Week 17 Results - Champions close on the top two

Cheese Makers 1 v 0 Stanley and Gracie United

Mega Buck Bandits 1 v 0 Claymore Athletic FC

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 0 v 2 San Dimas High School

Real Muppets 1 v 2 Wheel Madrid

The Cow-Faced Juniors 2 v 6 The Wateringhole Society

The Fabulous Artisans 1 v 2 Markian United 

Trusted By Millions 2 v 0 Aardvark Abacus 

YTFIB 2 v 2 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Cow-Faced Juniors	17	13	2	2	58	28	30	41
2	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	17	11	4	2	42	19	23	37
3	The Wateringhole Society	17	10	5	2	56	31	25	35
4	The Fabulous Artisans	17	9	0	8	39	31	8	27
5	Markian United	17	8	2	7	35	28	7	26
6	Stanley and Gracie United	17	8	1	8	35	36	-1	25
7	Aardvark Abacus	17	8	1	8	26	30	-4	25
8	Wheel Madrid	17	7	3	7	20	31	-11	24
9	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	17	7	1	9	24	29	-5	22
10	San Dimas High School	17	6	4	7	25	32	-7	22
11	Trusted By Millions	17	6	3	8	32	35	-3	21
12	Real Muppets	17	6	2	9	41	39	2	20
13	YTFIB	17	5	5	7	18	30	-12	20
14	Claymore Athletic FC	17	5	2	10	26	39	-13	17
15	Cheese Makers	17	3	4	10	15	33	-18	13
16	Mega Buck Bandits	17	4	1	12	19	40	-21	13

The Wateringhole Society had been 12 points behind the CFJs after week 11 but that gap is now six after Kiran’s team took down the Cows 6-2. Chris and Co raced into a 2-0 lead through Rodrigo Bentancur and Miguel Almiron before the Society struck back with early cleans from Ruben Dias and Marc Cucurella off the bench. Three goals in eight minutes won it for Kiran. Ivan Toney and Marcus Rashford with headers and Harvey Barnes firing home from the D. Bernd Leno (I always want to call him Jay!) made it six with a clean. The Gardeners are still in the middle of those two sides but were held to a 2-2 draw by YTFIB. Mo Salah put Fred ahead after a lightning counter-attack but that lasted just three minutes before Ilkay Gundogan arrived at the back post to level. Solly March repeated the feat to put Julian ahead after 63 minutes but Fred rescued a point with Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s clean.

Markian closed to within a point and a place of the Artisans after beating those opponents 2-1. Rodri’s early near-post header put Ian in front but it took until the 85th minute for another score, Alejandro Garnacho doubling the lead after outpacing Ben’s defence. Kenny Tete’s clean sheet reply was only a consolation. Stanley and Gracie are a point further back after going down 1-0 to Cheese Makers. Andy Robertson’s clean was the only score.

The Aardvarks are also on 25 points but slipped to a 2-0 defeat to Trusted. Joao Felix scored a cushioned volley on debut to put Beef ahead on 16 minutes and Leandro Trossard added the second goal at the back post mid-way through the second half. Wheel Madrid continue to bounce around in mid-table and picked up a good 2-1 win at the Muppets. James Maddison slid his shot under the keeper to put Paul W ahead after 25 minutes but Ryan’s team levelled just before the break through Kelechi Iheanacho. Joel Matip’s clean gave the Wheelmen the victory.

Nil Satis are joined on 22 points by San Dimas who beat them 2-0 this week. Riyad Mahrez scored a penalty to put me ahead in first half injury time and Hugo Bueno added a second half clean sheet. Mega Bucks 1-0 win over Claymore has dragged Clive’s team into the battle at the bottom. A clean sheet by Tim Ream was enough to give Dave all the points.

FA Cup Quarter-final draw

Aardvark Abacus v YTFIB

Markian United v The Cow-Faced Juniors

Real Muppets v The Fabulous Artisans

Trusted By Millions v Stanley and Gracie United

The holders with a trip to a Trusted side bolstered by the signings of Noni Madueke and Joao Felix.

Games to be played on the weekend of 18/19 February.

Week 16 Results - Top three getting away

Aardvark Abacus 3 v 0 The Fabulous Artisans 

Claymore Athletic FC 0 v 2 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 

Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 1 v 0 Mega Buck Bandits

Markian United 2 v 2 Cheese Makers

San Dimas High School 0 v 4 The Cow-Faced Juniors 

Stanley and Gracie United 3 v 2 Real Muppets 

The Wateringhole Society 6 v 1 Trusted By Millions

Wheel Madrid 1 v 1 YTFIB 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Cow-Faced Juniors	16	13	2	1	56	22	34	41
2	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	16	11	3	2	40	17	23	36
3	The Wateringhole Society	16	9	5	2	50	29	21	32
4	The Fabulous Artisans	16	9	0	7	38	29	9	27
5	Stanley and Gracie United	16	8	1	7	35	35	0	25
6	Aardvark Abacus	16	8	1	7	26	28	-2	25
7	Markian United	16	7	2	7	33	27	6	23
8	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	16	7	1	8	24	27	-3	22
9	Wheel Madrid	16	6	3	7	18	30	-12	21
10	Real Muppets	16	6	2	8	40	37	3	20
11	San Dimas High School	16	5	4	7	23	32	-9	19
12	YTFIB	16	5	4	7	16	28	-12	19
13	Trusted By Millions	16	5	3	8	30	35	-5	18
14	Claymore Athletic FC	16	5	2	9	26	38	-12	17
15	Cheese Makers	16	2	4	10	14	33	-19	10
16	Mega Buck Bandits	16	3	1	12	18	40	-22	10

I’d be very surprised if our eventual champion comes from outside the current top three. It might take a lot for a team to even break into the top three the way things are going.

The CFJs keep their five point lead after a 4-0 dismissal of San Dimas. Brennan Johnson volleyed the Cows ahead on 14 minutes and cleans from Rayan Ait-Nouri, Max Kilman and Ben Davies finished the scoring. Fred stay second after a narrow win over now-bottom Mega Bucks. Bruno Fernandes’ early penalty the only goal of the game. The Wateringhole were the week’s big winners, 6-1 against Trusted. Scoreless at the hour mark. Marcus Rashford side-footed Kiran in front and Tariq Lamptey bagged an early clean to make it 2-0. Jeffrey Schlupp flicked in to reduce the deficit with 14 minutes left but Kaoru Mitoma (surely one of the signings of the season) headed the Society back in front. Cleans from Bernd Leno, Nelson Semedo and Marc Cucurella rounded out the big win.

The Artisans are now five points behind the top three after a 3-0 defeat at the Aardvarks. Ollie Watkins was first to a rebound to put Ady in front on nine minutes and the only other scoring came from cleans by Scott McKenna and Lewis Dunk. The Aardvarks are sixth, one place behind Stanley and Gracie who edged the Muppets 3-2. Ben Mee (for Aaron) and Kelechi Iheanacho (for Ryan) scored within seconds of each other four minutes before the break. James Tarkowski headed in from a corner on the hour to put Ryan ahead but SGU took the points thanks to cleans from Rico Henry and Serge Aurier.

Markian blew a two-goal lead against the improving (and no longer bottom) Cheese Makers and had to settle for a 2-2 draw. Harry Kane found space on 15 minutes to convert a first-time shot and Lucas Paqueta doubled the lead on 32 minutes. A great Cheese move finished with Bryan Mbeumo being teed up to pull one back just before half-time. Matthew grabbed a point with Robert Sanchez’s clean. Nil Satis are eighth after a 2-0 clean sheet win over Claymore. Seamus Coleman and Vitaly Mykolenko were Paul’s scorers. Wheel Madrid and YTFIB drew 1-1 with all the scoring done by the 12th minute. An unfortunate own goal off Joel Matip had Julian ahead but James Maddison’s strike after a YTFIB defensive calamity was the leveller.