Week 28 Results - Claymore take pole position

Cheese Makers 1 v 2 Aardvark Abacus

Fred West Landscape Gdg XI 1 v 3 Stanley Athletic FC

Markian United 3 v 3 The Cow-Faced Juniors

Mega Buck Bandits 2 v 1 The Wateringhole Society

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 0 v 2 Wheel Madrid

The Fabulous Artisans 2 v 1 San Dimas High School

Trusted by Millions 3 v 3 Real Muppets

YTFIB 0 v 4 Claymore Athletic FC

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Claymore Athletic FC	28	16	3	9	69	43	26	51
2	Trusted By Millions	28	15	5	8	70	50	20	50
3	The Wateringhole Society	28	14	7	7	67	49	18	49
4	The Cow-Faced Juniors	28	15	4	9	60	44	16	49
5	The Fabulous Artisans	28	15	4	9	59	50	9	49
6	Aardvark Abacus	28	14	1	13	61	45	16	43
7	Stanley Athletic FC	28	13	4	11	50	48	2	43
8	San Dimas High School	28	11	9	8	52	41	11	42
9	Real Muppets	28	12	6	10	59	58	1	42
10	Cheese Makers	28	11	8	9	41	40	1	41
11	Mega Buck Bandits	28	11	4	13	44	51	-7	37
12	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	28	9	6	13	31	57	-26	33
13	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	28	8	6	14	43	56	-13	30
14	Wheel Madrid	28	6	7	15	34	50	-16	25
15	Markian United	28	6	6	16	32	54	-22	24
16	YTFIB	28	8	0	20	26	62	-36	24

Well I can’t find another season where five teams are separated by just two points with two games to go* but the title race is now in Clive’s hands.

Claymore have gone top after a 4-0 win against YTFIB and if Clive wins his final two games then the Championship will be heading to Chippenham Park. It took nearly 80 minutes for Claymore to break down Julian’s team. Kristoffer Ajer evaded a couple of challenges and nutmegged the keeper for the goal. Clive added cleans from Joel Veltman, Aaron Cresswell and Ajer. Trusted dropped a place after being held 3-3 by the Muppets. Raheem Sterling was teed up for a far-post header to put Ryan ahead on 19 minutes but Beef fought back after the break. Leandro Trossard bundled the equaliser in on the hour and a Luis Diaz deflected effort put Trusted ahead with 16 minutes left. Phil Foden equalised on 90 minutes and an injury-time Sterling effort put the Muppets ahead again. There was one final twist with Adam Webster’s clean earning Beef a point.

The Wateringhole Society’s poor run goes on after defeat to Mega Bucks. Two goals in a minute for Dave, Michail Antonio earning a tap-in after being too strong for the Society defence and a Wilfrid Zaha penalty, had the Bandits in control and Kiran’s only reply was a Michael Keane clean sheet. The CFJs also lost ground after a 3-3 draw, against a Markian side showing signs of life. The Cows led twice. Yoan Wissa picked up a loose ball and placed into the bottom corner on 14 minutes but Ian hit back when Mason Holgate headed in from practically under the bar. Aymeric Laporte smashed in after the keeper spilled a shot to restore a lead before the break but it was 2-2 four minutes after when Marc Cucurella found the top corner. Rodri got his third goal in three games, a header from a corner, to put Markian 3-2 up but Vladimir Coufal’s clean kept the Cows title hopes alive.

The Artisans are still in touch too after beating San Dimas 2-1. Eddie Nketiah has been working hard, patiently waiting for a chance and he took it with both hands this week. Nketiah scored twice in the first ten minutes, capitalising on poor footwork from my keeper and then from 11 yards after being left in too much space. My team could only reply with Joao Cancelo clean. The Aardvarks are sixth this week (sixth place has changed hands in the last seven weeks fact fans.) Ady’s team trailed to an early Danny Ings goal for Cheese Makers but turned it round after half-time with two goals in five minutes, the first a diving header from Ollie Watkins and the second was Son Heung-Min finishing off a great team move.

Stanley are back in the top half after beating Fred 3-1. Pontus Jansson poked Aaron ahead after 13 minutes before Emi Buendia side-footed in an equaliser just after the half-hour. Stanley took the points with cleans from Rico Henry and Joachim Andersen. Nil Satis' freefall continued with a 2-0 defeat to Wheel Madrid. Two goals from Romelu Lukaku, a penalty and a smart first time hit from 20 yards two minutes later, haul Paul W’s team off the bottom.

* One point covered the top three with a game to play in 2006/7, 2004/5, and 2000/1 where the top two played each other in the final week. Two points covered the top three with a game to go in 2011/12, three points covered the top four with a game to go in 2019/20.

Week 27 Results - Trusted go top

Aardvark Abacus 3 v 2 Markian United

Real Muppets 2 v 2 Claymore Athletic FC

San Dimas High School 3 v 1 Fred West Landscape Gdg XI

Stanley Athletic FC 0 v 1 YTFIB

The Cow-Faced Juniors 2 v 3 Mega Buck Bandits

The Wateringhole Society 1 v 3 The Fabulous Artisans

Trusted by Millions 4 v 0 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Wheel Madrid 1 v 1 Cheese Makers

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Trusted By Millions	27	15	4	8	67	47	20	49
2	The Wateringhole Society	27	14	7	6	66	47	19	49
3	Claymore Athletic FC	27	15	3	9	65	43	22	48
4	The Cow-Faced Juniors	27	15	3	9	57	41	16	48
5	The Fabulous Artisans	27	14	4	9	57	49	8	46
6	San Dimas High School	27	11	9	7	51	39	12	42
7	Cheese Makers	27	11	8	8	40	38	2	41
8	Real Muppets	27	12	5	10	56	55	1	41
9	Aardvark Abacus	27	13	1	13	59	44	15	40
10	Stanley Athletic FC	27	12	4	11	47	47	0	40
11	Mega Buck Bandits	27	10	4	13	42	50	-8	34
12	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	27	9	6	12	31	55	-24	33
13	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	27	8	6	13	42	53	-11	30
14	YTFIB	27	8	0	19	26	58	-32	24
15	Markian United	27	6	5	16	29	51	-22	23
16	Wheel Madrid	27	5	7	15	32	50	-18	22

After 11 weeks on top the Wateringhole Society have been dislodged, on goal difference, by Trusted.

Beef’s team took over following a 4-0 win over Nil Satis. Goalless at half-time, Richarlison forced an error and coolly slotted in a minute after the break to open the scoring. Goals from Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus followed and Beef got the score he needed to take spot* with an Adam Webster clean. Paul’s last three matches have seen him concede 16 without reply. On the beach? While that was happening the Society were going down 3-1 to the Artisans in a result that means Ben’s team is only three points off the top. Kiran took the lead in this one too, Rob Holding heading in from a corner seven minutes before the break. The Artisans had turned it round before the interval with Alexis Mac Allister converting a penalty (after having missed an earlier one) and then Jarrod Bowen scoring right on half-time. The only second half score was a Diogo Dalot clean for Ben. Did I write him off too soon?

Claymore missed a chance to go top after drawing 2-2 with the Muppets. An unlucky James Tarkowski own goal gifted Clive an early lead and Cristiano Ronaldo doubled that with a penalty on the hour. The Muppets comeback happened late. Kelechi Iheanacho fired in in injury time and Callum Chambers got the equalising clean. The CFJs are another team at the top end kicking themselves after a 3-2 loss to Mega Bucks. A Gabriel header for the Cows was quickly equalised by Nathan Ake but the CFJs were back in front on the hour with Eberechi Eze firing under the Bandits keeper. The clock was running down when Dave levelled through Wilf Zaha firing in off the post from the edge of the D and the Bandits took all the points with a clean from Ake.

San Dimas are this week’s sixth place team after beating Fred 3-1. Oriol Romeu** and Bruno Fernandes both scored in the ninth minute to send the game in at the break at 1-1 but my team got the points with cleans from Emi Martinez and Joao Cancelo. Cheese Makers slipped to seventh after being held 1-1 by Wheel Madrid. Matthew needed an injury time equaliser from Danny Ings after Raphael Varane had prodded the Wheelmen ahead from a corner on 72 minutes. This and YTFIB’s win see Paul W’s team drop to the bottom of the table.

The Aardvarks came from two down to beat Markian 3-2. Headers from Rodri and Harry Kane had Ian in control by the 22-minute mark but Ollie Watkins’ deflected shot four minutes before half-time got Ady back in to it. A Heung-Min Son brace in a 20-minute second half spell won the game for the Aardvarks, his second a perfect 25-yarder into the far top corner. The FA Cup celebrations finally caught up with Stanley and they went down 1-0 to YTFIB. Some fancy footwork from Naby Keita on 19 minutes was the only goal of the game and moves Julian up to 14th.

* Beef is the master of the late run. He went top in week 29 of 2019/20 before taking the title, in week 26 in 2013/14 when going on to league triumph and in week 32 of a 34 week season in 200/01 before his first championship. We’ve been warned!

** I think this is only Romeu’s second ever WSFFL goal. His first was for Fred (week 12 2017/18 against Athletico Phoenix) so there might have been a muted celebration.