co. were 3-1 up with two minutes left when Rayan Ait-Nouri fired in from a corner. It was late in injury time when Mbeumo’s cross drifted in to get Matthew back to 3-2 and Rico Lewis got a clean a minute later to earn a point. GC TotW are still unbeaten and in fourth place after a 1-1 draw with Mega Bucks. The action came late. Ollie’s team went in front after 81 minutes when Mohamed Salah finished off a breakaway move. It was six minutes into injury time when Evanilson headed in a free-kick for Dave to share the spoils.

The Muppets are fifth after losing their unbeaten league record, 2-1 at Claymore. It was looking like a routine win for Ryan after Erling Haaland’s fifth minute goal but the Claymore late show turned it round. Matheus Cunha’s shot deflected home three minutes into injury time and the turnaround was complete thanks to Manuel Akanji’s clean sheet. YTFIB are up to sixth (sixth!) after a 3-0 win at the Aardvarks. Jamie Vardy stretched to put Julian ahead after 23 minutes, a low drive from the edge of the box from Alex Iwobi made it 2-0 on the hour and Neco Williams rounded out a great day for the travelling YTFIB fans with a clean.

Wheel Madrid were closing on their first league win but were ultimately held 2-2 by the Wateringhole Society. Bukayo Saka put Kiran ahead, cutting in and smashing into the roof of the net, on nine minutes but was behind with half an hour left. Chris Wood has been Paul’s star man this season and two more goals from the striker had him in front until the very end when Ruben Dias' clean grabbed the Society a point. SGU and San Dimas played out a 1-1 draw. Virgil van Dijk nodded Aaron in front on 18 minutes, my team got the draw thanks to a clean from Josko Gvardiol. The two managers played a more interesting darts match on Friday lunchtime to be honest. 

Week Seven Results - Three-way tie at the top

Aardvark Abacus 3 v 2 Claymore Athletic FC 

Garth Crooks' Team of the Week 1 v 1 Markian United

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 0 v 1 Mega Buck Bandits 

Stanley and Gracie United 0 v 2 Real Muppets

The Cow-Faced Juniors 2 v 3 San Dimas High School 

The Wateringhole Society 1 v 1 The Fabulous Artisans

Trusted By Millions 0 v 3 Cheese Makers 

YTFIB 2 v 1 Wheel Madrid

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Cheese Makers	7	5	0	2	20	11	9	15
2	Real Muppets	7	4	3	0	18	10	8	15
3	Garth Crooks' Team of the Week	7	4	3	0	17	9	8	15
4	The Fabulous Artisans	7	4	2	1	19	7	12	14
5	Markian United	7	4	2	1	12	7	5	14
6	The Cow-Faced Juniors	7	3	2	2	21	14	7	11
7	Aardvark Abacus	7	3	2	2	19	15	4	11
8	The Wateringhole Society	7	3	2	2	10	10	0	11
9	Stanley and Gracie United	7	3	1	3	12	10	2	10
10	YTFIB	7	3	1	3	9	11	-2	10
11	Trusted By Millions	7	2	2	3	19	20	-1	8
12	Mega Buck Bandits	7	2	1	4	4	14	-10	7
13	Claymore Athletic FC	7	2	0	5	10	21	-11	6
14	San Dimas High School	7	1	2	4	12	16	-4	5
15	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	7	1	0	6	4	18	-14	3
16	Wheel Madrid	7	0	1	6	4	17	-13	1

Cheese Makers go back to the top after an excellent 3-0 win at Trusted. Matthew was ahead after just five minutes when Raul Jimenez was too strong for the Trusted defence. Two goals in ten minutes after the break clinched it. Curtis Jones arrived unmarked to make it 2-0 and an unlucky Aphonse Areola goal condemned Beef to defeat. The league lead has changed hands every week so far!

The Muppets and GC TotW are still unbeaten and are level with Cheese Makers on points. Ryan’s team beat SGU 2-0. Iliman N’diaye smashed in after 17 minutes and the Muppets survived a scare when Andreas Pereira missed a penalty for Aaron. Ryan Christie clinched the win with a powerful strike with 20 minutes to go. Ollie’s team were held 1-1 by Markian who are a point behind top spot. Mohamed Salah’s penalty put the Garths in front, Yves Bissouma’s low shot seven minutes after the break earned Ian the draw. The Artisans are fourth after a 1-1 draw at the Wateringhole. It was the first game at Kiran’s new Okus Road Stadium and the home fans were celebrating after Dejan Kulusevski’s effort found its way in off the post. Nicolas Jackson’s equaliser three minutes after the break for Ben spoiled the Wateringhole party.

The CFJs lost ground after being beaten 3-2 by San Dimas. The Cows raced into a 2-0 lead inside 20 minutes through Jurgen Strand Larsen and Mohammed Kudus but then the luck turned. Emi Martinez saved a penalty before Josko Gvardiol scored a belter to have me level by the break. An 18-minute Pervis Estupinan clean sheet landed me the win. The Aardvarks are now only four points off the top after a 3-2 win over Claymore. Morgan Rogers opened the scoring for Ady but he’ll be most delighted that Ollie Watkins and Son Heung-Min were both on target to make it 3-0 by the hour. Clive soon hit back with Rasmus Hojlund’s dink but could only find an Ashley Young clean to go down by the odd score in five.

YTFIB are tenth after beating PCMT specialists Wheel Madrid 2-1. Facundo Buonanotte’s 64th-minute opener was equalised by Chris Wood a minute later. Julian’s winner came from Paul’s former striker, Jamie Vardy, from the penalty spot. Mega Bucks left it late to beat Nil Satis 1-0. It was the eighth minute of injury time when the ball found it's way to Jordan Ayew who fired in a low shot from 16 yards (or thereabouts.)