Week 13 Results - New leaders

Claymore take over at the top.

Claymore Athletic FC 3 v 2 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 2 v 4 Trusted By Millions
Mega Buck Bandits 3 v 3 Markian United
Real Muppets 2 v 3 Cheese Makers
San Dimas High School 0 v 0 The Fabulous Artisans
The Cow-Faced Juniors 0 v 4 Athletico Phoenix
The Wateringhole Society 1 v 1 YTFIB
Wheel Madrid 3 v 4 Aardvark Abacus


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	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Claymore Athletic FC	13	8	3	2	42	22	20	27
2	The Fabulous Artisans	13	8	3	2	32	17	15	27
3	San Dimas High School	13	8	1	4	25	21	4	25
4	Wheel Madrid	13	6	3	4	38	24	14	21
5	Athletico Phoenix	13	6	2	5	31	27	4	20
6	The Wateringhole Society	13	5	5	3	26	25	1	20
7	Aardvark Abacus	13	6	2	5	20	19	1	20
8	Trusted By Millions	13	5	4	4	31	29	2	19
9	The Cow-Faced Juniors	13	6	1	6	14	24	-10	19
10	Mega Buck Bandits	13	5	3	5	25	22	3	18
11	Cheese Makers	13	5	2	6	23	32	-9	17
12	Real Muppets	13	4	4	5	30	28	2	16
13	YTFIB	13	4	4	5	15	14	1	16
14	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	13	4	0	9	20	30	-10	12
15	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	13	3	2	8	15	32	-17	11
16	Markian United	13	1	1	11	13	34	-21	4

There’s a change at the top after the Artisans had held that spot for 11 weeks. A goalless draw between Ben’s side and San Dimas (the first of the season) opened the door for Claymore and they walked through. Clive’s team had to come from behind to beat Nil Satis 3-2 after Dominic Calvert-Lewin took advantage of defensive mix-ups to score twice. Jonny Evans’ header was Clive’s first equaliser, cleans from Gary Cahill and Martin Kelly completed the win.

Wheels missed a chance to close the gap going down 4-3 to the Aardvarks. After Jamie Vardy opened the scoring, Kieran Tierney’s injury gave Ady a clean, and two Diogo Jota goals were split by a stunning Son Heung-Min solo effort. A deflected Jack Grealish shot pulled one back before the break and Vardy added a second but there was to be no equaliser for Paul W. James Maddison being unusually profligate this week. Athletico are up to fifth after a comfortable 4-0 win over the CFJs. Anthony Martial’s fierce near-post effort was added to by Mouusa Sissoko in the second half and their were also cleans for Virgil van Dijk and Jan Vertonghen.

The Wateringhole were held to a 1-1 draw by YTFIB. Marcus Rashford’s spot-kick opened the scoring for Kiran but Julian’s team are a tougher nut to crack these days and the equaliser came from Naby Keita. Trusted round out the top half after beating Fred 4-2. There were signs of life from the Gardeners with goals from Mo Salah and Nicolas Pepe but Beef had Richardson’s early header and cleans from Serge Aurier, Jeffrey Schlupp and Alexander-Arnold to get all the points.

Cheese jumped over the Muppets with a 3-2 win against those opponents. Ryan was two up as well, Davy Propper’s header and Kelechi Iheanacho’s near-post flick inside five first half minutes had Matthew’s team on the back foot. It turned round after the break with Danny Ings, a debut goal from Jonjo Shelvey and a clean from Andrew Robertson sending the Cheese fans home happy. Mega Bucks and Markian played out an entertaining 3-3 draw. Harry Kane looked more his old self with two fierce strikes but the joint managers needed a Davison Sanchez clean to get a point after Oxlade-Chamberlain, George Baldock and P-E Aubameyang had all scored for Dave.

Cup semi-final results - Two ties settled after replays

Paul Cartmell Memorial Trophy

Aardvark Abacus 2 v 2 Wheel Madrid
Real Muppets 1 v 4 Claymore Athletic

Replay

Wheel Madrid 3 v Aardvark Abacus 4

Charity Shield

San Dimas High School 1 v 1 Athletico Phoenix
The Wateringhole Society 3 v 6 The Fabulous Artisans

Replay

Athletico Phoenix 2 v 0 San Dimas High School

Reports

PCMT

Claymore are through to their first PCMT Final since 2007/8 after seeing off the Muppets 4-1. Clive’s team had fallen behind to Sadio Mane’s excellent first time finish on the stroke of half-time but turned it round after the break. Teemu Pukki levelled 20 minutes after the break and then cleans from Jetro Willems, Jonny Evans and Kasper Schmeichel mean Clive will be busy on the 28th and 29th of December.

We wait to see who joins Claymore in the final after the Aardvarks and Wheels drew 2-2. Goals either side of half-time from Ryan Bertrand and Alexandre Lacazette had Ady two up before Jamie Vardy pulled one back for Paul from the spot. The equaliser came with practically the last kick of the game, James Maddison raced away from the Abacus rearguard and found the far corner to force a replay.

In that replay, two goals from Jamie Vardy wren’t enough for Wheels to make a second successive PCMT Final. Diogo Jota got a brace for the Aardvarks along with a Kieran Tierney clean and a spectacular Son Heung-Min solo goal to send Ady into his ninth final.

Charity Shield

The Artisans will make their second Charity Shield final appearance after ending on the right side of a goal-fest against the Wateringhole Society. Divock Origi scored two excellent first-half goals for Ben but it was level at the break as Marcus Rashford and Michael Keane were both on target for Kiran. A stunning Mason Mount volley had the Artisans 3-2 up on 48 minutes but Rashford replied with a penalty a minute later to level the game again. The decisive strike came in the final minute, Gini Wijnaldum opening his body and beating the keeper from the left of the goal. Ben added cleans from Ciaran Clark and Patrick van Aanholt to put a gloss on the scoreline.

San Dimas and Athletico will try again to see who plays Ben on Boxing Day. Riyad Mahrez put my team ahead with three minutes left but I couldn’t finish the game off and James Tomkins’ clean was Brian’s equaliser.

The replay was a comfy win for Brian with a goal in either half from Anthony Martial and Moussa Sissoko. Athletico will get a chance to add their name to the Shield for a third time.

Week 12 Results - Another loss for the leaders

Aardvark Abacus 0 v 1 The Cow-Faced Juniors
Athletico Phoenix 5 v 2 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI
Cheese Makers 2 v 2 The Wateringhole Society
Markian United 0 v 1 Claymore Athletic FC
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 1 v 3 Wheel Madrid
The Fabulous Artisans 2 v 3 Mega Buck Bandits
Trusted By Millions 3 v 2 Real Muppets
YTFIB 0 v 1 San Dimas High School


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	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Fabulous Artisans	12	8	2	2	32	17	15	26
2	Claymore Athletic FC	12	7	3	2	39	20	19	24
3	San Dimas High School	12	8	0	4	25	21	4	24
4	Wheel Madrid	12	6	3	3	35	20	15	21
5	The Wateringhole Society	12	5	4	3	25	24	1	19
6	The Cow-Faced Juniors	12	6	1	5	14	20	-6	19
7	Mega Buck Bandits	12	5	2	5	22	19	3	17
8	Athletico Phoenix	12	5	2	5	27	27	0	17
9	Aardvark Abacus	12	5	2	5	16	16	0	17
10	Real Muppets	12	4	4	4	28	25	3	16
11	Trusted By Millions	12	4	4	4	27	27	0	16
12	YTFIB	12	4	3	5	14	13	1	15
13	Cheese Makers	12	4	2	6	20	30	-10	14
14	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	12	4	0	8	18	27	-9	12
15	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	12	3	2	7	13	28	-15	11
16	Markian United	12	1	0	11	10	31	-21	3

A second straight defeat means the Artisans lead is cut to two points. Ben’s team went down 3-2 to Mega Bucks, P-E Aubameyang getting two for Dave and taking his personal tally into double figures for the season. Claymore still lead the chasing pack after a winning 1-0 at Markian. Clive’s team struggled for a cutting edge without Sergio Aguero so it was left to Teemu Pukki to score the only goal.

It was also 1-0 to San Dimas to keep my team in striking distance of top spot. In-form Lys Mousset got the only goal after just two minutes to end Julian’s three game winning streak. Wheels are three points further back after inflicting a fifth straight defeat on Nil Satis. Jack Grealish’s early goal was cancelled out by Matt Doherty but Jamie Vardy restored the lead for Paul W and Ryan Fredericks’ clean made it 3-1.

The Wateringhole are fifth after an entertaining 2-2 draw with Cheese Makers. I was hugely amused that Matthew’s scorers were Mings and Ings, but two from Harry Wilson, including another excellent free-kick, got Kiran a point. The CFJs are level on points with the Mighty Society after a 1-0 win at the Aardvarks - Fabian Balbuena’s clean the only score in this one.

Athletico hold the bottom place in the top half after beating Fred 5-2. Last year’s player of the season, Virgil van Dijk, hasn’t been at his best so far this campaign but scored twice to set Brian on his way. The improving Dele Alli got two of his own to level for Fred but the Phoenix had goals from Sissoko and Ward-Prowse plus a James Tomkins clean to round out the win. Trusted join the Muppets on 16 points after defeating those opponents 3-2. A goal and a clean from substitute Jeffrey Schlupp proving decisive for Beef.