Week 27 Results

Claymore can finally uncork the reasonably-priced champagne.

Aardvark Abacus 0 v 1 Trusted By Millions

Athletico Phoenix 2 v 1 Real Muppets

Cheese Makers 3 v 1 Mega Buck Bandits

FCK2 0 v 2 The Fabulous Artisans

Final Fantasy XI 0 v 2 YTFIB

Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 7 v 3 San Dimas High School

The Cow-Faced Juniors 1 v 1 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

The Wateringhole Society 0 v 3 Claymore Athletic FC

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Claymore Athletic FC	27	18	6	3	91	43	48	60
2	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	27	15	3	9	68	54	14	48
3	Athletico Phoenix	27	14	6	7	62	50	12	48
4	The Cow-Faced Juniors	27	13	7	7	63	54	9	46
5	The Fabulous Artisans	27	13	5	9	67	37	30	44
6	Aardvark Abacus	27	13	3	11	53	48	5	42
7	San Dimas High School	27	11	8	8	63	51	12	41
8	Cheese Makers	27	11	7	9	45	49	-4	40
9	FCK2	27	11	4	12	48	47	1	37
10	Trusted By Millions	27	10	6	11	33	44	-11	36
11	The Wateringhole Society	27	9	5	13	37	54	-17	32
12	Real Muppets	27	10	1	16	49	61	-12	31
13	Mega Buck Bandits	27	8	6	13	35	50	-15	30
14	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	27	6	8	13	37	48	-11	26
15	Final Fantasy XI	27	6	6	15	37	64	-27	24
16	YTFIB	27	7	1	19	23	57	-34	22

For the second season running Claymore are our champions with three games to spare. It’s only the third occasion that the title has been retained, Clive has done it before and also the Aardvarks when they were good. Claymore got the win they needed with a comfortable win over the fading Wateringhole Society. No surprise that Sergio Aguero was on the scoresheet but that was bookended by a rarer Dusan Tadic brace.

Also surprisingly rare this season have been Eden Hazard goals for Fred but he got two this week as did Leo Ulloa in a big win over San Dimas. This was 3-3 at the break but Fred ran away with it in the second half. Craig Dawson scoring at the right end to wipe out his first half go. That goal difference was enough to lift Fred to second above Athletico who got past the in-form Muppets. Riyad Mahrez latched on to a defensive error to open the scoring on ten minutes, Anthony Martial raced through to win it in injury time before said Mane replied for Ryan.

The CFJs second place chase stuttered with a draw against Nil Satis. Pedro opened the scoring early for the Salehs, Willian replied for the Howells. The Artisans are in reach of the honours board too after beating FCK2 2-0. Chris Smalling shanked into his own net 15 minutes from time to open the scoring and a Patrick van Aanholt clean clinched the points. The Aardvarks lost ground though. Amy’s team went down to Trusted, the only score being a Nicolas Otamendi clean.

Cheese Makers have given themselves a chance of a top half finish with victory over Mega Bucks. Long, Fellaini and Deeney were on target for Matthew, Dave’s sole reply coming from Tommy Elphick’s first of the season. Down at the bottom Julian is in his best run of form of the entire campaign. Final Fantasy were YTFIB’s victims this week, cleans from Kone and Fuchs mean there’s only two points separating these two teams at the foot of the table.

FA Cup Final Result

Claymore Athletic FC 3

Aguero 33, 54, 80p

v

Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 5

Defoe 53

Alli 67, 82

Mangala [c]

Rojo [c]

(one cancelled clean)

Claymore: Robles; Evans, Ivanovic, Clichy, Dann; Cabaye, Barkley, Wijnaldum, Payet; Rooney, Aguero          Subs: Howard; Britos; Hoolahan; Giroud

Fred: Lloris; Azpilicueta, Mangala, Rojo, Dawson; Chadli, Hazard, Lallana, Alli; Rondon, Solanke
Subs: Courtois; Rahman; Mikel; Defoe

Claymore might just about have the title in the bag but Fred has dominated the games between these sides over the past year. First there was the slightly controversial FA Cup win last season and then The Gardeners did the double over these opponents in this campaign.

The first half hour had the feel off two teams not wanting to give anything away. Eventually Sergio Aguero found a bit of room on the edge of the box and fired Claymore into a first half lead.

The second half exploded into a cup final classic. Dusan Tadic hit the bar six minutes into the half and almost straight away Fred was level, Jermain Defoe sliding in at the far post to convert a low cross. Parity lasted one minute. Aguero escaped the offside trap to finish calmly. 2-1 Clive. Dele Alli had a great chance to equalise almost straight away but blazed over but he did level the game on 67 minutes, calmly chipping the keeper when being given far too much room. He should have put Fred ahead two minutes later but hit the post after rounding the keeper and having the goal at his mercy.

With ten minutes left that miss was punished when Aguero completed his hat-trick from the spot to give his team for the third, and last, time. Alli made amends for his earlier miss two minutes later, volleying in to bring the scores level again. With the game heading towards a replay two of Fred’s much-maligned defenders, Eliaquim Mangala and Marcos Rojo, to get the cleans to keep the trophy in Toronto.

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How they got there:

Semi-finals:

Claymore Athletic FC 3 v 1 Real Muppets
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 3 v 1 Aardvark Abacus

Quarter-finals:

Aardvark Abacus 2 v 0 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Claymore Athletic FC 6 v 0 The Wateringhole Society

Real Muppets 2 v 1 Athletico Phoenix

Trusted By Millions 2 v 2 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI (Fred wins replay 2-0)

First Round:

Aardvark Abacus 4 v 1 Final Fantasy XI

Cheese Makers 1 v 4 Athletico Phoenix

FCK2 2 v 3 Claymore Athletic FC

Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 2 v 1 YTFIB

Mega Buck Bandits 1 v 2 Real Muppets

San Dimas High School 2 v 2 The Wateringhole Society (TWS win replay 3-1)

The Cow-Faced Juniors 0 v 3 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Trusted By Millions 3 v 2 The Fabulous Artisans

Week 26 Results

The Claymore champagne has to stay on ice. 

Aardvark Abacus 1 v 1 Final Fantasy XI

Cheese Makers 2 v 3 Real Muppets

Claymore Athletic FC 1 v 1 Trusted By Millions

FCK2 3 v 5 San Dimas High School

Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 1 v 4 The Cow-Faced Juniors

Mega Buck Bandits 2 v 3 YTFIB

The Fabulous Artisans 2 v 1 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

The Wateringhole Society 0 v 2 Athletico Phoenix

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Claymore Athletic FC	26	17	6	3	88	43	45	57
2	Athletico Phoenix	26	13	6	7	60	49	11	45
3	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	26	14	3	9	61	51	10	45
4	The Cow-Faced Juniors	26	13	6	7	62	53	9	45
5	Aardvark Abacus	26	13	3	10	53	47	6	42
6	The Fabulous Artisans	26	12	5	9	65	37	28	41
7	San Dimas High School	26	11	8	7	60	44	16	41
8	FCK2	26	11	4	11	48	45	3	37
9	Cheese Makers	26	10	7	9	42	48	-6	37
10	Trusted By Millions	26	9	6	11	32	44	-12	33
11	The Wateringhole Society	26	9	5	12	37	51	-14	32
12	Real Muppets	26	10	1	15	48	59	-11	31
13	Mega Buck Bandits	26	8	6	12	34	47	-13	30
14	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	26	6	7	13	36	47	-11	25
15	Final Fantasy XI	26	6	6	14	37	62	-25	24
16	YTFIB	26	6	1	19	21	57	-36	19

Claymore were made to wait to get their hands on the trophy after being held by Trusted. Sergio Aguero got Clive’s goal from the spot but Beef’s new signing Timothy Fosu-Mensah snuck off with a clean on 68 minutes and the game ended level. Clive can only be denied in a four defeat, four win, ridiculous goal difference switch round sort of way. Fred’s chances of cutting the deficit ended with a big home defeat to the CFJs. Chris and Co were 4-0 inside 40 minutes, Ozil, Sigurdsson, Sanchez and Pelle all on target, and Fred’s only reply came from Dele Alli. The CFJs might be favourites for second place now.

The Phoenix are currently in that second place after beating the Wateringhole Society. Brian’s team left it late, Jordan Ayew scored five minutes from time and an Ashley Williams clean doubled the advantage. The Aardvarks’ late charge up the table was halted by Final Fantasy. James McCarthy got Ady’s goal in first half injury time, but Ceri left it late to get the draw with Damien Delaney’s clean.

After a surprise defeat last week the Artisans’ late push is back on. Ben’s team fell behind to Bojan for Nil Satis but a second-half Divock Origi brace kept all the points at Goddard Park. San Dimas had been slipping down the table but steadied the ship this week with a win at FCK2. Stephane Sessegnon and Victor Wanyama both got their first goals of the season either side of an Andy Carroll hat-trick (he should have been sent off mind) for Kevin and Jon. Two goals from Jamie Vardy took my team to victory.

Where was this Muppets team at the start of the season? A third win in a row for Ryan’s team after trailing twice to Cheese Makers. Laurent Koscielny’s instinctive strike and Toby Alderweireld’s header in the space of five minutes meant Ryan left the Stade with the points. Another team on the up is YTFIB. It’s three wins in four now for Julian who shrugged off the Mega Bucks challenge thanks to a Christian Fuchs clean at the death.