Week 26 (catch-up) Results

Wins for the title chasers in the rearranged matches.

Final Fantasy XI 0 v 7 Athletico Phoenix
The Cow-Faced Juniors 5 v 2 You Know Your Boston Rock FC

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	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Cow-Faced Juniors	26	16	6	4	83	52	31	54
2	Claymore Athletic FC	26	17	3	6	69	43	26	54
3	Athletico Phoenix	26	15	4	7	66	41	25	49
4	Aardvark Abacus	26	14	4	8	52	35	17	46
5	Final Fantasy XI	26	13	4	9	50	44	6	43
6	Real Muppets	26	11	7	8	53	53	0	40
7	Trusted By Millions	26	11	6	9	63	56	7	39
8	The Fabulous Artisans	26	11	5	10	51	51	0	38
9	San Dimas High School	26	11	2	13	55	60	-5	35
10	The Dead Parrots	26	8	8	10	39	46	-7	32
11	Mega Buck Bandits	26	9	4	13	39	38	1	31
12	YTFIB	26	7	8	11	31	54	-23	29
13	You Know Your Boston Rock FC	26	8	4	14	55	59	-4	28
14	The Cheese Makers	26	6	6	14	35	56	-21	24
15	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	26	6	6	14	31	58	-27	24
16	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	26	6	1	19	29	55	-26	19

The CFJs re-assumed league leadership in their rearranged fixture but had to fight for it. Clint Dempsey steered Chris in front but two quick strikes from Jermain Defoe and Kevin Nolan had Boston Rock ahead. The lead lasted briefly though as Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez (lucky to still be on the pitch perhaps) swung the game back in the CFJs favour and cleans finished the game off.

The week's rest certainly did Athletico Phoenix some good. Robin van Persie in particular had looked jaded but opened the scoring inside two minutes and completed his hat-trick just after the half-hour. When Per Mertersacker stooped to nod home before half-time there was no coming back for Final Fantasy.

Week 26 Results

Claymore put the points in the bag while their rivals sit it out.

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

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Claymore Athletic FC	26	17	3	6	69	43	26	54
2	The Cow-Faced Juniors	25	15	6	4	78	50	28	51
3	Athletico Phoenix	25	14	4	7	59	41	18	46
4	Aardvark Abacus	26	14	4	8	52	35	17	46
5	Final Fantasy XI	25	13	4	8	50	37	13	43
6	Real Muppets	26	11	7	8	53	53	0	40
7	Trusted By Millions	26	11	6	9	63	56	7	39
8	The Fabulous Artisans	26	11	5	10	51	51	0	38
9	San Dimas High School	26	11	2	13	55	60	-5	35
10	The Dead Parrots	26	8	8	10	39	46	-7	32
11	Mega Buck Bandits	26	9	4	13	39	38	1	31
12	YTFIB	26	7	8	11	31	54	-23	29
13	You Know Your Boston Rock FC	25	8	4	13	53	54	-1	28
14	The Cheese Makers	26	6	6	14	35	56	-21	24
15	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	26	6	6	14	31	58	-27	24
16	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	26	6	1	19	29	55	-26	19

Claymore did what they needed to do in the Evertonian Derby this week. David Luiz hit a screamer to open the scoring for Clive but had a late scare when Mikel Arteta equalised from the spot with five minutes left. Olivier Giroud hasn't been a roaring success for the Swordsmen but notched an important goal three minutes later and Luiz got the clinching clean. Last season Ady slipped up by drawing too many games when the title was in his sights and the's season he's at it again with a second successive draw. Trusted led through two smart finishes from Stephane Sessegnon and Charles N'Zogbia but the Aardvarks nicked a point thanks to cleans form Carlos Cuellar and Phil Jagielka.

The Muppets overtook Trusted thanks to an emphatic 4-0 win over YTFIB. The game was all square until Fabian Delph skimmed a header into his own net and then Ryan's team kicked on for an easy win. The Artisans hold eighth place after coming from a goal down to beat Mega Bucks through Adam Johnson and a Leighton Baines clean. Dave's season turning very average after a good start.

Michael Carrick scored a rare goal to give the Cheese Makers an early lead over the Parrots but Dean got an equaliser 86 minutes later thanks to Joe Hart's clean sheet. In the last match on the highlights show San Dimas and Fred sleepwalked to a goalless draw.

Week 25 Results

The top two unable to pick up a win which allows the Phoenix to close the gap.

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

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Cow-Faced Juniors	25	15	6	4	78	50	28	51
2	Claymore Athletic FC	25	16	3	6	66	42	24	51
3	Athletico Phoenix	25	14	4	7	59	41	18	46
4	Aardvark Abacus	25	14	3	8	50	33	17	45
5	Final Fantasy XI	25	13	4	8	50	37	13	43
6	Trusted By Millions	25	11	5	9	61	54	7	38
7	Real Muppets	25	10	7	8	49	53	-4	37
8	The Fabulous Artisans	25	10	5	10	49	50	-1	35
9	San Dimas High School	25	11	1	13	55	60	-5	34
10	Mega Buck Bandits	25	9	4	12	38	36	2	31
11	The Dead Parrots	25	8	7	10	38	45	-7	31
12	YTFIB	25	7	8	10	31	50	-19	29
13	You Know Your Boston Rock FC	25	8	4	13	53	54	-1	28
14	The Cheese Makers	25	6	5	14	34	55	-21	23
15	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	25	6	5	14	31	58	-27	23
16	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	25	6	1	18	28	52	-24	19

Our top two are both pegged back late on, giving a bit more encouragement to the chasing pack.

The CFJs still hold top spot but blew a three-goal lead at YTFIB. Close range goals from Michu, Michael Turner and Gylfi Sigurdsson looked to have wrapped things up for Chris but a late Michu miss gave Julian encouragement and he banged in three cleans (including one from recent signing Mapou Yanga-M'Biwa) to get a point. Claymore blew a lead too and missed the chance to go top. Clive had gone 2-1 up when Sergio Aguero skipped through the Trusted defence and ripped into the roof of the net but Papiss Cisse is making a habit of scoring late goals and he fired home in injury time to grab a point for Beef.

Athletic Phoenix finished with nine men but held on against the Muppets. Tomas Rosicky got his first goals of the season for Brian but in-between these efforts Bobby Zamora got himself sent off for a high foot. Per Mertersacker saw red for a professional foul but a spot-kick from Sean Morrison and an excellent free-kick from Shaun Maloney doubled the advantage. Ryan roared back with three cleans but it wasn't enough. That result puts Brian third as the Aardvark/Fantasy game ended all square. Ady had raced into a two-goal lead inside 15 minutes through Emanuel Adebayor and Phil Jagielka but a Vincent Kompany og put Ceri back in contention and a Jose Enrique clean earned the draw that means we're still not sure who the league's top Bevan will be.

The Artisans have taken over the last place in the bottom half after a 4-1 drubbing of San Dimas. Armand Traore bagged a half-time clean to give Ben the lead, I was level six minutes after the break through James Milner but all changed late on. Loic Remy's brilliant shot on the run with five minutes left put Ben ahead and a Christian Benteke breakaway and James Collins clean put the gloss on the win. The Dead Parrots are still in the top half race too after edging Nil Satis 1-0 thanks to a Robert Snodgrass winner.

Two long streaks were broken this week. Boston Rock got back to winning ways (playing for their futures perhaps), beating Mega Bucks with a Steven Taylor clean, and The Cheese Makers jumped above Fred in the table beating those opponents thanks to an early Davide Santon clean and a Cesar Azpilicueta (known to his team mates as 'Dave') own goal.

Week 24 Results

Clive goes level at the top and the Aardvarks are up to third.

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

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Cow-Faced Juniors	24	15	5	4	75	47	28	50
2	Claymore Athletic FC	24	16	2	6	64	40	24	50
3	Aardvark Abacus	24	14	2	8	48	31	17	44
4	Athletico Phoenix	24	13	4	7	55	38	17	43
5	Final Fantasy XI	24	13	3	8	48	35	13	42
6	Trusted By Millions	24	11	4	9	59	52	7	37
7	Real Muppets	24	10	7	7	46	49	-3	37
8	San Dimas High School	24	11	1	12	54	56	-2	34
9	The Fabulous Artisans	24	9	5	10	45	49	-4	32
10	Mega Buck Bandits	24	9	4	11	38	35	3	31
11	The Dead Parrots	24	7	7	10	37	45	-8	28
12	YTFIB	24	7	7	10	28	47	-19	28
13	You Know Your Boston Rock FC	24	7	4	13	52	54	-2	25
14	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	24	6	5	13	31	56	-25	23
15	The Cheese Makers	24	5	5	14	32	55	-23	20
16	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	24	6	1	17	28	51	-23	19

Six games to go and it's “levels you devils” at the top but is the momentum swinging Claymore’s way?

The CFJs hold on to top spot but only on goal difference after a hard-fought draw with the Phoenix. Brian’s side grabbed an early lead when Jan Vertonghen marauded up field and then superbly controlled and slotted home. Chris was level on 21 minutes through none other than Gareth Bale who rifled home from the edge of the area before the Phoenix keeper could move. (It reminded me of me, the 'keeper bit, not Bale. My left foot was barely good enough to stand on.) It was a similar story in the second half. Santi Cazorla put Brian back in front with a beautifully curled strike straight after the break but Michu’s towering header to share the points was the last action. While this was going on Claymore were dealing a fatal blow to Final Fantasy’s title hopes. After a goalless first half Ceri took the lead with a Mark Schwarzer saved penalty. The game turned with two goals in a minute. Olivier Giroud fired in a crisp left-footer and Hal Robson-Kanu dived to head in at the far post. Cleans from Tim Howard and Gael Clichy mean Clive is right back in the title mix.

With Athletico Phoenix drawing the Aardvarks are up to third after beating the Muppets. Carlos Tevez gave Ryan the lead four minutes before the break but Vincent Kompany, returning after injury got the goal and clean to give Ady the win. I looked up 'Inconsistent' in the dictionary and it said 'see Trusted By Millions'. Beef's team slipped to defeat against the Parrots this week. Rickie Lambert gave Dean the lead with an excellent free-kick 15 minutes before the break but Steven Gerrard levelled from the spot on the hour. The winner came from an unlikely source, Parrots defender Emerson Boyce getting the deciding clean.

San Dimas have the last spot in the top half after a come-from-behind win against Boston Rock. Sheriff looked like breaking his winless streak when headers from Andy Carroll and John Terry had him two up by 33 minutes. An injured Rafael limped off with a clean soon after to reduce the deficit but the game looked over with ten minutes when Carroll restored the advantage with a superb controlled volley. Steve Sidwell then got himself sent off and things changed. Graham Dorrans got his first of the season from the penalty spot and cleans from Sylvain Distin and Maynor Figueroa (a first of the season) gave my team the 4-3 win. All the scoring between Fred and Ben was done in the first half. Christian Benteke powered the Artisans ahead on 31 minutes but Ben's team left David Silva too much space in the area and he doesn't miss those opportunities.

YTFIB beat Mega Bucks with two goals from Dimitar Berbatov. The Bulgarian has been a superb signing for Julian and is now in double figures for the season. The Stade de Fromage has turned into Fondue Fields in recent weeks. The Cheese Makers soft underbelly was exposed by Mikel Arteta with a 77th minute penalty and John Heitinga and Seamus Coleman cleans completed the victory for Nil Satis.

Week 23 results

Clive back in the title race in a big way.

League Week 23

Aardvark Abacus 4 v 0 The Cow-Faced Juniors
Athletico Phoenix 2 v 1 Mega Buck Bandits
Claymore Athletic FC 6 v 0 Real Muppets
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 1 v 4 Trusted By Millions
The Dead Parrots 1 v 1 Final Fantasy XI
The Fabulous Artisans 3 v 1 The Cheese Makers
You Know Your Boston Rock FC 1 v 3 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI
YTFIB 1 v 0 San Dimas High School

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Cow-Faced Juniors	23	15	4	4	73	45	28	49
2	Claymore Athletic FC	23	15	2	6	60	39	21	47
3	Athletico Phoenix	23	13	3	7	53	36	17	42
4	Final Fantasy XI	23	13	3	7	47	31	16	42
5	Aardvark Abacus	23	13	2	8	46	30	16	41
6	Trusted By Millions	23	11	4	8	58	50	8	37
7	Real Muppets	23	10	7	6	45	47	-2	37
8	Mega Buck Bandits	23	9	4	10	37	33	4	31
9	San Dimas High School	23	10	1	12	50	53	-3	31
10	The Fabulous Artisans	23	9	4	10	44	48	-4	31
11	You Know Your Boston Rock FC	23	7	4	12	49	50	-1	25
12	The Dead Parrots	23	6	7	10	35	44	-9	25
13	YTFIB	23	6	7	10	26	46	-20	25
14	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	23	6	4	13	30	55	-25	22
15	The Cheese Makers	23	5	5	13	32	52	-20	20
16	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	23	5	1	17	25	51	-26	16

A slip from the CFJs brings Claymore right back into the title race. Chris's team stay top but suffered their heaviest defeat of the season. The Aardvarks have been in better form lately and opened the scoring five minutes from the break through a Craig Gardner penalty. The lead was doubled on 74 minutes. Nacho Monreal's shot wasn't the cleanest hit but it found it's way in and cleans from Monreal and Ryan Shotton completed an easy win for Ady. At the same time Claymore were putting six past the Muppets. Clive's team were ahead as early as the sixth minute, a deft flick from Morgan Schneiderlin too good for the Parrots defence. Wayne Rooney added a deflected shot on 21 minutes  and Leon Osman's long-range swerver 11 minutes later meant that Claymore could go into pipe and slippers mode and cleans from Jonas Olsson, David Luiz and Jos Hooiveld doubled the advantage at the end.

Athletico Phoenix are back up to third after edging out Mega Bucks. Wes Hoolahan nodded in from practically on the line after 26 minutes and Brian's team were struggling with a fatigued RVP making little impression. The Phoenix dug it out though and cleans from Per Mertersacker and Carl Jenkinson meant the points stayed in Kingham. Final Fantasy dropped a place after being held by the Parrots. Dean held the lead for about an hour following Rickie Lambert's deflected free-kick but Gareth McAuley's clean grabbed a point for Ceri.

Trusted are sixth but left it late to earn the three points against Nil Satis. Andrea Weimann had fired Beef ahead on the hour but Nikica Jelavic scored on the breakaway to equalise bang on 90 minutes. Trusted needed cleans from Ryan Shawcross, Liam Ridgewell and Michael Dawson to get the win. Paul's team are four points adrift at the bottom after another win for Fred. Frank Lampard's header put Boston Rock one up on 19 minutes but this game turned on a red card, keeper Mark Bunn dismissed for handling (well, underarming) outside the area on the half hour. Encouragingly for Fred it was his young brigade that turned things round. A goal from Eden Hazard and cleans from Cesar Azpilicueta and Alex Buttner settling this one.

The battle for the last place in the top half is usually a good one and it's on again. San Dimas messed up their chance of grabbing eighth with a limp performance at YTFIB. Dimitar Berbatov slid in to win this one for Julian early in the second period. The Artisans are also in the race for eighth after a come-from-behind win over the Cheese Makers. Davide Santon drove Matthew ahead on 72 minutes but his team left Christian Benteke unmarked from a pull-back to level nine minutes later. After another nine minutes a controversial Aroune Kone goal put the Artisans ahead and a Leighton Baines clean finished it.

FA Cup semi-final Results

Chris continues his treble quest after a late comeback win against Trusted sent him into the FA Cup Final and Clive will get the chance to defend the trophy

The Cow-Faced Juniors 3 v 2 Trusted By Millions
The Dead Parrots 1 v 6 Claymore Athletic

The CFJs made the early running in the game and Luis Suarez opened the scoring on 21 minutes when beating David De Gea at his near post. Chris's team were on top in the first half with Gareth Bale going close on several occasions. Trusted resisted the CFJ offensive and got a foothold in the second-half. As the CFJs grew nervous trying to protect their lead Beef's team earned a penalty with eight minutes left and Steven Gerrard converted with ease. The momentum was all with Beef now and Papiss Cisse struck in injury time to give his side the lead after being left unmarked in the CFJs penalty box. Trusted had no time to celebrate as they immediately conceded a penalty but Grant Holt failed from 12 yards. It seemed like Chris's Cup dreams were over but clean sheets from Michael Turner and new signing Paul Scharner turned the game in the CFJs favour and leave Beef empty-handed in the Trophy department for another season.

Following a postponement after Dean's team got food poisoning from some gone off shrimps on the barbie or something, Clive cruised into a third straight Final equalling the records of Aardvark Abacus and Boston Rock.

Clive's team were ahead as early as the sixth minute, a deft flick from Morgan Schneiderlin too good for the Parrots defence. Wayne Rooney added a deflected shot on 21 minutes  and Leon Osman's long-range swerver 11 minutes later had Clive thinking about his Cup Final suit but Dean's team immediately hit back with a Rickie Lambert free-kick that took a big change of direction off of the wall. Claymore shut up shop in the second half and as time wore on the effects of last week's dodgy shrimps took hold and Claymore picked up three clean sheets to put a gloss on the final score.

Week 22 Results

No huge surprises so it's pretty much 'as you were'.

Final Fantasy XI 2 v 0 You Know Your Boston Rock FC
Mega Buck Bandits 2 v 0 San Dimas High School
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 1 v 2 Athletico Phoenix
Real Muppets 6 v 2 The Fabulous Artisans
The Cheese Makers 1 v 5 Claymore Athletic FC
The Cow-Faced Juniors 6 v 2 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI
The Dead Parrots 0 v 2 Aardvark Abacus
Trusted By Millions 2 v 2 YTFIB

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Cow-Faced Juniors	22	15	4	3	73	41	32	49
2	Claymore Athletic FC	22	14	2	6	54	39	15	44
3	Final Fantasy XI	22	13	2	7	46	30	16	41
4	Athletico Phoenix	22	12	3	7	51	35	16	39
5	Aardvark Abacus	22	12	2	8	42	30	12	38
6	Real Muppets	22	10	7	5	45	41	4	37
7	Trusted By Millions	22	10	4	8	54	49	5	34
8	Mega Buck Bandits	22	9	4	9	36	31	5	31
9	San Dimas High School	22	10	1	11	50	52	-2	31
10	The Fabulous Artisans	22	8	4	10	41	47	-6	28
11	You Know Your Boston Rock FC	22	7	4	11	48	47	1	25
12	The Dead Parrots	22	6	6	10	34	43	-9	24
13	YTFIB	22	5	7	10	25	46	-21	22
14	The Cheese Makers	22	5	5	12	31	49	-18	20
15	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	22	5	4	13	27	54	-27	19
16	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	22	5	1	16	24	47	-23	16

The CFJs advantage stretches to five points after mixed fortunes for our top two. Chris's team are in awesome form at the moment and swept the Artisans aside. Gareth Bale struck from distance at the start and end of the game with Ben having no answer in the middle either. At least he kept Michu quiet I suppose. Claymore were two up at half-time, through Morgan Schneiderlin and Leon Osman, but then shipped five to the Parrots after the break. Rickie Lambert and a Joe Hart saved penalty had squared things by 52 minutes and with 11 minutes to go a panicky Claymore defence hacked an attempted clearance into Jos Hooiveld and watched the ball fly in. Cleans from Kolo Toure and John Arne Riise completed the win for Dean. I think you need to go back to December 2007 to find a similar league losing streak by Claymore.

Athletio Phoenix suffered their first league defeat since week 12 and lost third place as a result. Santi Cazorla opened the scoring for Brian but Beef's team hit three goals before Cazorla added his second. A Steven Gerrard penalty and a Papiss Cisse thunderbolt had turned the game round by half-time and Stephane Sessegnon was the penalty area's coolest head to extend the lead on 79 minutes. The retiring Jamie Carragher completed the scoring for Beef (or should that be Horse?).  Final Fantasy re-assume third position after seeing off YTFIB. February signing Momo Sissoko started things off for Ceri but a great Dimitar Berbatov volley on half-time levelled the game. Jose Enrique, a Mark Schwarzer saved penalty and Yaya Toure gave Ceri some breathing space before another new signing, Kei Kamara, got a consolation for Julian.

The Aardvarks are fifth after edging an uneventful game against Nil Satis thanks to a Matija Nastasic clean. Paul drops to the bottom of the table after Fred beat Mega Bucks 2-0. A Ryan Giggs goal and Nemanja Vidic clean winning this one in the last ten minutes. It's the first time Fred has picked up back to back league wins this season.

Boston Rock may be in the midst of their worst run ever. It's five league defeats in a row and no wins in nine for Sheriff's team. They opened the scoring this week with an Andy Carroll penalty but after Frank Lampard fluffed his lines from 12 yards to double the lead Ryan's team took it from there. Joe Cole got the equaliser, Daniel Sturridge scored his own spot-kick and Carlos Tevez rifled in the third with five minutes to go. Another team in a poor trot are the Cheese Makers who are 14 without a win in all competitions and were no match for the upwardly mobile San Dimas. A Rafael rocket opened the scoring and with the Brazilian adding a clean to two from Romelu Lukaku I can picture a bright future for my team.