Everyone enjoying the World Cup? The last couple of days have been a bit dull, haven’t they…..? Much more excitement in the Ballers games this week, apart from on Monday……

LEAGUE NEWS

The NEW TUESDAY LEAGUE kicks off a week on Tuesday, 1st July (unless England finish second in their group, in which case we’d expect a wash out…..). We currently have TWO SPACES AVAILABLE for any new or returning team. Friendlies are available next week for anyone wanting to give it a go before the real thing starts.

The 4th and final heat of the BALLERS WORLD CUP takes place on SUNDAY 1ST JULY at 3pm. If you want to be Brazil, Germany or Costa Rica you best get registered early while there’s still spaces.

We’re still getting enquiries about our Sunday league, so we could yet still add a mini league on to start in the next few weeks to run alongside the second half of the main season, so limited spaces available there.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ANY OF THE ABOVE, OR ANY GENERAL INFORMATION ON ANYTHING ELSE WE DO, GO TO THE HOMEPAGE AND FILL IN A ‘JOIN A LEAGUE’ FORM

SUNDAY LEAGUE

What a night! A night free of any bank holiday / Parklife / SoccerAid distractions meant we ended up with an almost full night, with just League Two’s FC AOTS missing (booooo). It was a spectacular night in the Premiership with three ridiculously well contested games taking place. Following last week’s shock defeat to El Caliente, Kinky Slipper needed to get something from this week’s game with champions Duno to avoid going 5 point behind the leaders in the early stages. Adam Seddon gave Kinky the lead, somewhat against the general run of play 16 minutes into the first half, and when Joe Lailey made it 2-0 three minutes into the second half, they looked well on their way to picking up a much needed win. With Duno having failed to beat Kinky’s keeper Luke Braden by themselves, Kinky gave them a hand by beating him for them to make it 2-1 with 17 to play. Ray Donnelly leveled things up for Duno with 5 minutes left, and a minute later they were in front for the first time as Callum Donnelly prodded home from close range. It was far from over there though, and James Radcliffe made it 3-3 with two minutes to go, only for Ray Donnelly to convert a penalty in the final minute to give Duno the extremely hard fought win. El Caliente were looking to follow up last week’s win as they faced another tough test against multiple time winners Insole. After a quiet opening 10 minutes the game burst into life as Jack Atkinson and Danny King scored within a couple of minutes of each other to make it 1-1. Ross Grealy and Kyle Clarke did likewise as we headed into the final 5 minutes of the half at 2-2, before Grealy and Nathaniel Odysseus-Kingsley grabbed a couple to make it 4-2 to Caliente a minute before the break. That minute was enough time for two more goals as King and Atkinson scored to make the half time score 5-3. Insole were back in the game 4 minutes after the restart as Jordan Cunningham pulled on back, and they were level again when the same player scored with 16 minutes to play. Rather than going on to win the game, as might have been expected, it was El Caliente who won it through Kingsley’s 45th minute goal, a goal that sees Caliente go second in the Premiership table. Real Maskid were looking for their first Premiership win at the third attempt, while Bangers & Pash were looking to maintain their 100% start to the season. From one game. 4 goals in the opening 13 minutes saw Bangers twice come from behind as Kieran O’Connell and Zac Ferguson scored for Maskid, Chris Carroll and Alex Fowell for Bangers. Bangers were in front for the first time 4 minutes before the break as MacKenzie Hope scored, but Jack Wilson’s goal on the stroke of half time saw us go into the break level at 3-3. Hope’s second two minutes into the second half put Bangers back in front, and his third, 12 minutes from time gave them a two goal lead for the first time. O’Connell’s second 7 minutes from the end gave Maskid hope of taking something from the game, and Jack McConnell’s last minute goal gave them their second 5-5 draw in three games as they picked up their second point of the season.

Stockport Eagles were two from two going into their game with Wellspring this week, and to be brutally honest they never looked like being anything other than three from three as 4 goals from Callum Donnelly and one each from Liam Watson and Ben Waugh gave them a 6-1 half time lead as Mike Devitt got Wellspring’s only first half goal. Jake Hamilton pulled one back for Wellspring in the second minute of the second half, but it was all Eagles from that point as Michael Winn, Ray Donnelly and Waugh all grabbed two more and Paul Waugh the other as Eagles ran out 13-2 winners. Kipsta Cobras had a number of regulars back this week as they took on the always regular Team Tom. They got off to a flyer as Kieran Mills scored three in the opening 6 minutes to put Kipsta’s well in control. The half burst into life again in the final 5 minutes as Carl Carter pulled one back for the Tommers, Mills edged Kipsta three up again, and Carter grabbed a second to make it 4-2 at the break. Jack Horgan made it a three goal lead for Kipsta again, but again Team Tom clung onto their coat tails as Scott Doherty made it 5-3 with 11 to go. Mills grabbed two more in the space of a minute and Matty Aked added another a minute later to put the result beyond doubt, before Carter grabbed his third as a consolation 5 minutes from time. Kipsta up into second after two wins from their opening two games. We welcomed the first of our new teams this week as Netsix & Chill replaced Polish Army (for now) to jump straight into the Championship and took on Pat’s Giants on their debut. It got off to a ecent start as Jaden Robinson put them in front in the 7th minute, but Paddy Bannister leveled up for Pat’s 6 minutes later. Robinson restored the Netsix lead 5 minutes from the break, but they couldn’t see the lead through to half time as Danny Brookes made it 2-2 a minute before the break. The Giants hit the front for the first time 10 minutes into the second half as Jack Emmerson made it 3-2, and Carl Harratt looked to have wrapped the points up for Pat’s with 9 minutes left. Kai Lawless pulled one back for Netsix three minutes from time, but they couldn’t find a leveler in the time that remained, so they start Ballers life off with a narrow defeat.

The only consistent team so far in League One is the new boys of Ladzio, and they went up against Ballers stalwarts Step Brothers this week who were off the back of an impressive win over Inter Your Sister last week. They had a couple of different personnel this week and their level had dropped from last week and Ladzio took full advantage, steaming into a 3-0 lead in the opening 7 minutes as Jack Shepherd, Lewis Findlow and George Cox got on the score sheet early. Tom Cioffi pulled one back a minute later, but the rest of the half was one to forget for the Brothers as Ladzio scored 8 more to go into the interval with an 11-1 lead. Findlow got 4 of them, Shepherd two , Cox and Will Lynch one apiece. With the result in the bag the second half was a little more competitive, Gaz Fay and Chris Moore pulled two back for the Brotherhood, and Chris Murray grabbed himself a couple too, but there was no way they were ever going to get back into it as Ladzio maintained their half time lead with two goals from Shepherd and one each from Findlow and George Cox to seal a 15-5 win. Sevilla Lacatalent had their colours lowered for the first time this season last week and were looking to bounce back against FC Stront Bakken, who will be looking to consolidate at this level following promotion last season. Declan Matthews gave the Bucket Boys the lead in the 6th minute, but Sevilla turned it around to lead 2-1 at the break as David Witter and Sam Melling got their goals. Sevilla looked like running away with it in the second period as Jake Riley and Mike Lavin made it 4-1 with 13 minutes left. Lukas Voveris got one back for Stront Bakken, but Riley struck almost immediately to keep their three goal lead intact. Matthews got another for the Bucket Boys, but again Sevilla kept them at arms length with Daniel McDonald’s goal 5 minutes from time. The final few seconds were interesting as Matthews scored two more to make it 6-5 going into the final minute, but Sevilla held on to stay in second spot. The McMuffin Men and Inter Your Sister had had a stuttering start to their campaigns, so a win for either side could be the boost they need to make a push at the top end as the season goes on. McMuffin raced into a three goal lead in the first 7 minutes as Sam Delgado, Logan Sherer and Mark Bailey scored in the space of 4 minutes. Craig Johnson pulled two back for Inter before the half time whistle, but they were two down again when Bailey got his second three minutes after the restart. Sherer’s second 15 minutes from time restored the three goal lead, and though Michael Winn closed that gap with 9 to play, a quickfire double from Delgado and Sherer finished this one off as McMuffin Men jump into third place.

SK Six’s Ballers debut way back in the day was against The Veterans, and it ended in a 14-0 defeat. Their improvement in the first season saw the reverse fixture end in a 2-1 loss, so was it to be third time lucky as the met again for the first time in a long while as The Veterans have risen to the brink of the Premiership and sunk back to League Two since then? It looked like it could be on as Bernard Blicharz scored the only goal of the opening half to give SK a one goal half time lead, but Ryan Prestwich leveled for The Vets 5 minutes into the second period. As the game opened up, Prestwich and Harry Bridge scored in quick succession to keep us level at 2-2 with 15 to play, but The Vets made the crucial move as Niall Martin, Simon Grainger and Prestwich scored to make it 5-2 with 8 minutes left. Henry Cooke pulled one back inside the final 5 minutes, but Dean Minshull’s goal two minutes later sealed the win for The Veterans as they make it three wins from three to start the season. Beercalona and Deportivo have both established themselves as promotion contenders this season, but in the first half of this one it seemed like Beercalona were the most likely as two goals from Jason Ratcliffe and one each from Tom Ratcliffe and Martin Bell gave them a 4-0 half time lead. A third from Jason Ratcliffe two minutes after the break pretty much sealed the win, and Tom Ratcliffe added their 6th with 7 minutes remaining. Rob Parker got Deportivo on the board with 5 minutes left, and he got a second in the final minute as a consolation after Jason Ratcliffe had got his 4th a minute after his first.

We welcomed a second new team, Droylsden’s Finest to Ballers this week, and while the wait for a space to come up we will get them some friendlies to keep them playing. If anyone wants to come along and make up a mini league with them, feel free! They were only 2-1 down at half time to Rooneytunes this week as Owen Shemeld scored their first Ballers goal, but they finished up losing 6-2 as Saul Heavyside got a couple for Rooneytunes as they shared the goals around the team.

THE SUNDAY LEAGUE IS FULL! BUT WITH TEAMS WAITING TO JOIN WE COULD START A MINI LEAGUE IF WE GET A COUPLE MORE SIGNED UP – GET INVOLVED!

MONDAY LEAGUE

Short a sweet. England were playing. No games were played. See you next week!

TUESDAY LEAGUE

With the Premiership done until the new season kicks off in a couple of weeks, it was all about the Championship this week. Nothing that could affect the promotion spots though….. A week is a long time in football, and LQ were back this week after a very disappointing result last week saw them begin to question their own existence, so Black Jack would have been expecting to take advantage. A spell of three goals in 6 minutes half way through the opening period would have made LQ feel better as Tim Price, Matthew Brierley and Sam Holland gave them a three goal lead they held until the break. George Springer made it 4 early in the second half, and the result was in the bag when Alex Brash and Holland made it 6 halfway through the period. Luke Waiting got Black Jack on the board, and Joe Dear got a second for them in the final minute, but that was after Max Brookes (not Power) had scored two in the minutes running up to that point. Maybe LQ will stick around for another season…… Class On Fake Grass have settled well to Ballers life after an opening defeat, while we always wait to see which Beercalona turns up on a Tuesday these days. An open first half saw early goals from Callum Graham and Mike Cocks for Class nullified by goals from Craig Scanlon and Martin Bell with 11 minutes on the clock. Luke Chatting edged Class back in front, and he restored the lead again three minutes after Scanlon had leveled up again. Class looked to have made the move with three goals in the first 14 minutes of the second half, two from Cocks and one from Jake Curley, but Beercalona pulled two back inside the final 10 minutes to close the gap to two. That’s how the gap remained, and Class make it two wins in a row ahead of their big move to the Monday league.

Ahead of their promotion to the top flight, Wellspring took on Premierhship Shaka, and it didn’t go too well for them. Tom Hannan got three and Andy Cadwallader three as Shaka ran out comfortable 12-2 winners.

SPACES ARE AVAILABLE IN THE NEW TUESDAY LEAGUE WHICH KICKS OFF ON 3RD JULY. FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER, GET IN TOUCH! 

WEDNESDAY LEAGUE

Apologies, as this will be brief as we’ve already typed it out once and lost it, and time is against us! The final night of the Wednesday season saw Michu At De Gea Ba complete their final Wednesday season as three time winners before departing for a new challenge in the Tuesday league. Their game with Exeter Gently was level at 4-4 with 19 minutes to play after Alex Brady, Paul Mazzitelli, Adam Porter and Jack Jennison had scored for Michu, Dan Williams, Mehrad Torkian, Rob Milarvie and Tom Harrison for Exeter. Michu ran away with it in the final stages as Mazzitelli and Porter scored two more and Jennison another to see Michu end their Wednesday spell with a win.

In friendly action Wellspring considered themselves a little unfortunate to lose 8-4 to Stockport Eagles with the goals being shared about. Michael Winn, Paul Waugh and Callum Davies (not Donnelly) got two each for Eagles, while Steven Whetham and Jack Phillipes scored a brace each for Wellspring ahead of their first Wednesday league campaign.

THE NEW WEDNESDAY LEAGUE KICKS OFF NEXT WEEK, BUT IS FULL! HAVE A LOOK AT TUESDAY FOR A MORE IMMEDIATE START