February auction highlights

As you can imagine not a lot of money was chucked around. The top prices paid were…

£12.5m Benik Afobe to Trusted

£8m Oumar Niasse to Aardvarks

£6m Sam Byram to Final Fantasy

£6m Alberto Paloschi to Trusted

£6m Seydou Doumbia to Trusted

FA Cup semi-final draw

A repeat of last year’s (slightly) controversial final is still on.

Claymore Athletic FC v Real Muppets

Fred West Landscape Gardening XI v Aardvark Abacus

Matches to be played midweek 1/2 March.

Week 19 Results

Claymore held but the chasers falter.

Aardvark Abacus 1 v 1 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Cheese Makers 3 v 1 San Dimas High School

FCK2 0 v 0 Mega Buck Bandits

Final Fantasy XI 0 v 3 Real Muppets

Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 4 v 0 YTFIB

The Cow-Faced Juniors 4 v 3 Athletico Phoenix

The Fabulous Artisans 3 v 3 Claymore Athletic FC

The Wateringhole Society 0 v 2 Trusted By Millions

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Claymore Athletic FC	19	13	5	1	73	29	44	44
2	Athletico Phoenix	19	11	5	3	51	33	18	38
3	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	19	11	3	5	49	34	15	36
4	San Dimas High School	19	9	6	4	47	28	19	33
5	Aardvark Abacus	19	10	2	7	43	38	5	32
6	FCK2	19	9	2	8	35	30	5	29
7	The Cow-Faced Juniors	19	8	5	6	43	44	-1	29
8	Cheese Makers	19	8	5	6	29	34	-5	29
9	The Fabulous Artisans	19	8	4	7	48	29	19	28
10	Trusted By Millions	19	8	2	9	25	33	-8	26
11	The Wateringhole Society	19	7	4	8	28	35	-7	25
12	Mega Buck Bandits	19	6	4	9	20	34	-14	22
13	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	19	4	6	9	25	33	-8	18
14	Real Muppets	19	6	0	13	31	49	-18	18
15	Final Fantasy XI	19	3	3	13	25	55	-30	12
16	YTFIB	19	3	0	16	11	45	-34	9

Claymore and the Artisans have been scoring goals for fun lately (does anybody score goals for non-fun?) and hey shared six this week. The game burst into life after a goalless first half with Scott Dann giving Clive the lead. Goals from Roberto Firmino and a sharp shot on the turn from Jesse Lingard either side of the hour mark turned the tables and when Adam Johnson slotted a free-kick in with eight minutes left it looked like POTW was sewn up. With three minutes left though Sergio Aguero glanced in (from an offside position?) to narrow the lead and a Joel clean meant the points were shared.

Athletico failed to capitalise though as they fell to a re-invigorated CFJs performance. Chris and co. were 3-1 up at the break but another stunning piece of Riyad Mahrez skill pulled a goal back and an unmarked Diego Costa levelled for Brian in injury time. There was still time for a Virgil van Dijk clean to keep all the points at the Drove Stadium. Fred is up to third after a 4-0 win over YTFIB. Julian held out for 70 minutes before Lallana, Defoe and two cleans finished them off.

San Dimas fell further back with a defeat at Stade de Fromage. Robert Huth and Romelu Lukaku traded early goals but after Victor Wanyama was sent off for me, Huth again and a Kevin Wimmer clean gave Matthew the win. The Aardvarks beat Nil Satis in the Cup last week but couldn’t repeat the feat in the league. Paul and Dan were ahead through Seamus Coleman’s header but Nacho Montreal grabbed a clean for Ady. FCK2 missed a chance to close in a goalless game with Mega Bucks.

Beef is still on the up, cleans from Ramiro Funes Mori and Marc Muniesa giving him victory at The Wateringhole Society. It’s rare back to back wins for the Muppets to give them breathing space from the bottom two. Alex Mitrovic with Ryan’s goal and Koscielny and Alderweireld cleans beating Final Fantasy.

FA Cup quarter-final results

Our holders hanging on to the Trophy.

Aardvark Abacus 2 v 0 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Claymore Athletic FC 6 v 0 The Wateringhole Society

Real Muppets 2 v 1 Athletico Phoenix

Trusted By Millions 2 v 2 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI

Replay

Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 2 v 0 Trusted By Millions

Our holders will need a replay if they're to make it into the last four. Fred's team scored early, through a Dele Alli follow-up, and late when solomon Rondon poked home in injury time but Beef had cleans from Borthwick-Jackson and Tomkins to earn a replay in Toronto this weekend.

Beaten finalists last time Claymore continue their dominant form meaning that there's no fairytale end to Kiran's first season. Clive was two up at the break through Sergio Aguero and Scott Dann and finally broke the remaining Wateringhole Society resistance with two late Ross Barkley penalties.

Nil Satis exit at the quarter-final stage for the fifth straight season. Paul and Dan going down to two Abacus cleans from Nacho Monreal and Daley Blind.

The Muppets will play their first FA Cup semi for four years after beating Athletico. Anthony Martial finished off a great move to put Brian ahead halfway through the first half but Ryan was level five minutes from time thanks to Cheik Kouyate's finish. The momentum was with the Muppets and Laurent Koscielny got the deciding clean.

Fred made it through at the second attempt. Goals in the last 20 minutes from Adam Lallana and Jermain Defoe saw off Trusted's challenge.

Week 18 Results

Another good week for Claymore. 

Aardvark Abacus 3 v 2 The Wateringhole Society

Athletico Phoenix 1 v 2 Mega Buck Bandits

Final Fantasy XI 0 v 1 Cheese Makers

Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 5 v 1 FCK2

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 2 v 2 San Dimas High School

Real Muppets 0 v 5 Claymore Athletic FC

The Cow-Faced Juniors 1 v 6 The Fabulous Artisans

YTFIB 0 v 2 Trusted By Millions

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Claymore Athletic FC	18	13	4	1	70	26	44	43
2	Athletico Phoenix	18	11	5	2	48	29	19	38
3	San Dimas High School	18	9	6	3	46	25	21	33
4	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	18	10	3	5	45	34	11	33
5	Aardvark Abacus	18	10	1	7	42	37	5	31
6	FCK2	18	9	1	8	35	30	5	28
7	The Fabulous Artisans	18	8	3	7	45	26	19	27
8	The Cow-Faced Juniors	18	7	5	6	39	41	-2	26
9	Cheese Makers	18	7	5	6	26	33	-7	26
10	The Wateringhole Society	18	7	4	7	28	33	-5	25
11	Trusted By Millions	18	7	2	9	23	33	-10	23
12	Mega Buck Bandits	18	6	3	9	20	34	-14	21
13	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	18	4	5	9	24	32	-8	17
14	Real Muppets	18	5	0	13	28	49	-21	15
15	Final Fantasy XI	18	3	3	12	25	52	-27	12
16	YTFIB	18	3	0	15	11	41	-30	9

Claymore still in 'beast' mode and the Muppets were on the wrong end this week. Sergio Aguero scored early and late and Wes Hoolahan and Craig Cathcart added goals in between, Ryan's team unable to muster a response. Claymore's lead is stretched to five points after a surprise defeat to Mega Bucks. Despite Per Mertersacker seeing red early on Brian was ahead through Diego Costa. A Jan Vertonghen own goal levelled the game and then my old friend 'narrative' arrived on the scene. Dave had very kindly loaned out Charlie Austin to something called QPR for much of this season but has  recalled the striker to his squad and it was his header, three minutes from time, that took all the points.

San Dimas continue to lose ground after being held by Nil Satis this week. My team were two up through Dieumerci Mbokani's clever backheel and a cool finish from James Milner but couldn't finish off the Salehs and cleans from Seamus Coleman and Danny Simpson shared the points. Fred has also left himself a lot to do, much like this weekend. His team trailed 1-0 to FCK2, Harry Kane on target again, with six minutes left but then it all went a bit crazy. Dele Alli got a Gazzaesque equaliser, Leo Ulloa poked in and the Nacer Chadli and Adam Lallana both added goals five minutes into injury time.

The Aardvarks needed a clean from Ryan Bertrand to down the Wateringhole Society, minutes after Kiran's team looked to have grabbed a point through Sebastian Bassong's long-ranger. The Artisans continue to do their best Claymore impression and stuck six past the CFJs this week. Two apiece from Roberto Firmino and Enner Valencia must have Ben wondering where his team have been up to now.

Cheese Makers are still in the mid-table mix, Robert Huth's clean giving Matthew the points against Final Fantasy. Trusted are making a late bid for the top half and Beef's side picked up another win, 2-0 against YTFIB, with an unmarked Jordan Henderson setting him on his way.

Week 17 Results

The top two pulling away from the rest. 

Cheese Makers 1 v 3 The Wateringhole Society

Claymore Athletic FC 6 v 1 Final Fantasy XI

FCK2 4 v 1 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Mega Buck Bandits 0 v 2 Aardvark Abacus

San Dimas High School 3 v 0 The Cow-Faced Juniors

The Fabulous Artisans 5 v 0 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI

Trusted By Millions 2 v 4 Athletico Phoenix

YTFIB 1 v 2 Real Muppets

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Claymore Athletic FC	17	12	4	1	65	26	39	40
2	Athletico Phoenix	17	11	5	1	47	27	20	38
3	San Dimas High School	17	9	5	3	44	23	21	32
4	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	17	9	3	5	40	33	7	30
5	FCK2	17	9	1	7	34	25	9	28
6	Aardvark Abacus	17	9	1	7	39	35	4	28
7	The Cow-Faced Juniors	17	7	5	5	38	35	3	26
8	The Wateringhole Society	17	7	4	6	26	30	-4	25
9	The Fabulous Artisans	17	7	3	7	39	25	14	24
10	Cheese Makers	17	6	5	6	25	33	-8	23
11	Trusted By Millions	17	6	2	9	21	33	-12	20
12	Mega Buck Bandits	17	5	3	9	18	33	-15	18
13	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	17	4	4	9	22	30	-8	16
14	Real Muppets	17	5	0	12	28	44	-16	15
15	Final Fantasy XI	17	3	3	11	25	51	-26	12
16	YTFIB	17	3	0	14	11	39	-28	9

Juggernaut. Steamroller. Runaway train. Have I used all those images to describe Clive's team this season? I'm running out! Just the 6-1 win for Clive this week. Ceri had the temerity to take the lead through a super Ayoze Perez finish but that just seemed to wind The Swordsmen up and they then went through the gears to run away with the points. Sergio Aguero's second goal, a surgical move slicing through the Fantasy defence, was the highlight. Athletico Phoenix are still on Clive's tail though after a battling win at Trusted. Brian had led twice, through Ashley Williams, and Diego Costa but Funes Mori looked to have grabbed Beef a point in injury time. Two cleans from Brian had other ideas though.

San Dimas picked up their first win since the PCMT Final when seeing off the CFJs 3-0. After a quiet first half a Charlie Daniels penalty opened the scoring and David Silva scored his first of the season to lead me back into third place. That's because Fred drop to fourth after a crushing defeat to the Artisans. Patrick van Aanholt has turned into some sort of surprise goal machine of late and he opened the scoring five minutes before the break. Christian Eriksen added a second two minutes later and one in the second half while a couple of cleans completed the rout.

FCK2 had only won one out of six and left it late to beat Nil Satis. John Terry's clumsy own goal put Paul and Dan in front but Harry Kane equalised from the spot and Terry (offside) scored at the right end eight minutes into injury time. There was still time for a couple of cleans to make it look a bit more one-sided. Ady looks like being the top Bevan this season after beating the Bandits. It was a bit of a dreary affair with Ady relying on Ryan Bertrand and Daley Blind cleans for the points.

Kiran is now top Warr after a 3-1 win at the Stade de Fromage. This was another game drifting towards a draw before Erik Pieters and Chancel Mbemba got the deciding Wateringhole cleans. The Muppets got their fifth win of the season after edging YTFIB 2-1. A Fabian Delph long-ranger gave Julian the lead bit Moussa Dembele levelled for Ryan on the hour and Laurent Koscielny was the man with the winning clean.

Week 16 Results

A bit of daylight for Claymore.

Aardvark Abacus 1 v 6 The Fabulous Artisans

Athletico Phoenix 1 v 1 San Dimas High School

Final Fantasy XI 0 v 3 Mega Buck Bandits

Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 4 v 4 Cheese Makers

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 2 v 1 YTFIB

Real Muppets 1 v 4 Trusted By Millions

The Cow-Faced Juniors 2 v 4 Claymore Athletic FC

The Wateringhole Society 3 v 0 FCK2

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Claymore Athletic FC	16	11	4	1	59	25	34	37
2	Athletico Phoenix	16	10	5	1	43	25	18	35
3	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	16	9	3	4	40	28	12	30
4	San Dimas High School	16	8	5	3	41	23	18	29
5	The Cow-Faced Juniors	16	7	5	4	38	32	6	26
6	FCK2	16	8	1	7	30	24	6	25
7	Aardvark Abacus	16	8	1	7	37	35	2	25
8	Cheese Makers	16	6	5	5	24	30	-6	23
9	The Wateringhole Society	16	6	4	6	23	29	-6	22
10	The Fabulous Artisans	16	6	3	7	34	25	9	21
11	Trusted By Millions	16	6	2	8	19	29	-10	20
12	Mega Buck Bandits	16	5	3	8	18	31	-13	18
13	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	16	4	4	8	21	26	-5	16
14	Real Muppets	16	4	0	12	26	43	-17	12
15	Final Fantasy XI	16	3	3	10	24	45	-21	12
16	YTFIB	16	3	0	13	10	37	-27	9

Wayne Rooney has had a poor season but celebrated his recall to Clive's starting line-up (in place of Olivier Giroud) with two goals (doubling his season's tally) that helped his team to victory over the CFJs. Gio Wijnaldum and Dimitri Payet were also on the scoresheet - Clive's team can hurt you in all sorts of ways. It was a doubly good week for Claymore as the chasing pack all slipped up. Athletico and San Dimas played out a drab draw, Jon Walters' goal for me cancelled by Carl Jenkinson's clean while Fred was held to a 4-4 draw by Cheese Makers. Jermain Defoe has hit a sudden vein of form and scored a hat-trick for Fred to put him 4-2 up with five minutes left but he couldn't hold on against Matthew's brace of cleans.

FCK2 and the Aardvarks were other top-half sides going down to comfortable defeats. The Aardvarks were hammered by the Artisans - Roberto Firmino got two for Ben as did Enner Valencia who belatedly opened his season's account. FCK2 had no answer to the Wateringhole Society - Andre Ayew back on the scoresheet for Kiran in that one. The Muppets are still languishing near the foot of the table. Ryan's team looked set for a point against Trusted through a Mitrovic penalty but three cleans for Beef took the points.

Mega Bucks will take the Okus bragging rights into next season following victory against Final Fantasy. Harry Arter got his first for Dave but th turning point was probably Ceri's trusty defender Gareth McAuley scoring an own goal on 73 minutes. A danny Simpson clean was the winner for Nil Satis against YTFIB which puts a bit of distance between those teams down at the bottom of the table.