Given that we’ve finished this before kick off of the England v Belgium game, we can only assume the country remains in a state of hysteria about the chances of it coming home, or a bit of reality has kicked in.
LEAGUE NEWS
First up, for anyone who NEEDS to start playing football immediately having been inspired by games like France v Denmark and Senegal v Colombia, we have our BRAND NEW TUESDAY LEAGUE starting NEXT WEEK. There are still a couple of spaces to be had, and if England finished second you even have an extra week to sort out your team.
The FINAL BALLERS WORLD CUP HEAT is THIS SUNDAY at 3pm, again we have the final spaces to fill. If you want to give Germany another chance to win the real World Cup, get your team registered!
We still have the option to add a mini league to our Sunday league in the next couple of weeks, and spaces would still be available in that.
FOR DETAILS ON ANY OF THE ABOVE, FILL IN A JOIN A LEAGUE FORM ON THE HOMEPAGE
SUNDAY LEAGUE
The England game, holidays etc caused a bit of havoc in the Sunday league this week, as such, no Premiership games were played.
The Championship saw one game played as two of the promotion favourites in Kipsta Cobras and Stockport Eagles went head to head. The returning Connor Harding gave Kipsta a second minute lead, and they went into the break with a three goal lead as Kieran Mills and Liam Atkinson scored in the 14th and 23rd minutes. Eagles were given hope at the start of the second period as Ray Donnelly pulled one back two minutes in, and his second with 7 minutes left set us up for a big finish. Mills got his second a minute later to ease Kipsta two goals up again, but Donnelly got this third with three minutes to go. Kipsta were able to hold on, and they go level with Eagles at the top with a game in hand after ending Eagles 100% start to the season while maintaining their own.
Ladzio were looking to continue their flying start against a McMuffin Men team who have had a shaky opening to the season, but McMuffin’s didn’t read the script in the first half as Sam Delgado got three to give them a 3-0half time lead. When Charley Eyre, Logan Sherer and Delgado added three more in the opening 10 minutes of the second half the Ladzio 100% start was over. Eyre and Mark Bailey added two more in the final 5 minutes, with George Hibbs getting a consolation to deny McMuffin ‘keeper Dustin Lizaba a clean sheet. FC Stront Bakken and Step Brothers have had a mixed start to the season, so this game was anyone’s for the taking. It looked to be the Bucket Boys who were taking it as Lukas Voveris gave them a half time lead with a 6th minute goal, and Declan Matthews doubled it in the opening minute of the second period. Dom Cioffi pulled one back with 19 minutes to play, but an own goal and Voveris second of the game made it 4-1 on 37 minutes. Cioffi pulled another back two minutes later, and when he scored two in two minutes with 5 minutes left on the clock, Step Brothers had nicked what looked like an unlikely point.
Deportivo Lack Of Talent have been one of the most consistent teams in the opening weeks of the season, having struggled through most of the last campaign, and they went up against leaders The Veterans with The Vets 100% record on the line. Deportivo took early control as Rob Parker and Ben Proctor put them two up in the first 8 minutes. Paul Atherton pulled one back for the Vets 10 minutes before the break, but Brad Peet restored the Deportivo two goal lead two minutes later. The Veterans started the second half strongly and goals from Simon Grainger and Paul Atherton made it 3-3 with 18 minutes left. They weren’t level for long as Parker got his second to give Deportivo their lead back. Despite plenty of effort in the very testing conditions there were no more goals and Deportivo leapfrog The Vets into first place. Defences were hardly on top in the game between Beercalona and Rooneytunes as Beercalona raced into a 4 goal lead in the opening 7 minutes as Jay Ratcliffe got three and Martin Bell the other. Saul Heavyside pulled a couple back for Rooneytunes halfway through the period, and namesake Cain also got on the score sheet after Tom Ratcliffe and an own goal had pulled Beercalona clear again. Tom Ratcliffe’s second made it 7-3 at the break, but Beercalona ran away with it in the second half as Bell got 4, Jay Ratcliffe three, Tom Ratcliffe two and Scott Williams the other, with two Cain Heavyside and one Dec Church goals in response for Rooneytunes. For those without calculators that made the final score 19-7. The new boys of Droylsden’s Finest could yet find a place as a 7th team in League Two (if we can make it work), and they were back for a second game this week against fellow young guns SK Six. The first half showed that they are still learning how to play the Ballers game, as two goals from Steve Blunsten and one each for Max Blunsten Shepherd Brad Bent and Harry Bridge saw them lead 5-2 at the break, with two goals from Jack Philips in reply for the new boys. Things changed dramatically at the start of the second half, Joe Bulman got the first of 6 goals in 10 minutes as Droylsden turned it around, with 4 of them coming from Liam Mercer and the other from Nathan Daly. SK hit back with a couple of their own from Bent to trail by one with 12 minutes to play, but Mercer got his 5th of the half to seal a first Ballers win for the Finest.
THE SUNDAY LEAGUE IS CURRENTLY FULL, BUT WE HAVE THE OPTION OF ADDING A MINI LEAGUE IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS IF ANYONE WANTS TO GET INVOLVED.
MONDAY LEAGUE
With the Monday league restored to capacity, it was a couple of teams inabilities to field a side in the heat that caused us to lose a couple of games this week. Not A Chance went into this weeks games looking to secure their place at the top of the Premiership table as they took on Pink Panthers, and they started well as Dom Andrew, Tom Usher and Jack Halsall put them three up in the first 9 minutes. Gage Eme pulled one back for the Panthers a minute into the second half, and they stayed in contention after Reece Brown scored a minute after Ryan Usher had restored the Chancers three goal lead. The Chancers ran away with it in the final 10 minutes though as Halsall and Usher added to their total before ‘guest’ player Simon added three in the final 7 minutes to make the final score 9-2. The winner of the first AC Milmanchester v Expected Toulouse game of the season would most likely go on to challenge Not A Chance for the title, and James Elmore gave ACM the lead in the second minute. Anthony Pugh made it two in the 9th minute, and though Liam Mottram pulled one back for Toulouse half way through the period, Milmanchester lead 3-1 at the break after Simon Hackney scored 4 minutes from half time. David Murphy made it 4 a minute into the second period, but Toulouse were back in it again a minute later as Mottram got his second. Murphy scored again a minute later, and further goals from Hackney and Elmore put Milmanchester out of sight with 7 minutes to play. Callum Rahman got a consolation for the champs two minutes from time, but they fall three points off the pace in their attempts to retain their title. Milmanchester are second, a point behind the leaders.
Jeremy Cheadle and Nice Buns started their campaigns this season with a 5-5 draw on the opening night, but Cheadle have gone on to have the better season so far and look set for promotion to the top flight. They were in comfortable control at the break as Phil Monaghan scored two, Joe Knight and Kieran Monaghan the others as they went in at half time 4-0 up. This was a tough night for Nice Buns, who had been competitive in all of their games this season, but they were well of the pace this week as Jack Whelan added two alongside further goals from Knight and the two Monaghan’s to give Cheadle a comfortable win to go 4 points clear at the top with Diva Fever not playing this week. Class On Fake Grass made their move over to Monday from Tuesday and had a Monday opener against a hit and miss Netsix & Chill who were short a couple of regulars this week. Adam Rawcliffe gave the new side the lead in the opening minute, but Kurtes Curran leveled up for Netsix within a minute. Mike Cocks put Class back in front with just 5 minutes on the clock, and they added 4 more goals without reply in the opening half through Sean Moore, Will Hall and Cocks to lead 6-1 at the break. Another Cocks goal looked to have clinched the win with 21 minutes still to play, but Netsix responded with three goals in 4 minutes to give themselves hope as Lee Tongue, Brad Street and Mike Pinder all scored. Cocks got his 4th with 7 minutes left to end any hopes of an unlikely comeback, and Class get off to a winning start.
THE MONDAY LEAGUE IS CURRENTLY FULL. ALL NEW LEAGUE ENQUIRIES SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO OUR TUESDAY OR SUNDAY LEAGUES.
TUESDAY LEAGUE
The dying embers of the Tuesday league saw one league game and one friendly as we begin to focus on the new season that could start next week (if England don’t finish second in the group…..). The league game was in the Championship as Beercalona and Turkish Delight finished of their seasons with a bit of a dead rubber. That didn’t affect the intensity in the game though, as Turkish returned from three weeks off to lead 3-0 at the break as Volkan’s opening goal was added to by two from Deigo. Martin Bell pulled one back for Beercalona three minutes after the break, and it was game on again when Craig Scanlon and Tom Ratcliffe scored within a minute of each other to make it 3-3 with 14 to play. It was Beercalona that nicked it through Bell’s second 6 minutes from time as they end the season in a respectable third place.
Rooneytunes came in to give Wellspring a friendly, and for a game that meant nothing it was a belter as Josh (just Josh) scored three and Chris Sinclair two as Rooneytunes ran out surprising 7-6 winners.
THE NEW TUESDAY LEAGUE STARTS NEXT WEEK! SPACES AVAILABLE FOR ANY NEW TEAMS. GET IN TOUCH FOR DETAILS ASAP!
WEDNESDAY LEAGUE
And we’re back for a new season of the Wednesday league with two games played on the opening night. With Michu At De Gea Ba having moved onto the Tuesday league, the title race could be wide open this season, and two of the likely title contenders were in action this week. Stockport Eagles will think they should have been going into this season as title holders, having dropped away towards the end of last season, but they were in front at half time in their first game of the season against Magpie thanks to Ryan McAndrew’s 10th minute goal. They doubled that lead two minutes into the second period through Ben Waugh’s finish, and made it three when the same player added another with 17 to play. They ran away with it in the last 10 as Ray Donnelly added three, Callum Davies and Waugh another each to give Eagles a comfortable opening night win. Ajax Treesdown had a good start to Ballers life in the second half of last season, so might fancy making a decent fist of a title fight this season. They played the imaginatively named Gareth Lager Sometimes Cider in their first Wednesday game, and it was a belter. Matt Snape gave Gareth the lead in the 12th minute, and they were a minute away from holding onto that lead at the break before Evan Farrell drew Ajax level. Ajax were in front for the first time a minute into the second half through Daniel Kitchingham’s goal, and they looked well in control when Sam Cawthra and Kitchingham added further goals to make it 4-1 with 17 minutes to play. Gareth hit back with three goals in 5 minutes to send us into the final 4 minutes at 4-4 as Matt Hanson got one and Louis Isaacs two. It was Ajax who won it as Farrell got his second two minutes from time, and they held on thanks to a man of the match performance from ‘keeper Will Hudson, who kept Gareth at bay in the final couple of minutes.
THE WEDNESDAY LEAGUE IS CURRENTLY FULL. TUESDAY AND SUNDAY ARE THE NIGHTS TO LOOK AT!