Paul Cartmell Memorial Trophy 1st Round Results - Holders through

Aardvark Abacus 4 v 3 The Fabulous Artisans 

Claymore Athletic FC 1 v 0 Stanley and Gracie United 

Garth Crooks' Team of the Week 1 v 1 The Cow-Faced Juniors

Markian United 2 v 2 Real Muppets 

Mega Buck Bandits 0 v 1 The Wateringhole Society

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 1 v 3 Trusted By Millions 

Wheel Madrid 0 v 2 San Dimas High School

YTFIB 2 v 2 Cheese Makers

Replays

Cheese Makers 0 v 4 YTFIB

Real Muppets 3 v 0 Markian United

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

Holders Claymore have made it into the quarter-final hat after scraping past SGU 1-0. Clive’s score came from a Daniel Munoz clean, Aaron hasn’t won a first round cup game for a couple of years now. Last year’s runners-up Markian United will need a second attempt to get through after a 2-2 draw with the Muppets. Two goals in 15 second-half minutes from Erling Haaland had Ryan’s team in control but a stunning strike from Moises Caicedo with five minutes left got Ian back in it and a Maxence Lacroix clean was the equaliser.

The CFJs had started with three wins out of three in the league but were held 1-1 by GC TotW who are still looking for their first win. The Cows went in front straight after halftime courtesy of Viktor Gyokeres who sidefooted in from a pinpoint cross. Ollie’s team were given a lifeline deep in injury time when a penalty decision went their way and Mohamed Salah duly converted. The Aardvarks and the Artisans both went into their tie unbeaten but it’s the Aardvarks who came out with their record intact. After Nick Woltemade headed in a debut goal for Ben it was Ady who took charge through goals from Martin Zubimendi (2 - the first one was a belter), Lucas Bergvall and Micky van de Ven. A coupe of cleans from the Artisans made the score respectable.

Nil Satis also went into their game with an unbeaten league record but went down 3-1 to Trusted. Beef’s team had struggled but the return of Cole Palmer with a goal shows brighter days are ahead. After Fabio Carvalho had made it 2-0 Trusted had a scare when Gabriel Gudmundsson planted a header into his own net but made it 3-1 with a Joachim Andersen clean. Clean sheets from Tyrick Mitchell and Dan Burn saw San Dimas beat Wheel Madrid 2-0. Paul hasn’t seen a lot for his Alexander Isak outlay yet.

Dave has never made the final of this tournament and he won’t this year after going down 1-0 to the Wateringhole. It’s hardly been a happy hunting ground for Kiran either, Kaoru Mitoma’s close range header giving him just his second win in 11 years in the competition. YTFIB were runners-up in this three years ago and had a firm grip on a quarter-final appearance when 2-0 up after an hour through Alex Scott and Antoine Semenyo. Cheese Makers tend not to go quietly these days though and forced a replay with cleans from Tyrone Mings and Kieran Trippier.

In the replays, there were comfortable replay wins for YTFIB, 4-0 winners at a surprisingly limp Cheese, and for the Muppets in an Erling Haaland-led 3-0 victory over Markian. The CFJ-s have the longest run of making it through the first round. A clean sheet inspired 3-2 comeback win against GC TotW stretched that run to four seasons.