Week 30 Results - Muppets do it in Style

Cheese Makers 1 v 1 Mega Buck Bandits

Garth Crooks' Team of the Week 1 v 2 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 

Markian United 1 v 2 Claymore Athletic FC

Real Muppets 7 v 0 Wheel Madrid

San Dimas High School 1 v 2 The Fabulous Artisans

Stanley and Gracie United 2 v 2 Aardvark Abacus 

The Cow-Faced Juniors 3 v 3 YTFIB

Trusted By Millions 0 v 0 The Wateringhole Society

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Real Muppets	30	18	6	6	72	40	32	60
2	The Cow-Faced Juniors	30	17	4	9	84	56	28	55
3	Cheese Makers	30	16	7	7	70	46	24	55
4	The Wateringhole Society	30	15	8	7	67	43	24	53
5	Trusted By Millions	30	15	7	8	82	57	25	52
6	The Fabulous Artisans	30	14	4	12	65	58	7	46
7	Stanley and Gracie United	30	13	6	11	61	58	3	45
8	San Dimas High School	30	13	4	13	55	53	2	43
9	Claymore Athletic FC	30	13	3	14	56	70	-14	42
10	Markian United	30	12	5	13	50	51	-1	41
11	Aardvark Abacus	30	11	6	13	63	65	-2	39
12	Garth Crooks' Team of the Week	30	11	6	13	58	62	-4	39
13	YTFIB	30	10	4	16	41	53	-12	34
14	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	30	9	2	19	38	75	-37	29
15	Mega Buck Bandits	30	7	3	20	32	71	-39	24
16	Wheel Madrid	30	6	5	19	31	67	-36	23

In the end there was absolutely no bother for Real Muppets as they crushed Wheel Madrid 7-0 to take their second title. Only eighth after week 12, Ryan’s team clicked into gear, hit the top in week 18 and were never dislodged. The Muppets survived injuries to Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne along the way with a solid defence stepping up. Ryan’s not one to dodge, or even change his team that much, and taking the title after three successive tenth places gives hope to us all.

When the CFJs’ management team sit down for their end of season debrief they’ll wonder how this one got away. Six straight defeats between weeks 17 and 22 undid all the good work. Top on a lot of metrics this season you’d fancy them to be thereabouts again next season.

Cheese Makers had their best ever season that kept them in the title race to the very last week . I’m sure Matthew is more than happy with third place but there might be a tiny bit of him that thinks this is one that got away. Can he build on this next year?

Will Kiran be disappointed with ‘only’ winning the Charity Shield and FA Cup this season? A treble looked on for the Wateringhole Society but one win in the last five league matches was the undoing of that hope. Another team you’d expect at the sharp end next season.

Similar can be said for Trusted. They were my favourites for much of the season (sorry Beef!) but they couldn’t quite recover from a dodgy start and then finished with two wins in the last nine games. It’s six straight seasons in the top five but five years since a title.

After four straight years in the top three the Artisans fell to sixth, their joint-lowest in the last ten seasons. Don’t expect Ben to accept this lying down - he’ll be back fighting again next year.

No sooner did SGU get into the fringes of the title race than their form collapsed winning just one of their last eight. Forced into playing one up front for most of the season Aaron will be looking for striking back-up this summer.

San Dimas are eighth for the fifth time in the last nine seasons. My team haven’t finished higher than seventh for ten years now. One of the many teams that will be fighting for a striker in the summer.

Claymore picked up the PCMT but finished outside the top half for the fourth time in the last seven seasons. There was a bit (lot?) less tinkering this season but the scouting team haven’t always been getting things right.

There was a first for Markian this season as they topped the league (in week 13) after knocking on the door for much of the first half of the campaign. That was the highlight though and there was just four wins after that.

There was no sort of title defence from the Aardvarks and they sank to their lowest finish this century. Stats would suggest Ady’s team were a bit unlucky and I can’t see this happening again next year.

GC TotW had a dream start being top after week 11 and in touch at the mid-way point. Ollie’s team only picked up 12 points in the second half of the season though. With a year under his belt he’ll look to properly shape his squad now.

YTFIB finished top of the bottom four! Julian’s team were looking good for more too but only three wins in the last 14 games put an end to hopes of a top ten finish. Still a great effort for a team with only one signing over £6m.

Like Julian’s team Nil Satis aren’t unfamiliar with the fight against propping up the league. Paul’s team won their last three games to dodge that ‘honour’. If Everton are better next year will Nil Satis be too?

Mega Buck Bandits haven’t finished bottom of the table but looked odds on for that until they grabbed their last day point. It’s 15th place twice in the last three seasons for Dave though. It’s not a positive trend.

So bottom spot went to Wheel Madrid for the first time. Chris Wood did his best for Paul but there weren’t a lot of other big contributors. It’s six seasons since Wheels troubled the top ten.

Week 29 Results - Muppets a point from the title

Aardvark Abacus 3 v 2 Garth Crooks' Team of the Week

Cheese Makers 4 v 0 San Dimas High School

Claymore Athletic FC 0 v 2 The Wateringhole Society 

Markian United 0 v 3 Real Muppets 

Mega Buck Bandits 1 v 2 Stanley and Gracie United

The Fabulous Artisans 2 v 3 The Cow-Faced Juniors 

Wheel Madrid 1 v 1 Trusted By Millions

YTFIB 0 v 3 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Real Muppets	29	17	6	6	65	40	25	57
2	The Cow-Faced Juniors	29	17	3	9	81	53	28	54
3	Cheese Makers	29	16	6	7	69	45	24	54
4	The Wateringhole Society	29	15	7	7	67	43	24	52
5	Trusted By Millions	29	15	6	8	82	57	25	51
6	Stanley and Gracie United	29	13	5	11	59	56	3	44
7	The Fabulous Artisans	29	13	4	12	63	57	6	43
8	San Dimas High School	29	13	4	12	54	51	3	43
9	Markian United	29	12	5	12	49	49	0	41
10	Garth Crooks' Team of the Week	29	11	6	12	57	60	-3	39
11	Claymore Athletic FC	29	12	3	14	54	69	-15	39
12	Aardvark Abacus	29	11	5	13	61	63	-2	38
13	YTFIB	29	10	3	16	38	50	-12	33
14	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	29	8	2	19	36	74	-38	26
15	Wheel Madrid	29	6	5	18	31	60	-29	23
16	Mega Buck Bandits	29	7	2	20	31	70	-39	23

Week 28 Results - Four points cover the top four

Aardvark Abacus 1 v 3 Cheese Makers

Garth Crooks' Team of the Week 2 v 4 The Cow-Faced Juniors 

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 3 v 0 Stanley and Gracie United 

The Fabulous Artisans 3 v 0 Mega Buck Bandits

The Wateringhole Society 1 v 1 Real Muppets 

Trusted By Millions 0 v 0 Claymore Athletic FC 

Wheel Madrid 1 v 1 Markian United

YTFIB 1 v 2 San Dimas High School 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Real Muppets	28	16	6	6	62	40	22	54
2	The Cow-Faced Juniors	28	16	3	9	78	51	27	51
3	Cheese Makers	28	15	6	7	65	45	20	51
4	Trusted By Millions	28	15	5	8	81	56	25	50
5	The Wateringhole Society	28	14	7	7	65	43	22	49
6	The Fabulous Artisans	28	13	4	11	61	54	7	43
7	San Dimas High School	28	13	4	11	54	47	7	43
8	Markian United	28	12	5	11	49	46	3	41
9	Stanley and Gracie United	28	12	5	11	57	55	2	41
10	Garth Crooks' Team of the Week	28	11	6	11	55	57	-2	39
11	Claymore Athletic FC	28	12	3	13	54	67	-13	39
12	Aardvark Abacus	28	10	5	13	58	61	-3	35
13	YTFIB	28	10	3	15	38	47	-9	33
14	Mega Buck Bandits	28	7	2	19	30	68	-38	23
15	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	28	7	2	19	33	74	-41	23
16	Wheel Madrid	28	6	4	18	30	59	-29	22

Four points from two games is the Muppets’ target to take the title. That follows a 1-1 draw with the Wateringhole Society which leaves Kiran needing a lot of things to go his way over the last two games to be in with a chance of topping the table. Cody Gakpo headed in unmarked to put the Society ahead after 20 minutes but Ryan’s team toughed it out and a clean from Tyler Harwood Bellis could prove very important in the final reckoning. The CFJs are up to second on goal difference after beating GC TotW 4-2. Good game this. Ollie took the lead on 25 minutes when Morgan Gibbs-White headed in a free-kick but the Cows soon turned it round when Tomas Soucek bundled in from close range and Danny Welbeck scored a penalty. It was 3-1 at the interval when Ebere Eze sidefooted into an empty net only for the Garths to pull one back two minutes after the break through Gabriel Martinelli’s glancing header. Chris and Co’s team snuffed out Ollie’s hopes of a fightback a minute later when Eze scored his second.

Cheese Makers join the CFJs on 51 points after a 3-1 win at the Aardvarks. Raul Jimenez powered home a header on 17 minutes to put Matthew ahead but it was level at the break when Ollie Watkins got the faintest of touches to a cross six minutes into injury time. Two early clean sheets, first from Tyrone Mings then Rico Lewis, see the Cheese still in with a chance. Trusted’s hopes have all but gone after a goalless draw with Claymore. One win in five games has dealt a harsh blow to Beef’s hopes of a fourth title.

The Artisans are sixth following a 3-0 win over Mega Bucks. Jarrod Bowen opened the scoring on 57 minutes, Bart Verbruggen and Marc Guehi added clean sheets. Dave’s team have been sucked into the last place fight. San Dimas are seventh thanks to a 2-1 win at YTFIB. Kevin Schade got up highest to head Julian in front after 18 minutes, my team turned it round through cleans from Sepp van den Berg and Josko Gvardiol.

Markian hold eighth place at the moment after a 1-1 draw with Wheel Madrid. Chris Wood headed Wheels ahead on 56 minutes, Maxime Lacroix got the equalising clean for Ian. The result drops Wheels to bottom spot and he’ll need something out of games against Trusted and the Muppets to avoid propping the table up. That’s because Nil Satis beat SGU 3-0 this week. Sandro Tonali took just two minutes to put Paul S ahead, Vitali Mykolenko’s deflected shot made it two in first half injury time and Sven Botman added a third with a clean.