Week 16 Results - Wins for the top four

Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 2 v 3 Claymore Athletic FC 

Markian United 3 v 2 Cheese Makers

Mega Buck Bandits 2 v 4 The Cow-Faced Juniors

Real Muppets 0 v 1 The Fabulous Artisans 

The Wateringhole Society 2 v 3 Aardvark Abacus 

Trusted By Millions 4 v 2 Stanley and Gracie United 

Wheel Madrid 1 v 1 San Dimas High School 

YTFIB 0 v 2 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Aardvark Abacus	16	11	1	4	50	29	21	34
2	The Fabulous Artisans	16	11	0	5	44	27	17	33
3	Claymore Athletic FC	16	10	1	5	38	30	8	31
4	Markian United	16	10	1	5	34	34	0	31
5	The Cow-Faced Juniors	16	9	2	5	37	28	9	29
6	The Wateringhole Society	16	8	2	6	38	30	8	26
7	Stanley and Gracie United	16	8	2	6	32	30	2	26
8	Trusted By Millions	16	7	3	6	44	33	11	24
9	Cheese Makers	16	7	2	7	31	34	-3	23
10	San Dimas High School	16	6	4	6	29	32	-3	22
11	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	16	6	2	8	37	38	-1	20
12	Real Muppets	16	5	4	7	30	35	-5	19
13	Mega Buck Bandits	16	5	2	9	18	28	-10	17
14	YTFIB	16	4	4	8	21	34	-13	16
15	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	16	2	2	12	17	36	-19	8
16	Wheel Madrid	16	1	4	11	25	47	-22	7

While the top five are trying to break away from the rest of the table I’m not convinced that they have the title race all to themselves.

The Aardvarks 3-2 win at the Wateringhole certainly marks them out as favourites. Kiran’s team led thanks to the returning Ivan Toney’s cheeky (sneaky?) free-kick but Ady hit straight back through Richarlison. Maxwell Cornet was on target at the far post to put the Society back in front before the break but two late Diogo Jota’s goals sent the Aardvarks away with the points. The Artisans are a point off the top but got their win in a different style this week, a 1-0 victory over the Muppets courtesy of a Billy Gilmour clean. 

Claymore are three points behind and picked up a 3-2 win at out-going champions (I think we can say that now) Fred. Clive’s team seemed to be cruising at 2-0 then Gabriel Martinelli scored twice in two injury time minutes to equalise for the Gardeners. Claymore weren’t fazed though and Craig Dawson’s clean gave Clive the winner. Markian are level on points with Claymore after beating Cheese Makers 3-2. Matthew’s team came from behind twice and Oscar Bobb’s injury time goal looked to have earned a point. There was still time for Darwin Nunez to get his second of the game to win it for Ian.

The CFJs stay in the title picture after a 4-2 win at Mega Bucks. This was another game where there was late action. Chris and Co. had been 2-0 and 3-1 up (Gabriel getting an early header and a clean) but Carlton Morris brought Dave back into it in injury time. The Cows confirmed the win thanks to a Max Kilman clean. Trusted are ten points off the top but I wouldn’t count them out of things just yet, especially after a 4-2 win over SGU. Beef’s team raced into a 3-0 lead at the break, Cole Palmer with the third from the spot. Palmer looking worth every pound of his £28m fee. Aaron hit back after the break with Ben Mee’s header but Leandro Trossard restored the three-goal lead a minute later and that was pretty much that.

San Dimas and Wheel Madrid played out a 1-1 draw. James Ward-Prowse got a late spot-kick for my team, Thiago Silva’s clean earned Paul W a point but his team drop to the foot of the table. That’s because Nil Satis won 2-0 at YTFIB. Clean sheets from Jose Sa and Jarrad Braithwaite lifting Paul’s team up to 15th.

FA Cup 1st Round results - Holders held then beaten in replay

Cheese Makers 3 v 4 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 

Claymore Athletic FC 2 v 0 The Cow-Faced Juniors 

Markian United 1 v 1 The Fabulous Artisans 

Mega Buck Bandits 1 v 3 San Dimas High School 

Stanley and Gracie United 1 v 3 Aardvark Abacus 

Trusted By Millions 3 v 2 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 

Wheel Madrid 4 v 0 The Wateringhole Society 

YTFIB 1 v 4 Real Muppets 

Replay

The Fabulous Artisans 1 v 3 Markian United

The holders will need a replay if they’re going to progress. Ben’s team led through a Raheem Sterling goal with 21 minutes left but Ian earned a second attempt thanks to Pedro Porro’s worldie nine minutes later. Trusted were last year’s beaten finalists and still have a chance to go one better after beating Fred 3-2. This was poised at 1-1 until late on when Alexander Isak scored his second from the penalty spot and Luis Diaz got a third deep in injury time.

No one has won this more than Claymore and they've started another run with a 2-0 win over the CFJs. Matty Cash got the very late goal and clean to put Clive into the last eight. League leaders the Aardvarks are through after beating SGU 3-1. Enzo Fernandez pulled Aaron back to 2-1 with five minutes left but Ady made the game safe with a clean from Luke Thomas.

San Dimas are three-time winners and my team are through after a 3-1 win at Mega Bucks. Dave’s team led through Neil Maupay but my defence bailed me out again with three clean sheets. The Muppets won this in back-to back seasons in the 2000s but haven’t made the final since, A 4-1 win at YTFIB puts Ryan in the hat for the next round, Phil Foden’s brace turning it round after Julian led.

Wheel Madrid are getting a taste for this cup lark by the look of it. Paul’s team put the Wateringhole Society away 4-0. John Paul van Hecke’s early own goal gave the Wheelmen a head start and Thiago Silva was on target in the second before two clean sheets rounded it out. Nil Satis got the better of Cheese Makers 4-3. Matthew led three times in this game before ultimately being undone by cleans from Botman and Branthwaite.

In the replay - the holders had no response to Danilo’s early volley and a second-half brace from Darwin Nunez confirmed Ian’s progression into the quarter-finals.

Week 15 Results - Teams queuing up behind the leaders

Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 3 v 3 The Cow-Faced Juniors 

Markian United 1 v 6 Claymore Athletic FC

Mega Buck Bandits 0 v 2 Cheese Makers 

Real Muppets 2 v 2 Aardvark Abacus

Stanley and Gracie United 1 v 2 San Dimas High School

Trusted By Millions 4 v 1 The Fabulous Artisans 

Wheel Madrid 3 v 3 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

YTFIB 2 v 5 The Wateringhole Society

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Aardvark Abacus	15	10	1	4	47	27	20	31
2	The Fabulous Artisans	15	10	0	5	43	27	16	30
3	Claymore Athletic FC	15	9	1	5	35	28	7	28
4	Markian United	15	9	1	5	31	32	-1	28
5	The Wateringhole Society	15	8	2	5	36	27	9	26
6	The Cow-Faced Juniors	15	8	2	5	33	26	7	26
7	Stanley and Gracie United	15	8	2	5	30	26	4	26
8	Cheese Makers	15	7	2	6	29	31	-2	23
9	Trusted By Millions	15	6	3	6	40	31	9	21
10	San Dimas High School	15	6	3	6	28	31	-3	21
11	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	15	6	2	7	35	35	0	20
12	Real Muppets	15	5	4	6	30	34	-4	19
13	Mega Buck Bandits	15	5	2	8	16	24	-8	17
14	YTFIB	15	4	4	7	21	32	-11	16
15	Wheel Madrid	15	1	3	11	24	46	-22	6
16	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	15	1	2	12	15	36	-21	5

Halfway through the season and it’s tight at the top. The Aardvarks missed a chance to stretch their lead after the Muppets came back to grab a 2-2 draw. Son and Richarlison got late goals for Ady, cleans from Emerson and Hugo Bueno pegged them back. The Aardvarks do have a point advantage over the Artisans after Ben’s team went down 4-1 at Trusted. Cole Palmer scored twice against his former club in this one, Alexander Isak and Noni Madueke were also on target for Beef.

Claymore are up to third, three points off the top, after a 6-1 thrashing of Markian who drop to fourth. Ian’s team opened the scoring through Rodri but it was all Clive after the break. Most notable scorer here was Craig Dawson who bagged a goal and a clean on his Claymore debut. Former champs the Wateringhole Society are five points off the top after a 5-2 win at YTFIB. Marcus Rashford and Cody Gakpo scored within a minute of each other to put Kiran 3-1 up with 12 minutes left and though Julian hit back with a first WSFFL goal from Alex Scott (not that one) the Society had a couple of cleans to make it safe.

The CFJs and SGU are also on 26 points. The Cows drew 3-3 with Fred after leading 2-0 then trailing 3-2 (two goals from Mohamed Salah before his trip to AFCON). Chris and Co. got their point thanks to a clean from Max Kilman. SGU went down 2-1 to San Dimas. A close range Elijah Adebayo goal with three minutes left had Aaron celebrating but my team turned it round with cleans from Estupinan and Gvardiol.

Cheese Makers are going the right way again after a bad trot in November and December. Julian Alvarez and Curtis Jones getting Matthew’s goals in a 2-0 win over the struggling Mega Bucks who have lost seven out of eight. The battle of the bottom two finished in a 3-3 draw. Cup Final hero Michael Olise with two goals and Leon Bailey put Wheels 3-0 up but the exertions of the PCMT Final (and celebrations) started to tell and Nil Satis pulled one back through Sven Botman and then cleans from Jose Sa and Vitaly Mykolenko to earn the draw.