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.)

PCMT 1st Round results - The holders go through

Cheese Makers 1 v 4 The Cow-Faced Juniors

Garth Crooks’ Team of the Week 1 v 2 Trusted By Millions 

Mega Buck Bandits 4 v 2 The Wateringhole Society

Nil Satis Nisi Optum 1 v 5 Claymore Athletic FC 

Real Muppets 0 v 2 The Fabulous Artisans 

San Dimas High School 3 v 2 Aardvark Abacus 

Wheel Madrid 2 v 1 Stanley and Gracie United 

YTFIB 1 v 1 Markian United

Replay

Markian United 2 v 2 YTFIB

Second Replay

YTFIB 2 v 2 Markian United

Third Replay

Markian United 1 v 1 YTFIB

Fourth Replay

YTFIB 0 v 2 Markian United

It’s customary to start with the holders so let’s do that. Wheel Madrid won their first game of the season, beating SGU 2-1. Chris Wood and James Maddison scored either side of half-time for Paul, Aaron’s only reply was a Virgil van Dijk clean. Like the Wheelmen, San Dimas are without a win in the league but made progress in the cup. Yankubah Minteh’s first goal equalised the Aardvarks’ opener, Dan Burn’s clean was the winner and stopped my run of five straight first round defeats in this competition.

Ollie’s first WSFFL cup match ended in defeat. Fabio Carvalho was left with a tap-in in the last minute to deliver a 2-1 win for Trusted. The other unbeaten league team, the Muppets, also fell at the first hurdle. The Artisans beat Ryan’s team 2-0 courtesy of a Jarrod Bowen goal and Diogo Dalot clean. 

Big winners of the week were Claymore who beat Nil Satis 5-1. Paul was eight minutes from a replay after Jeremy Doku’s belter but Clive stunned him with four cleans. Next biggest win was the CFJs' 4-1 result over Cheese Makers. Bryan Mbeumo’s penalty put Matthew in front but three first half Cows strikes turned it round and Rayan Air-Nouri finished the game in injury time.

The Wateringhole continued their shocking run in this competition, going down 4-2 at Mega Bucks. Kiran has won just one PCMT game in ten seasons. He was undone this time by three Mega Bucks cleans. Dave has never made the final of this one. Is this his year? One replay after YTFIB and Markian finished 1-1. Nathan Collins early goal being equalised by Lucas Paqueta.

In the replay - After Yves Bissouma’s low strike put Ian ahead Julian turned it round through goals from Facundo Buononotte and Jamie Vardy from the spot. Just as YTFIB were thinking about the next round Ferdi Kadioglu’s clean earned Markian another bite of the cherry.

It was also 2-2 in the second replay - Goals from Jamie Vardy and Alex Iwobi had Julian in charge but cleans from Lacroix and Kadioglu earned Ian another crack.

Things were different in the third replay, it ended 1-1. Antoine Semenyo’s smart turn and shot fired YTFIB ahead after nine minutes but Ian’s team were level courtesy of a fierce drive from Ferdi Kadioglu that went on off the far post. And that was that. Until next week.

When it was finally settled in Ian's favour, 2-0. It’s over! Darwin Nunez scoring on the breakaway after 20 minutes and an Alejandro Garnacho stunner settling it with eight minutes left.