Week 17 Results - Cheese back on top

Aardvark Abacus 2 v 0 The Cow-Faced Juniors

Claymore Athletic FC 4 v 3 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Markian United 0 v 1 Cheese Makers 

Mega Buck Bandits 2 v 4 San Dimas High School 

The Fabulous Artisans 1 v 2 Real Muppets 

The Wateringhole Society 6 v 2 Garth Crooks' Team of the Week 

Wheel Madrid 3 v 2 Stanley and Gracie United 

YTFIB 0 v 4 Trusted By Millions 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Cheese Makers	17	11	2	4	43	28	15	35
2	Real Muppets	17	10	4	3	42	20	22	34
3	The Cow-Faced Juniors	17	10	3	4	48	31	17	33
4	Trusted By Millions	17	10	2	5	53	36	17	32
5	The Wateringhole Society	17	9	4	4	43	27	16	31
6	Garth Crooks' Team of the Week	17	7	6	4	37	33	4	27
7	Markian United	17	8	3	6	32	29	3	27
8	Stanley and Gracie United	17	7	3	7	31	31	0	24
9	The Fabulous Artisans	17	7	2	8	36	34	2	23
10	YTFIB	17	7	1	9	24	28	-4	22
11	Claymore Athletic FC	17	7	1	9	33	44	-11	22
12	San Dimas High School	17	6	3	8	31	32	-1	21
13	Aardvark Abacus	17	5	5	7	36	39	-3	20
14	Mega Buck Bandits	17	4	2	11	16	42	-26	14
15	Wheel Madrid	17	3	2	12	21	41	-20	11
16	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	17	3	1	13	16	47	-31	10

No team has led the league for more than three weeks in a row this season and the WSFFL-gods decided that was enough for the CFJs this time as they went down 2-0 at the Aardvarks. Ady’s team had been unlucky in defeat recently and took the lead when Ollie Watkins smacked in off the bar mid-way through the second half before Antonee Robinson’s clean clinched it. On the subject of unlucky, Ian will be rueing his team selection in his 1-0 defeat to Cheese Makers. The only score an Andy Robertson clean. That result sends Matthew back to the top and is the 12th change of leader this season which ties the league record.

The Muppets are now second are a 2-1 win at the Artisans. Ililman Ndiaye’s excellent run and finish opened the scoring, Emile Smith-Rowe stooped to head Ben level just after the break and Mr Inevitable Erling Haaland got Ryan’s winner. Trusted are now three points off the top after beating YTFIB 4-0. Jean-Philippe Mateta got goals either side of Noni Madueke’s tap-in and Trent Alexander-Arnold added a clean.

Managers have stepped up against Ollie’s team lately (25 goals against in seven games) and he was on the wrong end again this week, 6-2 to the Wateringhole. The Garths were 2-1 up at the break but that all changed on the hour when both Marc Curcurella and Kaoru Mitoma were on target. There were two more for Kiran’s team in a two-minute spell later in the half - Giorginio Rutter latching on to a keeper blunder and a cute chip from Dejan Kulusevski. SGU stay eighth but slip further out of the title picture after going down 3-2 to Wheel Madrid. Jan Bednarek equalised Chris Wood’s first half goal but a diving header from Youri Tielemans was soon followed by a first time Adama Traore finish to secure a win that lifts Paul W’s team off the foot of the table.

Nil Satis drop to bottom after losing 4-3 at Claymore. Paul S was 3-0 up to courtesy of goals from Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Matt Doherty and Jeremy Doku. Clive turned it round with four clean sheets. After a poor start San Dimas are only three points off the top half now. My team won 4-2 at Mega Bucks with Yankubah Minteh,  Mateo Kovacic and Kai Havertz all on target.

Week 16 Results - Wins for the top three

Cheese Makers 2 v 1 Claymore Athletic FC 

Garth Crooks' Team of the Week 0 v 3 YTFIB 

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 0 v 4 The Wateringhole Society

Real Muppets 4 v 0 Mega Buck Bandits

San Dimas High School 3 v 2 Markian United 

Stanley and Gracie United 1 v 4 The Fabulous Artisans

The Cow-Faced Juniors 2 v 1 Wheel Madrid

Trusted By Millions 4 v 3 Aardvark Abacus

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Cow-Faced Juniors	16	10	3	3	48	29	19	33
2	Cheese Makers	16	10	2	4	42	28	14	32
3	Real Muppets	16	9	4	3	40	19	21	31
4	Trusted By Millions	16	9	2	5	49	36	13	29
5	The Wateringhole Society	16	8	4	4	37	25	12	28
6	Garth Crooks' Team of the Week	16	7	6	3	35	27	8	27
7	Markian United	16	8	3	5	32	28	4	27
8	Stanley and Gracie United	16	7	3	6	29	28	1	24
9	The Fabulous Artisans	16	7	2	7	35	32	3	23
10	YTFIB	16	7	1	8	24	24	0	22
11	Claymore Athletic FC	16	6	1	9	29	41	-12	19
12	San Dimas High School	16	5	3	8	27	30	-3	18
13	Aardvark Abacus	16	4	5	7	34	39	-5	17
14	Mega Buck Bandits	16	4	2	10	14	38	-24	14
15	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	16	3	1	12	13	43	-30	10
16	Wheel Madrid	16	2	2	12	18	39	-21	8

They weren’t at their best but the CFJs stay top after  2-1 win over Wheels. Paul’s team led, thanks to Chris Wood’s early goal, until the last ten minutes when Yoane Wissa found himself with time to lift over the keeper and Tino Livramento quickly added a clean. Cheese Makers stay second after a 2-1 win of their own, over Claymore. Carlos Soler with his first WSFFL goal and Anthony Gordon put Matthew two up, Clive could only reply with a clean.

The Muppets stay third after seeing off Mega Bucks 4-0. Amad Diallo was Ryan’s hero with a 13-minute hat-trick late in the game. Trusted are still going the right way after beating the Aardvarks 4-3. Cole Palmer scored early and two goals before the break, from Trossard and Isak, had Beef’s team 3-1 up. Ady got it back to 3-2 through Ollie Watkins but Isak’s second kept Trusted one step ahead.

The Wateringhole beat Nil Satis 4-0 to climb to fifth. It all happened in the second half, Kiran taking the points with goals from Mitoma and Rutter and a couple of cleans. Ollie’s team slip to sixth after going down 3-0 to YTFIB. Alex Iwobi scored twice for Julian in identical circumstances, a cross drifting past everyone without getting a touch. 

Markian are down to seventh after losing 3-2 to San Dimas. Ian seemed to have the game under control with goals from Kluivert and Paqueta but three cleans from my team see me up to the heights of 12th. Have the Artisans stopped the rot? Ben’s team won 4-1 at SGU, an unlucky own goal off Dominic Solanke giving him the breakthrough and a controlled volley from Marc Guehi doubling his advantage. Aaron pulled one back in injury time but the Artisans held off any fightback with a couple of cleans.

FA Cup 1st Round - Holders walloped

Cheese Makers 3 v 0 Wheel Madrid 

Markian United 5 v 2 Stanley and Gracie United 

Mega Buck Bandits 3 v 3 YTFIB 

San Dimas High School 2 v 2 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 

The Cow-Faced Juniors 3 v 2 Aardvark Abacus 

The Fabulous Artisans 7 v 1 Garth Crooks' Team of the Week 

The Wateringhole Society 4 v 1 Claymore Athletic FC 

Trusted By Millions 6 v 1 Real Muppets

Replays

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 0 v 4 San Dimas High School

YTFIB 4 v 0 Mega Buck Bandits

The Muppets’ hold on the trophy didn’t last very long. Two down to Trusted at the break, a James McAtee hat-trick helped propel Beef into the quarters. The two early-season Cup winners, Wateringhole and Claymore, met and it was Kiran’s team that made it to the next round courtesy of three clean sheets in a 4-1 win.

Big winners of the week were the Artisans who snapped their bad run with a 7-1 win over GC TotW. Braces from Tyler Dibling and Joao Felix set Ben on the road. Ollie’s hopes of a pot in his first season rest on the league now. League leaders the CFJs are fighting on two fronts after beating the Aardvarks 3-2, two early goals keeping the Cows always one step ahead of Ady’s team.

Second in the league Cheese Makers strolled past Wheels 3-0, amazingly with different players scoring penalties in the same minute! Beaten PCMT finalists Markian fancy another cup run by the look of their 5-2 win over SGU. James Justin scored twice for Ian.

Two replays coming up this week. YTFIB (of course) came from 3-1 down to earn another crack at Mega Bucks, while Nil Satis and San Dimas will go again after a two-all draw.

In those replays - There were very comfortable wins for San Dimas (thanks to clean sheets) and YTFIB (who surprisingly didn’t want any more replays.)

Week 15 Results - CFJs stay top

Cheese Makers 5 v 1 The Fabulous Artisans

Garth Crooks' Team of the Week 3 v 0 Claymore Athletic FC

Markian United 0 v 2 Mega Buck Bandits

Real Muppets 4 v 0 Aardvark Abacus

San Dimas High School 1 v 2 Wheel Madrid

Stanley and Gracie United 2 v 0 YTFIB 

The Cow-Faced Juniors 2 v 1 The Wateringhole Society

Trusted By Millions 3 v 0 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	The Cow-Faced Juniors	15	9	3	3	46	28	18	30
2	Cheese Makers	15	9	2	4	40	27	13	29
3	Real Muppets	15	8	4	3	36	19	17	28
4	Garth Crooks' Team of the Week	15	7	6	2	35	24	11	27
5	Markian United	15	8	3	4	30	25	5	27
6	Trusted By Millions	15	8	2	5	45	33	12	26
7	The Wateringhole Society	15	7	4	4	33	25	8	25
8	Stanley and Gracie United	15	7	3	5	28	24	4	24
9	The Fabulous Artisans	15	6	2	7	31	31	0	20
10	YTFIB	15	6	1	8	21	24	-3	19
11	Claymore Athletic FC	15	6	1	8	28	39	-11	19
12	Aardvark Abacus	15	4	5	6	31	35	-4	17
13	San Dimas High School	15	4	3	8	24	28	-4	15
14	Mega Buck Bandits	15	4	2	9	14	34	-20	14
15	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	15	3	1	11	13	39	-26	10
16	Wheel Madrid	15	2	2	11	17	37	-20	8

Paul Cartmell Memorial Trophy Final

Claymore Athletic FC 2

Joelinton 19

Chalobah 31

v 

Markian United 0

(one cancelled clean)

At Wembley, Attendance: 90,000

Teams

Claymore

Hermansen; Munoz, Chalobah, Young, Akanji; Joelinton, Doucoure, Damsgaard, Gomes J; Hojlund, Cunha

Subs: Forster; Coady; Dominguez; Zirkzee

Markian

Johnstone; Porro, Zinchenko, Schar, Lacroiz; Onana, Caicedo, Paqueta, Sarr; Garnacho, Nunez

Subs: Bazunu; Udogie; Bissouma; Daka

Report

With a 2-2 draw in the league their most recent match there was little to choose between the sides. Claymore came into this game not having won a trophy for five years, Markian were in their first final. 

There was not much goalmouth action until Clive's team went ahead on 19 minutes. Joelinton attacked a cross from the left and looked to have headed Claymore in front but replays showed there might have been an inadvertent use of an arm. As the Markian players waited for VAR to chalk it off the referee pointed to the centre circle and the goal stood.

Markian's sense of hard luck increased with Claymore's second just after the half hour. Trevoh Chalobah headed in a corner but Ian's keeper was adamant a foul on him should have been awarded. Claymore went for the kill with Rasmus Hojlund firing just wide, Markian's only first half response was Moises Caicedo blazing a shot over.

The second half turned into a stroll for Claymore. Alejandro Garnacho ran around fruitlessly for Markian but Clive's team saw the game out without a real scare. It's Claymore's 13th winners trophy. No active manager has more. Ian will have to wait for his first.

---

How They Got There

Semi-finals

Claymore Athletic FC 5 v 1 The Cow-Faced Juniors

Markian United 2 v 0 Mega Buck Bandits

Quarter-final

Claymore Athletic FC 2 v 0 Trusted By Millions 

Mega Buck Bandits 3 v 2 San Dimas High School

The Fabulous Artisans 2 v 3 Markian United

Wheel Madrid 2 v 3 The Cow-Faced Juniors

First Round

Cheese Makers 1 v 4 The Cow-Faced Juniors

Garth Crooks’ Team of the Week 1 v 2 Trusted By Millions 

Mega Buck Bandits 4 v 2 The Wateringhole Society

Nil Satis Nisi Optum 1 v 5 Claymore Athletic FC 

Real Muppets 0 v 2 The Fabulous Artisans 

San Dimas High School 3 v 2 Aardvark Abacus 

Wheel Madrid 2 v 1 Stanley and Gracie United 

YTFIB 0 v 2 Markian United (after 1-1, 2-2, 2-2 and 1-1 draws)