Week 23 Results - Defeats for the top three

Cheese Makers 4 v 0 The Wateringhole Society

Fred West Landscape Gdg XI 0 v 3 YTFIB

Markian United 4 v 1 San Dimas High School

Mega Buck Bandits 2 v 1 Stanley Athletic FC

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 1 v 1 The Cow-Faced Juniors

The Fabulous Artisans 2 v 1 Claymore Athletic FC

Trusted by Millions 0 v 2 Aardvark Abacus

Wheel Madrid 0 v 1 Real Muppets

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Wateringhole Society	23	14	5	4	60	37	23	47
2	Claymore Athletic FC	23	14	1	8	56	36	20	43
3	Trusted By Millions	23	13	3	7	53	38	15	42
4	The Cow-Faced Juniors	23	12	3	8	47	36	11	39
5	The Fabulous Artisans	23	12	2	9	49	45	4	38
6	Cheese Makers	23	10	6	7	35	34	1	36
7	Real Muppets	23	11	2	10	49	50	-1	35
8	Aardvark Abacus	23	11	1	11	52	39	13	34
9	San Dimas High School	23	9	7	7	38	34	4	34
10	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	23	9	5	9	29	37	-8	32
11	Stanley Athletic FC	23	9	4	10	37	45	-8	31
12	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	23	8	4	11	37	45	-8	28
13	Mega Buck Bandits	23	7	3	13	34	45	-11	24
14	Markian United	23	6	5	12	26	40	-14	23
15	Wheel Madrid	23	5	5	13	30	40	-10	20
16	YTFIB	23	6	0	17	22	53	-31	18

The Wateringhole’s bad week was compounded with a crashing 4-0 defeat to Cheese Makers in the league. Matthew was in control early, Jonny smashing in on seven minutes and Jean-Philippe Mateta heading home nine minutes later. Kiran’s team couldn’t muster a reply and the Cheese finished it off with a Fabinho penalty and an Andrew Robertson clean. It lifts Matthew’s team to a season-high sixth. The one upside for Kiran was that his nearest rivals lost too. Claymore went down 2-1to the Artisans. Aaron Cresswell’s brilliant first-half free-kick put Clive in front but fit-again Jarrod Bowen brought Ben level just before the hour and Kyle Walker’s clean delivered the win.

Trusted were beaten 2-0 by the Aardvarks who move into the top half. Diogo Jota got the first with a flick header on 22 minutes and Son Heung-Min completed the scoring nine minutes after the break, having time to take a touch and fire home. The CFJs closed on the top four but only by a point after a draw with Nil Satis. Ben Davies put the Cows ahead with a close-range header two minutes before the break, Matt Doherty stooped to head in the equaliser three minutes after the interval.

The Muppets are seventh after a 1-0 win over struggling Wheel Madrid. Kevin De Bruyne got the goal for Ryan after just five minutes. San Dimas slip out of the top half after a 4-1 defeat at Markian. 1-1 at half-time, Fabian Schar’s low free-kick levelled by Antonio Rudder’s long-ranger, Ian’s team ran away with it in the second half. A deflected shot from Mason Holgate, Steven Bergwijn’s first of the season and a Marc Cucurella clean completed a comfortable victory.

Stanley Athletic couldn’t follow up their Cup semi win and were beaten 2-1 by Mega Bucks. Jack Harrison stabbed in from six yards to put Dave ahead, James Ward-Prowse brought the scores level with another free-kick for the highlight reel early in the second half but the Bandits took the points courtesy of Wilf Zaha’s penalty. YTFIB are still bottom but only two points adrift after a comprehensive 3-0 win at Fred. Ilkay Gundogan volleys in after 25 minutes for Julian and cleans from Joe Gomez and Ben Gibson gave the score a one-sided feel.

FA Cup semi-final results

Cheese Makers 0 v 4 Claymore Athletic FC

Stanley Athletic FC 3 v 3 The Wateringhole Society

Replay

The Wateringhole Society 0 v 2 Stanley Athletic FC

A vintage performance from Cristiano Ronaldo helped Claymore into their tenth FA Cup Final. The Portuguese bagged his first WSFFL hat-trick since the 2007/8 season with a 25-yarder, a tap-in and a header. Cheese Makers had no response and John Stones’ clean rounded it out for Clive.

He’ll have to wait to see who his opponents are after late drama in the other tie saw it finish 3-3. The Wateringhole Society were two up late on after Harry Maguire slid into his own net and then Ivan Toney doubled the lead. A stunning piece of Kai Havertz skill brought it back to 2-1 wit two minutes left but Toney restored the lead with an injury time penalty. Stanley didn’t give up and earned a replay with cleans from Virgil van Dijk and Rico Henry.

In the replay...

Aaron makes his first final thanks to a textbook James Ward-Prowse free-kick just after the break and a clean from Virgil van Dijk. His team will meet Claymore on the weekend of 23 April.

Week 22 Results - Three left in title race?

Claymore Athletic FC 3 v 0 Trusted by Millions

Fred West Landscape Gdg XI 1 v 3 Cheese Makers

Real Muppets 4 v 2 Mega Buck Bandits

San Dimas High School 3 v 2 Aardvark Abacus

Stanley Athletic FC 2 v 0 Wheel Madrid

The Fabulous Artisans 1 v 3 Markian United

The Wateringhole Society 6 v 1 The Cow-Faced Juniors

YTFIB 0 v 2 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Wateringhole Society	22	14	5	3	60	33	27	47
2	Claymore Athletic FC	22	14	1	7	55	34	21	43
3	Trusted By Millions	22	13	3	6	53	36	17	42
4	The Cow-Faced Juniors	22	12	2	8	46	35	11	38
5	The Fabulous Artisans	22	11	2	9	47	44	3	35
6	San Dimas High School	22	9	7	6	37	30	7	34
7	Cheese Makers	22	9	6	7	31	34	-3	33
8	Real Muppets	22	10	2	10	48	50	-2	32
9	Aardvark Abacus	22	10	1	11	50	39	11	31
10	Stanley Athletic FC	22	9	4	9	36	43	-7	31
11	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	22	9	4	9	28	36	-8	31
12	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	22	8	4	10	37	42	-5	28
13	Mega Buck Bandits	22	6	3	13	32	44	-12	21
14	Wheel Madrid	22	5	5	12	30	39	-9	20
15	Markian United	22	5	5	12	22	39	-17	20
16	YTFIB	22	5	0	17	19	53	-34	15

The Wateringhole Society extended their lead to four points and boosted their goal difference after this week\s results. They put the CFJs away 5-0 in the Cup a few weeks ago and it was 6-2 this time. Kiran fell behind too after Michael Keane shanked into his own goal after 14 minutes but was in front by half-time after Bukayo Saka found the top corner from 18 yards and Ivan Toney converted from close home. Toney completed his hat-trick early in the second half with a couple of penalties before Harvey Barnes and Christian Pulisic added goals to make it 6-1. The Cows could only reply with an Edouard Mendy clean. Claymore leapfrogged Trusted into a second after a 3-0 win over those opponents. This had been a tight game until the deadlock was broken in the 75th minute when Clive’s team went ahead through an early Kristoffer Ajer clean. Teemu Pukki’s close range volley doubled the lead in injury time and a Trevoh Chalobah clean finished the scoring.

The Artisans failed to make ground on the top four after falling to a 3-1 defeat against Markian. Martin Odegaard’s calm finish after an exchange of passes had Ben ahead on five minutes but the scores were level nine minutes later when Fabian Schar got up to head in at the near post. Ian was ahead eight minutes from the break when Harry Kane beat the offside trap to fire home and Kane completed the win with a well-placed volley ten minutes into the second half. San Dimas closed to within a point of the Artisans after edging the Aardvarks 3-2. Ady had been two up in this one, Son Hueng-Min firing through my keeper after 17 minutes and Lewis Dunk getting up highest to make it two after 55. Riyad Mahrez scored two excellent goals to level the game and I took all the points courtesy of Antonio Rudiger’s clean.

The Cheese are one point further back after an excellent 3-1 win at Fred West. Jean-Philippe Mateta got his first WSFFL goal after 19 minutes, smuggling in after picking the defence’s pocket. Phillippe Coutinho squeezed his shot in after 52 minutes to make it 2-0 and Danny Ings had the proverbial acre of space to make it three two minutes later. Fred could only muster an Ibrahima Konate clean in response. Real Muppets are back in the top half after a 4-2 win over Mega Bucks. Ryan’s team raced into a 3-0 lead, Kevin De Bruyne twice finding himself in the right place in the penalty area either side of Sadio Mane just keeping onside to steer in. Wilf Zaha’s penalty pulled one back before the break but it was 4-1 two minutes after the interval with fit-again Reece James smashing across the keeper into the far corner. Caglar Soyuncu’s clean for Dave came too late to influence the result.

Stanley join the Aardvarks on 31 points after a 2-0 win over Wheel Madrid. Kai Havertz scored both goals in a four-minute second-half burst. The first a far-post header, the second a tap-in. Nil Satis are the third team on the 31 point mark after winning 2-0 at YTFIB. This was heading for a goalless draw until Moussa Sissoko chested down and placed under the keeper three minutes from time and Matt Doherty’s clean gave Paul S the insurance of a second.

FA Cup semi-final draw

Cheese Makers v Claymore Athletic FC

Stanley Athletic FC v The Wateringhole Society

That bottom tie means we’ll have at least one first-time finalist.

Games to be played 12-14 March.