FA Cup QF draw

Cheese Makers v Aardvark Abacus

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

San Dimas High School v Wheel Madrid

YTFIB v The Fabulous Artisans 

Those games are scheduled for the midweek 10-12 February.

Week 18 Results - Chasing teams lose ground

Garth Crooks' Team of the Week 2 v 3 The Cow-Faced Juniors

Markian United 0 v 2 Trusted By Millions

Real Muppets 0 v 5 Claymore Athletic FC

Stanley and Gracie United 5 v 0 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

The Fabulous Artisans 3 v 1 Mega Buck Bandits

The Wateringhole Society 0 v 4 San Dimas High School

Wheel Madrid 1 v 4 Aardvark Abacus

YTFIB 3 v 3 Cheese Makers

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Fabulous Artisans	18	14	2	2	42	24	18	44
2	The Wateringhole Society	18	12	1	5	51	32	19	37
3	Real Muppets	18	11	2	5	45	29	16	35
4	Aardvark Abacus	18	8	6	4	37	24	13	30
5	Stanley and Gracie United	18	8	5	5	37	30	7	29
6	Claymore Athletic FC	18	8	3	7	36	31	5	27
7	The Cow-Faced Juniors	18	8	3	7	36	34	2	27
8	San Dimas High School	18	6	6	6	26	34	-8	24
9	Cheese Makers	18	6	5	7	31	38	-7	23
10	Mega Buck Bandits	18	7	2	9	28	36	-8	23
11	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	18	6	5	7	25	36	-11	23
12	Trusted By Millions	18	5	5	8	29	30	-1	20
13	Markian United	18	5	4	9	25	29	-4	19
14	Garth Crooks' Team of the Week	18	4	4	10	26	35	-9	16
15	YTFIB	18	3	5	10	23	39	-16	14
16	Wheel Madrid	18	2	4	12	18	34	-16	10

Well, that’s a pretty good week for the Artisans. Ben’s team did their job beating Mega Bucks 3-1 and saw both of their closest rivals slip up. Omar Marmoush doesn’t get much Artisans game time but made his rare start count with a goal after just six minutes. Dave’s team hit back 20 minutes later when Evanilson was given too much space. The lead was restored two minutes later when Jarrod Bowen converted from the spot and there was no more scoring until Marc Guehi made it 3-1 with a clean sheet.

The Wateringhole Society and Real Muppets both went down 4-0. Kiran’s team ran into a surprisingly good San Dimas performance with Crysencio Summerville, Samuel Chukwueze (his first in the WSFFL) and Mikel Merino all on target and Emi Martinez adding a clean.  The Muppets were turned over by Claymore who had excellent long-distance strikes from Mateus Fernandes and Matheus Cunha plus a close range effort from Thierno Barry and a clean from Matty Cash.

The Aardvarks beat Wheel Madrid 4-1 to stay fourth. Igor Jesus’ goal was quickly equalised by Emi Buendia’s curling effort but Micky van de Ven restored Ady’s lead before the break. Ollie Watkins made it 3-1 a couple of minutes from the end and Ian Maatsen’s clean wrapped things up. There was a bigger win for SGU who stay fifth. They trounced Nil Satis 5-0. Virgil van Dijk shouldered in a corner right on half-time and there were goals from Enzo Fernandez (from the spot). Dominik Szoboszlai and Harry Wilson plus an Ola Aina clean in the second period.

The CFJs benefited from a Lisandro Martinez own goal to beat GC TotW 3-2. Ollie’s team fought back from two down to level on 90 minutes when Cristian Romero powers a header home but the Cows had a winning clean from the bench thanks to Jean-Clair Todibo. Cheese Makers and YTFIB played out an entertaining 3-3 draw. Matthew needed an Abdudokhir Khusanov clean for that equaliser after Chris Richards looked to have won it for Julian with an 88th minute scrambled goal. Beef overtook Markian in the table with a 2-0 win over those opponents. Cleans from Gianluigi Donnarumma and Konstantinos Mavropanos were the Trusted scorers.

Week 17 Results - Artisans extend lead

Aardvark Abacus 1 v 1 YTFIB 

Claymore Athletic FC 1 v 2 The Fabulous Artisans

Garth Crooks' Team of the Week 2 v 4 Real Muppets

Mega Buck Bandits 1 v 1 Cheese Makers 

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 2 v 0 Markian United 

San Dimas High School 1 v 1 Stanley and Gracie United

The Cow-Faced Juniors 2 v 1 Wheel Madrid

Trusted By Millions 1 v 1 The Wateringhole Society 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Fabulous Artisans	17	13	2	2	39	23	16	41
2	The Wateringhole Society	17	12	1	4	51	28	23	37
3	Real Muppets	17	11	2	4	45	25	20	35
4	Aardvark Abacus	17	7	6	4	33	23	10	27
5	Stanley and Gracie United	17	7	5	5	32	30	2	26
6	The Cow-Faced Juniors	17	7	3	7	33	32	1	24
7	Claymore Athletic FC	17	7	3	7	32	31	1	24
8	Mega Buck Bandits	17	7	2	8	27	33	-6	23
9	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	17	6	5	6	25	31	-6	23
10	Cheese Makers	17	6	4	7	28	35	-7	22
11	San Dimas High School	17	5	6	6	22	34	-12	21
12	Markian United	17	5	4	8	25	27	-2	19
13	Trusted By Millions	17	4	5	8	27	30	-3	17
14	Garth Crooks' Team of the Week	17	4	4	9	24	32	-8	16
15	YTFIB	17	3	4	10	20	36	-16	13
16	Wheel Madrid	17	2	4	11	17	30	-13	10

The league leadership elastic band has stretched back in the Artisans favour.

Ben’s team have a four-point advantage after a 2-1 win at Claymore. An emphatic Florian Wirtz finish put the Artisans ahead three minutes before the break, Thierno Barry equalised just before the hour but Diogo Dalot bagged the winning clean for the leaders. Clive’s team have picked up just one win after taking the November MOTM award. #TheCurse

The Wateringhole Society drew at Trusted to fall back in the title race. Cole Palmer’s 76th minute spot kick had Beef ahead, William Saliba’s clean was Kiran’s equaliser.

The Muppets are still hot on the heels of the top two after a revenge win at GC TotW. Ollie’s team downed Ryan’s in the Cup last week and had the champions on the rack again at 2-0 after 71 minutes thanks to Cristian Romero and Brian Brobbey. It took four cleans from the Muppets (James Tarkowski, Jurrien Timber, Reece James and Lewis Hall) to turn the result in Ryan’s favour. The Aardvarks stay fourth but slipped further behind after being held 1-1 by YTFIB. Marcus Tavernier got a first half penalty for Ady, Julian grabbed a point via a Neco Williams clean.

SGU stay fifth after being held 1-1 by San Dimas. Crysencio Summerville’s deflected shot looked to have got me all three points only for Robert Sanchez to get Aaron’s equalising clean. Is the CFJs wobble over? They’re back up to sixth after beating Wheels 2-1. Yeremy Pino’s clever finish put the Cows ahead after half an hour, Callum Wilson bundled in three minutes into injury time to equalise for Paul W but there was still time for Gabriel’s clean to win it for the Cows.

Mega Bucks and Cheese Makers played out a 1-1 draw. Both goals came in the first half. Joao Pedro for Matthew on 26 minutes, Enzo Le Fee for Dave seven minutes later. Clean sheets were the difference in the game between Nil Satis and Markian. Jake O’Brien and Sven Botman were the scorers for Paul S that take him to ninth in the table. Ian has lost six out of his last seven games.

FA Cup 1st Round results - Wins for the bottom three

Aardvark Abacus 3 v 0 Claymore Athletic FC

Cheese Makers 4 v 4 Stanley and Gracie United

Mega Buck Bandits 2 v 5 The Cow-Faced Juniors

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 1 v 2 Wheel Madrid

Real Muppets 0 v 3 Garth Crooks' Team of the Week

San Dimas High School 4 v 3 Markian United

The Wateringhole Society 4 v 5 The Fabulous Artisans

YTFIB 4 v 0 Trusted By Millions 

Replay

Stanley and Gracie United 0 v 2 Cheese Makers

I usually start these reports with how the holders got on. I’ll do that again today as I won’t get another chance this season. The Wateringhole Society are out after being on the wrong end of a nine-goal thriller against the Artisans. The scoring, Artisans first,  went 1-0, 1-1, 1-2, 2-2, 2-3, 3-3, 4-3, 4-4, 5-4. Ben’s Man of the Match was new signing Max Alleyne who scored the opener and added a clean sheet. Similarly thrilling was the 4-4 draw between Cheese Makers and SGU. In a breathtaking finale there were four goals in second half injury time. Rico Lewis and Pedro Neto goals cancelled each other out, Enzo Fernandez put Aaron in front on 90+4 but Anthony Gordon got the final equaliser of the game a minute later.

The PCMT-winning CFJs are on a terrible run in the league but the Cups seem to be bringing them to life. It's certainly revitalised Jorgen Strand Larsen whose hat-trick helped the Cows to a 5-2 win at Mega Bucks. Those three goals take the striker’s tally to four for the season. Claymore have won our FA Cup more times than anyone else still playing the game (five) but he won’t be adding to that tally after a 3-0 defeat at the Aardvarks. Morgan Rogers and Igor Jesus got on the scoresheet but the notable performer here was Aaron Hickey who got a clean for Ady just days after joining from Clive’s team.

San Dimas versus Markian was another cracking tie that finished 4-3 in my favour. Ian led once and equalised twice before Sepp van den Berg bagged the winning clean for the Saints. My three other scorers were all getting their first goal of the season. Great management. That should stave off the sack for a bit. Unless I have a go at the over-promoted Director of Football of course. Trusted are having a stinker of a season and YTFIB added to that by beating Beef’s team 4-0. Antoine Semenyo celebrated his new contract by getting the opener, Alex Scott and Kevin got their firsts of the campaign.

Another shock was the Muppets’ 3-0 reverse at home to Garth Crooks’ Team of the Week. A Gabriel Martinelli hat-trick including two near-post headers did the job for Ollie. Bottom of the table Wheel Madrid are also in to the quarters after winning 2-1 at Nil Satis. Emi Buendia opened the scoring for Wheels, James Garner levelled for Paul S late on but Hakn Rafn Valdimarsson picked up the wining clean sheet.

In the replay,  SGU make a first round exit for the third straight year. He’s won one game in the competition since lifting the trophy in 2022.

Week 16 Results - Top three breaking away

Cheese Makers 3  v 2 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Markian United 2 v 3 Garth Crooks' Team of the Week

Real Muppets 1 v 0 The Cow-Faced Juniors 

Stanley and Gracie United 1 v 4 Mega Buck Bandits 

The Fabulous Artisans 3 v 1 Aardvark Abacus

The Wateringhole Society 5 v 3 Claymore Athletic FC 

Wheel Madrid 1 v 2 Trusted By Millions 

YTFIB 1 v 2 San Dimas High School

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Fabulous Artisans	16	12	2	2	37	22	15	38
2	The Wateringhole Society	16	12	0	4	50	27	23	36
3	Real Muppets	16	10	2	4	41	23	18	32
4	Aardvark Abacus	16	7	5	4	32	22	10	26
5	Stanley and Gracie United	16	7	4	5	31	29	2	25
6	Claymore Athletic FC	16	7	3	6	31	29	2	24
7	Mega Buck Bandits	16	7	1	8	26	32	-6	22
8	The Cow-Faced Juniors	16	6	3	7	31	31	0	21
9	Cheese Makers	16	6	3	7	27	34	-7	21
10	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	16	5	5	6	23	31	-8	20
11	San Dimas High School	16	5	5	6	21	33	-12	20
12	Markian United	16	5	4	7	25	25	0	19
13	Trusted By Millions	16	4	4	8	26	29	-3	16
14	Garth Crooks' Team of the Week	16	4	4	8	22	28	-6	16
15	YTFIB	16	3	3	10	19	35	-16	12
16	Wheel Madrid	16	2	4	10	16	28	-12	10

The Artisans left it late to turn round a deficit against the Aardvarks, three clean sheets eventually giving Ben a 3-1 win. The Wateringhole are still hot on their heels after coming out on top of Claymore 5-3 after what used to be called a ding-dong battle. Three-all after 65 minutes, Harvey Barnes put Kiran ahead 12 minutes into injury time and Jeremie Frimpong’s clean wrapped it up.

An Erling Haaland penalty was the only goal in the Muppets 1-0 win over the CFJs.* SGU have stalled in fifth and went down 4-1 to the in-form Mega Bucks, Dave now up to seventh.

Cheese Makers are recovering from their poor start and are ninth after beating Nil Satis 3-2. San Dimas had a debut goal from Mateus Mane in a 2-1 win over YTFIB.

Trusted got the better of Wheel Madrid 2-1 after going behind thanks to yet another own goal. Benjamin Sesko notched a brace for Markian only for GC TotW to turn round that two goal deficit to win 3-2.

* The CFJs have picked up just four counters in their last six league games. In contrast The Wateringhole have 36.