FA Cup Final Teams

Claymore Athletic

Howard
Sagna, Evans, Perch, Clichy
Bannan, Osman, Kightly, McCarthy
Modeste, Rooney

Subs: Bogdan; Ivanovic; Hoolahan; Gueye

You Know Your Boston Rock FC

Robinson
Terry, Richards, Dann, Caulker
Lampard, Milner, N.Dyer, Sinclair
Defoe, Carroll

Subs: Bunn; G.Johnson ; G.Gardner; Sordell

Week 25 Results - New leaders

We have new leaders. Trusted take over on goal difference.

Claymore Athletic FC 3 v 5 Trusted By Millions
Final Fantasy XI 1 v 0 Mega Buck Bandits
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 0 v 1 San Dimas High School
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 3 v 3 Real Muppets
The Cow-Faced Juniors 4 v 0 The Dead Parrots
The Fabulous Artisans 0 v 0 Aardvark Abacus
York’s Returning Glory 1 v 5 The Cheese Makers
You Know Your Boston Rock FC 0 v 1 Athletico Phoenix

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	CC	SP	Pts
1	Trusted By Millions	25	15	5	5	66	43	23	24	1	50
2	The Fabulous Artisans	25	16	2	7	58	38	20	20	0	50
3	Claymore Athletic FC	25	15	2	8	73	53	20	19	1	47
4	Athletico Phoenix	25	14	4	7	50	40	10	22	0	46
5	Aardvark Abacus	25	13	6	6	50	30	20	24	0	45
6	San Dimas High School	25	11	6	8	48	38	10	19	1	39
7	The Cow-Faced Juniors	25	10	7	8	59	51	8	24	1	37
8	The Cheese Makers	25	10	4	11	40	36	4	18	1	34
9	You Know Your Boston Rock FC	25	9	7	9	53	50	3	21	0	34
10	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	25	9	6	10	42	38	4	25	0	33
11	The Dead Parrots	25	9	2	14	33	56	-23	27	0	29
12	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	25	7	6	12	30	44	-14	16	0	27
13	Final Fantasy XI	25	7	5	13	38	44	-6	19	0	26
14	York's Returning Glory	25	6	5	14	34	67	-33	12	0	23
15	Real Muppets	25	5	6	14	40	59	-19	23	0	21
16	Mega Buck Bandits	25	5	5	15	37	64	-27	11	1	20

The Artisans are off the summit for the first time since October. Ben's team were held to a goalless draw by the Aardvarks where the only event of note was his fruitcake forward Mario Balotelli being sent off late in the game. Will the Italian feature again for Ben this season? Three draws in a row for Ady has damaged his title ambition. Trusted regain the top position after being title rivals Claymore in another high-scoring match. It wasn't quite a repeat of the 'Greatest Game' from week three but Beef had to inspire his team to come back from 3-2 down after Branislav Ivanovic's 'offside' goal put Clive ahead for the second time. Papiss Cisse scored his second of the game with his lob wedge effort into the top corner to make it level and Liam Ridgewell picked up a goal and a clean to end the match. Clive's team aren't out of it but if he misses out on the title he'll look back on losing twice to Trusted.

Athletico Phoenix are back to within four points of the top after edging Boston Rock with a William Gallas clean. Sheriff's team are in danger of finishing outside the top half for the first time in five seasons. San Dimas are still a surprise sixth place. A lucky cameo substitute clean sheet from Neil Taylor gave me all the points. It's a measure of hoe crazy this season has been when I'm only 11 points behind with five games to go. Fred's yo-yo team are on a downward yo and are another who could finish in the bottom half.

The CFJs are one of the league's hottest teams right now and disposed of the Parrots in some style. Clint Dempsey took his total for the season to 17 with a first-half brace. Holt and Suarez netted after the break. The Cheese Makers dream of a top-half finish is still alive after trouncing York's. Julian not helping himself with a Martin Olsson own goal on seven minutes. Matthew's record signing Juan Mata bundled in as the clock ran down and set up his trio of cleans to make the result look perhaps more one-sided than it was.

Nil Satis notched their third consecutive draw after failing to put away the Muppets from 3-1 up. Nikica Jelavic scored twice for Paul (he could be one to watch next season) but Ryan hit back with cleans from Vermaelen and Koscielny to grab a point. the Okus Derby ended in victory for Final Fantasy. Ceri even turned the hot water on in the away dressing room to make Mega Bucks feel welcome! This game was settled by a Gareth McAuley clean. McAuley had been the villain last week when his og led to the Aardvarks getting a point.

Week 24 Results

Still no nearer knowing who this season's champions will be.

Aardvark Abacus 2 v 2 Final Fantasy XI
Athletico Phoenix 0 v 0 York’s Returning Glory
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 3 v 4 The Fabulous Artisans
Mega Buck Bandits 2 v 3 Trusted By Millions
Real Muppets 1 v 5 Claymore Athletic FC
San Dimas High School 1 v 1 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
The Cheese Makers 2 v 3 The Cow-Faced Juniors
You Know Your Boston Rock FC 0 v 2 The Dead Parrots

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Fabulous Artisans	24	16	1	7	58	38	20	49
2	Claymore Athletic FC	24	15	2	7	70	48	22	47
3	Trusted By Millions	24	14	5	5	61	40	21	47
4	Aardvark Abacus	24	13	5	6	50	30	20	44
5	Athletico Phoenix	24	13	4	7	49	40	9	43
6	San Dimas High School	24	10	6	8	47	38	9	36
7	The Cow-Faced Juniors	24	9	7	8	55	51	4	34
8	You Know Your Boston Rock FC	24	9	7	8	53	49	4	34
9	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	24	9	6	9	42	37	5	33
10	The Cheese Makers	24	9	4	11	35	35	0	31
11	The Dead Parrots	24	9	2	13	33	52	-19	29
12	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	24	7	5	12	27	41	-14	26
13	Final Fantasy XI	24	6	5	13	37	44	-7	23
14	York's Returning Glory	24	6	5	13	33	62	-29	23
15	Real Muppets	24	5	5	14	37	56	-19	20
16	Mega Buck Bandits	24	5	5	14	37	63	-26	20

On the wrong end of an eight-goal thriller last week the Artisans were on the right side of the odd goal in seven this time. Ben's team were behind early when Fred's inspirational midfielder Rafael van der Vaart placed a left-footed shot from out of the area beyond the reach of his keeper but the scores were level just before the break through a Mario Balotelli penalty. The game caught fire in its last quarter of an hour. James Collins flicked a header in from a throw to put Ben ahead and then Balotelli added his second five minutes from time. Alex Kolarov pulled one back but Ashley Young's shot on the turn restored Ben's two-goal advantage almost immediately. There was still time for Fernando Torres to find the net to break his poor run but Fred ran out of time and now drops out of the top half.

Claymore have taken second place on goal difference after a second successive 5-1 win. Clive was behind to the Muppets on nine minutes when Danny Sturridge struck but wore his opponents down in the second half. Branislav Ivanovic hasn't looked like repeating his Player of the Year honours this time round but got the equaliser and another goal late on. Clive will be happy that Michael Kightly got on the scoresheet after giving the injury-prone midfielder a chance and Jonny Evans and James Perch added cleans to add to Ryan's woes. Trusted had more of a struggle to their three points but eventually edged out the bottom-placed Bandits. Papiss Cisse gave Beef the lead twice, once in the first half and then on the hour after Antonin Alcaraz had headed Dave level. Matt Jarvis found a second equaliser two minutes from time but a Victor Moses breakaway goal in the last minute gave Trusted the three points.

The two other title chasers failed to win. The Aardvarks were held 2-2 by Final Fantasy. A huge deflection off of Gareth McAuley put Ady ahead but two goals from Seb Larsson had Ceri looking at an unlikely win. The belated introduction of Emanuel Adebayor (thanks to an administrative error by the Aardvarks boss) brought instant rewards with a powerful header that grabbed a point. Athletico Phoenix were held by York's in one of those occasional games where nothing happens and is last on Match of the Day.

San Dimas hang on to sixth place but were held to a 1-1 draw with Nil Satis. Theo Walcott put me ahead after his initial effort came back off a post but a rare Victor Anichebe goal gave Paul a point. Nil Satis have looked livelier since the arrival of Nikica Jelavic and perhaps aren't getting the results their performances deserve. The CFJs took just two minutes to get off the mark against the CFJs through Clint Dempsey but Chris effectively won the match with two goals in four second-half minutes. Gylfi Sigurdsson, another great February signing, and then a Martin Petrov penalty gave their team a cushion that Matthew couldn't pull back. Krul and Simpson picked up cleans for the Cheese Makers but that team is crying out for a goalscorer. Are Boston Rock lulling Claymore into a false sense of security ahead of next week's Cup Final? Sheriff's team were two down to the Parrots after 22 minutes and couldn't make any inroads. Dean's win coming courtesy of Damien Duff and a first of the season for £10m Adel Taarabt.

Week 23 Results

The Artisans' lead shrinks to two points, just four points cover the top five. Tight.

Claymore Athletic FC 5 v 1 York’s Returning Glory
Final Fantasy XI 2 v 3 You Know Your Boston Rock FC
Mega Buck Bandits 1 v 2 Athletico Phoenix
Real Muppets 1 v 3 San Dimas High School
The Cheese Makers 1 v 1 Aardvark Abacus
The Cow-Faced Juniors 3 v 3 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
The Dead Parrots 0 v 2 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI
Trusted By Millions 5 v 3 The Fabulous Artisans

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Fabulous Artisans	23	15	1	7	54	35	19	46
2	Trusted By Millions	23	13	5	5	58	38	20	44
3	Claymore Athletic FC	23	14	2	7	65	47	18	44
4	Aardvark Abacus	23	13	4	6	48	28	20	43
5	Athletico Phoenix	23	13	3	7	49	40	9	42
6	San Dimas High School	23	10	5	8	46	37	9	35
7	You Know Your Boston Rock FC	23	9	7	7	53	47	6	34
8	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	23	9	6	8	39	33	6	33
9	The Cow-Faced Juniors	23	8	7	8	52	49	3	31
10	The Cheese Makers	23	9	4	10	33	32	1	31
11	The Dead Parrots	23	8	2	13	31	52	-21	26
12	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	23	7	4	12	26	40	-14	25
13	Final Fantasy XI	23	6	4	13	35	42	-7	22
14	York's Returning Glory	23	6	4	13	33	62	-29	22
15	Real Muppets	23	5	5	13	36	51	-15	20
16	Mega Buck Bandits	23	5	5	13	35	60	-25	20

Trusted By Millions make the headline slot this week with their defeat of the league-leading Artisans which gives the championship pot another stir. Papiss Cisse was a big-money January signing for Beef and it took him just six minutes to open the scoring. Ben was level ten minutes later after Kieran Gibbs  fired home a rare goal but the Artisans found themselves 4-1 down by half-time. Cisse adding a second between two headers from David Wheater. Leighton Baines curled a free-kick home to reduce the advantage on the hour but the returning Stephane Sessegnon made it 5-2 on 76 minutes before another free-kick from the Artisans, this time from Taye Taiwo completed the scoring. Two points now separate the sides.

Claymore are level on points with Trusted but two behind on goal difference. Clive improved that column with a 5-1 beating of York's this week. It took him 42 minutes to find a breakthrough before Wayne Rooney smashed in from close range but the scores were level on the hour when Peter Crouch struck a spectacular volley from outside the area into the far corner of the Claymore goal. Four clean sheets ultimately gave Claymore the points and condemned Julian's team to a sixth straight defeat.

The Aardvarks are fourth but needed a clean sheet from Phil Jagielka to grab a point at the Cheese Makers. Matthew's team had led through Shane Long (who is yet to look like repaying his £12.5m fee) but failed to close the game out. Athletico Phoenix are a point further behind after getting back to winning ways. Mega Bucks kept Robin van Persie quiet and took the lead through Matt Jarvis but cleans from old stagers Brad Friedel and Phil Neville gave Brian the win.

San Dimas hang on to sixth place after my team turned in a tidy performance in beating the Muppets. Hatem Ben Arfa ran the show and opened the scoring on 12 minutes and Theo Walcott doubled the lead on the 25-minute mark. James McClean (one of the finds of the season) pulled one back for Ryan 20 minutes from the end but I had a clean fom Sylvain Distin to round things off. Boston Rock are a point behind in seventh after their come-from-behind victory at Final Fantasy. Gary Caldwell and Yaya Toure put Ceri two up but Sheriff notched three cleans (you may have read how in an earlier message) to get the win.

A point further back are our current champions Fred West. The Gardeners won a low-key game against the Parrots with cleans from Patrice Evra and Younes Kaboul. Our final game of the week was an entertaining three-all draw between the CFJs and Nil Satis. Chris raced into a three goal lead with two from Grant Holt before the break and one from Luis Suarez just after. Steven N'Zonzi started Paul's fightback on 56 minutes, Nikica Jelavic scored his first Nil Satis goal 20 minutes later and when Holt saw read five minutes from time Paul made the extra man pay and Mikel Arteta smashed home the equaliser as time ran out.

Week 22 Results

The Artisans keep their four point lead.

Claymore Athletic FC 4 v 1 Mega Buck Bandits
Final Fantasy XI 1 v 2 The Cheese Makers
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 0 v 2 Aardvark Abacus
The Cow-Faced Juniors 2 v 1 Real Muppets
The Fabulous Artisans 3 v 0 Athletico Phoenix
Trusted By Millions 4 v 1 The Dead Parrots
York’s Returning Glory 1 v 2 San Dimas High School
You Know Your Boston Rock FC 2 v 2 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Fabulous Artisans	22	15	1	6	51	30	21	46
2	Aardvark Abacus	22	13	3	6	47	27	20	42
3	Trusted By Millions	22	12	5	5	53	35	18	41
4	Claymore Athletic FC	22	13	2	7	60	46	14	41
5	Athletico Phoenix	22	12	3	7	47	39	8	39
6	San Dimas High School	22	9	5	8	43	36	7	32
7	You Know Your Boston Rock FC	22	8	7	7	50	45	5	31
8	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	22	8	6	8	37	33	4	30
9	The Cow-Faced Juniors	22	8	6	8	49	46	3	30
10	The Cheese Makers	22	9	3	10	32	31	1	30
11	The Dead Parrots	22	8	2	12	31	50	-19	26
12	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	22	7	3	12	23	37	-14	24
13	Final Fantasy XI	22	6	4	12	33	39	-6	22
14	York's Returning Glory	22	6	4	12	32	57	-25	22
15	Real Muppets	22	5	5	12	35	48	-13	20
16	Mega Buck Bandits	22	5	5	12	34	58	-24	20

Ben appears to be through his blip after beating Claymore last week and now the Phoenix this. Brian's title hopes aren't over but he can perhaps only risk one more defeat. Ben's certainly not home and dry either as the Aardvarks, Trusted and Claymore all racked up routine wins to stay in hot pursuit.

San Dimas have somehow fluked their way into sixth, mostly helped by Boston Rock and Fred taking points off each other. There's two points covering sixth to tenth with the Cheese Makers winning and the CFJs beating the Muppets in an unofficial  FA Cup third place play-off.

FA Cup semi-final results

Two old rivals will meet in the final.

The Cow-Faced Juniors 0 v 4 Claymore Athletic FC
You Know Your Boston Rock FC 3 v 1 Real Muppets

Cup specialists Boston Rock will have a chance to win a sixth FA Cup final after a dramatic late comeback against Real Muppets. After a cagey ninety minutes Thomas Vermaelen put Ryan's side ahead in injury time but Sheriff's men dug deep to produce cleans from Scott Dann, Rio Ferdinand and Steven Caulker which put their side into their fifth FA Cup final in seven seasons.

Boston rock's opponents will be high-scoring Claymore. It was a comfortable win for Clive over the CFJs and it only took ten minutes for Claymore to make the breakthrough with Wes Hoolahan hooking in a volley. Wayne Rooney took his tally for the season in all competitions to nineteen with a first-half near-post volley ten minutes before the break and then a penalty on 71 minutes which took the game totally out of Chris' reach. Jonny Evans rounded off a great night for Claymore.

Our finalists have played in nine FA Cup finals between them but the meeting on the 9-11 April will be the first time they have clashed in the final of this tournament.

Week 21 Results

Ben's team seem back on song with a big win against one of his title rivals.

Rearranged Week 20 fixture

Mega Buck Bandits 0 v 2 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Week 21

Aardvark Abacus 3 v 0 Real Muppets
Athletico Phoenix 4 v 0 The Dead Parrots
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 0 v 1 Trusted By Millions
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 1 v 3 Final Fantasy XI
San Dimas High School 4 v 0 Mega Buck Bandits
The Fabulous Artisans 3 v 1 Claymore Athletic FC
York’s Returning Glory 0 v 6 The Cow-Faced Juniors
You Know Your Boston Rock FC 1 v 0 The Cheese Makers

1	The Fabulous Artisans	21	14	1	6	48	30	18	43
2	Aardvark Abacus	21	12	3	6	45	27	18	39
3	Athletico Phoenix	21	12	3	6	47	36	11	39
4	Trusted By Millions	21	11	5	5	49	34	15	38
5	Claymore Athletic FC	21	12	2	7	56	45	11	38
6	You Know Your Boston Rock FC	21	8	6	7	48	43	5	30
7	San Dimas High School	21	8	5	8	41	35	6	29
8	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	21	8	5	8	35	31	4	29
9	The Cow-Faced Juniors	21	7	6	8	47	45	2	27
10	The Cheese Makers	21	8	3	10	30	30	0	27
11	The Dead Parrots	21	8	2	11	30	46	-16	26
12	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	21	7	3	11	23	35	-12	24
13	Final Fantasy XI	21	6	4	11	32	37	-5	22
14	York's Returning Glory	21	6	4	11	31	55	-24	22
15	Real Muppets	21	5	5	11	34	46	-12	20
16	Mega Buck Bandits	21	5	5	11	33	54	-21	20

As the Artisans seemed to be running out of steam and Claymore carrying all before them so the title race decided to take another turn. Ben's lead has been somewhat elastic over the last few weeks but it stretched in his favour after a 3-1 win. Wayne Rooney had put Clive in front just before the break but the game turned in 10 second half minutes. Ashley Young's scissor kick levelled the game on the hour and then Mario Balotelli, after his strip club exertions the night before, and Young again within a minute keep Ben ahead of the pack and drops Clive to fifth. The Aardvarks are second on goal difference after a comfortable win over the resurgent Muppets. Laurent Koscielny shinned home a clearance (how many own goals have the Muppets conceded this season?) and a couple of cleans saw Ady's team home.

Athletico Phoenix are third after putting four past the Parrots. Robin van Persie took his league haul to 22 with the opener on the half hour and then a stunning cushioned volley in the last minute. In between times Bobby Zamora opened his Phoenix account and David Dunn found the target with his header which must be a collectors item! Trusted are only a point further back after a win over Fred. It was a quiet game only settled by a Robert Huth clean. Fred's hopes of defending his title have (cliche alert!) come down with the Christmas lights - he hasn't won this year. Fred's failure drops him to eighth with Boston Rock now the 'best of the rest'.

It was a tight game for Sheriff against the Cheese Makers which was decided by Jermain Defoe's strike three minutes from time. Matthew is now outside the top half for the first time this season, his team are really going through a goal shy period. Conversely, San Dimas have hit their highest position of the season after adding to the Mega Bucks woes. Dave's team had already slumped to defeat in their rearranged week 20 fixture against Nil Satis and there was no mercy from my recent signing Pavel Pogrebnyak who scored a hat-trick.

Biggest winners of the week were the CFJs who crushed York's 6-0. Julian's team decided to give Chris a helping hand through a Gretar Steinsson own goal and then recent signing Gylfi Sigurdsson added a brace either side of half-time. Clint Dempsey also struck twice and Matthew Etherington also got his name on the scoresheet. Final Fantasy picked up only their second win since November but their 3-1 defeat of Nil Satis lifted them off the bottom. Royston Drenthe had given Paul hopes of an 'Okus double' with the opener but Gareth McAuley struck from close range and logged a clean sheet along with Angel Rangel to give Ceri the win and drop her hubby to last place.