Week 26 Results - CFJs back in the picture?

Cheese Makers 3 v 3 Trusted By Millions 

Claymore Athletic FC 2 v 3 Aardvark Abacus 

Markian United 1 v 2 Garth Crooks' Team of the Week 

Mega Buck Bandits 3 v 0 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Real Muppets 2 v 2 Stanley and Gracie United 

San Dimas High School 1 v 4 The Cow-Faced Juniors 

Wheel Madrid 1 v 2 YTFIB

The Fabulous Artisans 2 v 1 The Wateringhole Society 

1	Real Muppets	26	15	5	6	59	38	21	50
2	Cheese Makers	26	14	6	6	62	43	19	48
3	The Wateringhole Society	26	14	5	7	62	40	22	47
4	Trusted By Millions	26	14	4	8	77	56	21	46
5	The Cow-Faced Juniors	26	14	3	9	71	49	22	45
6	The Fabulous Artisans	26	12	4	10	57	52	5	40
7	Stanley and Gracie United	26	12	4	10	55	50	5	40
8	Garth Crooks' Team of the Week	26	11	6	9	53	49	4	39
9	San Dimas High School	26	11	4	11	49	46	3	37
10	Markian United	26	11	4	11	46	44	2	37
11	Aardvark Abacus	26	10	5	11	57	55	2	35
12	Claymore Athletic FC	26	11	2	13	51	65	-14	35
13	YTFIB	26	10	3	13	36	43	-7	33
14	Mega Buck Bandits	26	7	2	17	28	62	-34	23
15	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	26	6	2	18	30	71	-41	20
16	Wheel Madrid	26	5	3	18	28	58	-30	18

Another week where the top four all fail to win so the Muppets still lead the way after a 2-2 draw with SGU. Ryan’s team took the lead with an early James Tarkowski clean sheet and will hope his injury won’t keep him out for the run-in. Aaron turned it round in injury time with a stunning strike from Pedro Neto soon followed by a Christian Norgaard header. A clean from Illyia Zabarnyi grabbed a point for the leaders. Cheese Makers are second this week after an entertaining 3-3 draw with Trusted. Both teams had players scoring twice, Bryan Mbeumo gave the Cheese the lead in both halves only for Leandro Trossard to reply twice for Beef. Trent Alexander-Arnold crashed in a half-volley on his return to action on 76 minutes to give Trusted the lead but the Cheese had the last word with Nico O’Reilly their fox in the box to make it 3-3.

The Wateringhole dropped a place after a 2-1 defeat to the Artisans. Jarrod Bowen scored a very Jarrod Bowen goal to give Ben the lead two minutes after the break, Kaoru Mitoma levelled on 81 minutes but Ethan Nwaneri’s deflected effort gave the Artisans all the points. Four wins in a row have got the CFJs back within five points of the top. Could they? San Dimas were the victims this week, 4-1. Danny Welbeck headed the Cows in front against his old club in first half injury time. Yoann Wissa and Pablo Sarabia (with an excellent free-kick) took the game away from my team before Mateo Kovacic pulled one back. Dean Huijsen made it 4-1 with a clean.

GC TotW arrested their recent slide with a 2-1 win at Markian. Fabian Schar put Ian ahead on 18 minutes, Gabriel Martinelli levelled 10 minutes later and an Ibrahima Konate clean won it for Ollie. It’s five wins out of six for the Aardvarks now who have found their form too late for this season. Ollie Watkins smashed Ady ahead inside the first minute on the way to a 3-2 win over Claymore. Ian Maatsen added a second on 64 minutes and Richarlison headed in a third with three minutes left. Clive could only find two clean sheets in response.

YTFIB are still upwardly mobile after beating Wheel Madrid 2-1. After having a goal disallowed Chris Wood headed Wheels in front on 16 minutes. Julian was level courtesy of Alex Iwobi just four minutes later and Adam Smith’s clean was the YTFIB winner. Mega Bucks picked up a much-needed win, 3-0 over Nil Satis. All Dave’s counters were clean sheets - from Alisson, Kenny Tete and Milos Kerkez.

Week 25 Results - Title race back in the balance

Aardvark Abacus 5 v 1 Wheel Madrid

Garth Crooks' Team of the Week 0 v 2 Cheese Makers

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 3 v 1 Markian United

Stanley and Gracie United 2 v 3 Claymore Athletic FC

The Cow-Faced Juniors 4 v 1 Real Muppets 

The Wateringhole Society 3 v 0 Mega Buck Bandits 

Trusted By Millions 2 v 2 San Dimas High School

YTFIB 2 v 1 The Fabulous Artisans

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Real Muppets	25	15	4	6	57	36	21	49
2	The Wateringhole Society	25	14	5	6	61	38	23	47
3	Cheese Makers	25	14	5	6	59	40	19	47
4	Trusted By Millions	25	14	3	8	74	53	21	45
5	The Cow-Faced Juniors	25	13	3	9	67	48	19	42
6	Stanley and Gracie United	25	12	3	10	53	48	5	39
7	San Dimas High School	25	11	4	10	48	42	6	37
8	The Fabulous Artisans	25	11	4	10	55	51	4	37
9	Markian United	25	11	4	10	45	42	3	37
10	Garth Crooks' Team of the Week	25	10	6	9	51	48	3	36
11	Claymore Athletic FC	25	11	2	12	49	62	-13	35
12	Aardvark Abacus	25	9	5	11	54	53	1	32
13	YTFIB	25	9	3	13	34	42	-8	30
14	Mega Buck Bandits	25	6	2	17	25	62	-37	20
15	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	25	6	2	17	30	68	-38	20
16	Wheel Madrid	25	5	3	17	27	56	-29	18

The CFJs must be kicking themselves after their seven-game losing streak and gave us a glimpse of what might have been with a 4-1 win over leaders the Muppets. There was a fast start from the Cows with Rayan Ait-Nouri and Eberi Eze both getting on the scoresheet in the first eight minutes. Kevin De Bruyne fired in a free-kick for Ryan to pull one back on 33 minutes and show the league what we’ll be missing from next season. The CFJs weren’t finished though. Jorgen Strand Larsen had a far post tap-in to make it 3-1 and Yoann Wissa hooked in from six yards to complete the win.

Ryan’s comfortable five-point lead has shrunk to just two after wins for the Wateringhole Society and Cheese Makers. Kiran is second on goal difference after beating Mega Bucks 3-0. Harvey Barnes scored twice in the 20 minutes after the break and an Ezri Konsa clean finished things off. Cheese Makers needed two clean sheets to beat Garth Crooks’ Team of the Week. Kostas Tsimikas got the first on the hour, Tyrone Mings clinched the win for Matthew’s team. Trusted lost a bit of ground with a 2-2 draw with San Dimas. Luis Diaz opened the scoring on 18 minutes but an early Marcos Senesi clean had me level at half-time. Trusted led again when James McAtee raced clear to finish on 56 minutes but it was an Emi Martinez clean that grabbed a point for my team.

SGU have lost three in a row since I suggested they’d got themselves on the fringes of the title race. Sorry Aaron. they went down 3-2 to Claymore this week. SGU led too, through Thomas Partey on the hour with Clive hitting back through Donyell Malen. Matty Cash bagged an 85th minute clean for Claymore only for Virgil van Dijk to head Aaron level in the 89th minute but there was still time for Abdoulaye Doucoure to get an injury time winner for Clive. The Artisans lost 2-1 to YTFIB. Julian’s team took less than a minute to go ahead through Antoine Semenyo and doubled the lead when Chris Richards headed in 20 minutes later. Ben got one back when Omar Marmoush slammed home on 36 minutes but that was the end of the scoring.

Markian seem to be leading the charge for the sun-beds this season. Their good start seems a long time ago and they went down 3-1 to Nil Satis this week. Sandro Tonali volleyed Paul S ahead while a low Alejandro Garnacho drive levelled the game for Ian. Cleans from Jake O’Brien and Jarrad Braithwaite lift Nil Satis off the bottom of the table. Wheel Madrid are propping us all up again after being in the wrong end of a 5-1 result against the Aardvarks. You must know it’s not your day when your keeper palms the ball into Djed Spence’s face for an own goal! Mathys Tel and Ollie Watkins (his tenth of the season) made it 3-0 and although John McGinn pulled one back Ady sealed it with cleans from Jordan Pickford and Ian Maatsen.

Week 24 Results - Five point lead for the Muppets

Cheese Makers 3 v 0 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 

Claymore Athletic FC 3 v 0 Wheel Madrid 

Markian United 0 v 2 The Wateringhole Society 

Mega Buck Bandits 2 v 4 YTFIB

Real Muppets 3 v 2 Trusted By Millions

San Dimas High School 3 v 0 Garth Crooks' Team of the Week

Stanley and Gracie United 1 v 3 The Cow-Faced Juniors 

The Fabulous Artisans 3 v 2 Aardvark Abacus

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Real Muppets	24	15	4	5	56	32	24	49
2	Trusted By Millions	24	14	2	8	72	51	21	44
3	The Wateringhole Society	24	13	5	6	58	38	20	44
4	Cheese Makers	24	13	5	6	57	40	17	44
5	The Cow-Faced Juniors	24	12	3	9	63	47	16	39
6	Stanley and Gracie United	24	12	3	9	51	45	6	39
7	The Fabulous Artisans	24	11	4	9	54	49	5	37
8	Markian United	24	11	4	9	44	39	5	37
9	San Dimas High School	24	11	3	10	46	40	6	36
10	Garth Crooks' Team of the Week	24	10	6	8	51	46	5	36
11	Claymore Athletic FC	24	10	2	12	46	60	-14	32
12	Aardvark Abacus	24	8	5	11	49	52	-3	29
13	YTFIB	24	8	3	13	32	41	-9	27
14	Mega Buck Bandits	24	6	2	16	25	59	-34	20
15	Wheel Madrid	24	5	3	16	26	51	-25	18
16	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	24	5	2	17	27	67	-40	17

The game between the top two ended in a 3-2 win for the Muppets and a five point lead for Ryan’s team. The picture looked very different at half-time with J-P Mateta and Leandro Trossard putting Trusted 2-0 ahead. There was no Erling Haaland for Ryan but clean sheets meant no problem with the crucial three coming from Ederson, Jurrien Timber and Tosin Adarabioyo. The Wateringhole Society and Cheese Makers have joined Beef’s team on 44 points. The Wateringhole beat Markian 2-0 with a simple Harvey Barnes finish on 34 minutes and a Maio Gusto clean. Cheese Makers beat Nil Satis 3-0, scoring all three in the first 14 minutes. Jacob Murphy picked up a close range brace and Alexis Mac Allister smacked in a shot like a tracer bullet to keep Matthew in the title hunt.

The CFJs are fifth, a place ahead of this week’s victims SGU but at eight points back a lot would have to fall into place for these teams to get among the honours. Danny Welbeck gave the Cows the lead at the break, Pablo Sarabia and Jorgen Strand Larsen added second half goals before Kieran Trippier’s clean pulled one back for Aaron as it finished 3-1 to Chris and Co. The Artisans edged the Aardvarks 3-2 to go seventh. Mathys Tel’s injury time penalty made it 2-1 to Ady’s side but there was still time for Ben to snatch all the points through cleans by Diogo Dalot and Conor Bradley. Ninth place is the highest San Dimas have been in the league since week one! My team are back there after beating GC TotW 3-0. A great bit of Rodrigo Muniz skill got the goal for the Saints, Dan Burn and Josko Gvardiol got the clean sheets.

Claymore eased past Wheels 3-0 and stay 11th. Donyell Malen and Daniel Munoz were on target for Clive and Leny Yoro picked up a clean. YTFIB pulled themselves further away from the basement battle with a 4-2 win at Mega Bucks. After going behind to Alex Iwobi’s goal Dave turned it round to lead 2-1 courtesy of two Evanilson goals. It wasn’t enough though as Julian had cleans from Nick Pope. Nathan Collins and Ricardo Pereira from the bench to take all three points.