Just two more full weeks until the first Ballers holiday! Must try and keep up the high quality of work that goes into these round ups…..

LEAGUE NEWS

Here’s our CURRENT LEAGUE SPACES for any teams looking for an immediate start:

MONDAY LEAGUE – ONE SPACE IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP

TUESDAY LEAGUE – ONE SPACE IN THE PREMIERSHIP

WEDNESDAY LEAGUE – ONE SPACE

We have created a team to take the space that was in the Tuesday Championship, and now we’re looking to do the same for the space in the Wednesday league. If you are an individual player, or someone who wants to play but doesn’t have enough players to form a team but could bring a friend or two, and you want a regular weekly game at 9pm on a Wednesday evening, let us know.

The NEW SUNDAY LEAGUE kicks off on 2ND SEPTEMBER, and while the league is currently full, we are looking at our options for expansion that could include a 5th division, or the addition of one or two teams to each individual division. 7 teams per division could lead us to incorporate a League Cup within the league structure. Any thoughts from existing teams on that are welcome, but if you are currently a Ballers team but want to be, fill in a Join A League form on the homepage, or call or text 07809252658.

SUNDAY LEAGUE

We’re into the final few weeks of the Sunday league, with plenty still to play for in the top division as Duno looked to take another step towards retaining their title if they could pick up a repeat win over Bangers & Pash after last week’s emphatic 10-0 win. The chances of an exact repeat lasted only three minutes as Robbie Fallon gave Bangers the lead on three minutes, and an even first half ended up all square as Jack Cope leveled on 16 minutes. Duno looked like they might have had the game won when Liam Watson and Jack Cope scored to make it 3-1 with 17 minutes to play, but Matt Sheehan looked like making them hold on for the win before Ray Donnelly scored a couple in the last couple of minutes to secure a hard fought 5-2 win. That win left Insole as the only other challengers for the title, and they needed to beat an El Caliente team who won the reverse fixture between the two earlier in the season to remain in contention. This was a much changed Insole team, and it took 12 minutes for Dylan Feast to break the deadlock and give them the lead. He added two more before the break, but Danny King reduced the arrears for El Caliente, who’s season has gone off the rails after a promising start. Insole eased to a 7-1 win as Kyle Clarke scored three in 6 minutes to go alongside an own goal to keep them in the hunt. They will need to win the double pointer with Duno this weekend and make up a goal difference disadvantage in their final couple of games to claim a 4th(?) Premiership title.

Another team needing a win to retain hopes of winning a title this season were Kipsta Cobras, who had to beat struggling Team Tom to stay in the fight in the Championship. They looked up against it as an own goal and Alex Dodgeson’s finish in the opening 10 minutes gave Team Tom a flyer. Kipsta showed the stuff of champions to claw themselves back into it before the break as Warren Yeo and Connor Harding scored in the final 5 minutes, and they looked to have the game won as Harding added two more and Wayne Reeves scored their 5th to make it 5-2 with 9 minutes left. Dodgeson scored what  looked to be nothing more than a consolation with 5 minutes left, but it was the catalyst for a remarkable and unlikely comeback as Rob Jordan and Dodgeson scored again within two minutes to make it 5-5, before James Cresswell scored a last minute winner to give Team Tom the shock win under interim manager Liam Lathom. Calls for a change of team name to Team Leemo are growing as the weeks go on……. That result confirms Stockport Eagles as Championship Winners, congratulations to them on back to back promotions after most of their previous seasons had been spent in the lower leagues.

Second place was on the line in League One as either Sevilla Lacatalent or a resurgent Inter Your Sister looked to join Ladzio in the Championship next season. Sevilla have the games in hand, so all Inter could do was try and win this one and make them play for it in the last couple of weeks, and they looked like doing that as they recovered from going behind to Jake Riley’s 6th minute opener to lead 4-1 at the break thanks to goals from Ant Williams, Dave Smythe, Brandon Byers-Wilkes and Simon Steel. They made it 5-1 through Steel’s second 5 minutes into the second half and this one looked done and dusted, but Riley and David Witter pulled a couple back with 11 minutes remaining, before a spell of 5 goals in 9 minutes gave Sevilla a remarkable comeback win. Sam Melling got the first of those 5 before Riley added the rest as Sevilla move to within two points of guaranteeing second place with three games in which to get them. The other game played this week was all about survival as the previously doomed looking FC Stront Bakken took on The McMuffin Men, who were in need of points to move away from the bottom two. They looked like doing that as Charley Eyre and Sam Delgado gave them a two goal lead in the first 18 minutes, but Ethan Kaye halved the deficit before the break. This was rapidly becoming a night of comebacks and The Bucket Boys provided another one as Declan Matthews scored the only goal of the second period to give them a narrow 3-2 win to drag themselves out of bottom spot and leave former Premiership team Step Brothers occupying that space with games running out.

Was this the week that Beercalona picked up the League Two title that’s looked set to be heading their way for the majority of the season? A recently improved FC AOTS looked like providing a fairly stiff test, and they lead 2-1 after 10 minutes as Eoghan Scott and Paul Buckley replied to Tom Ratcliffe’s opener for Beercalona. The champions-elect responded before the break and Jay Ratcliffe’s leveler was added to by Tom Ratcliffe’s second and Scott Williams’ finish. Buckley’s second early in the second half made it 4-3, and they stayed in it again at 5-4 with 8 minutes left when Adam Duty replied to Martin Bell’s goal for Beercalona. It was Beercalona who clinched this one in the end, with 5 goals in the final 7 minutes to give them a more comfortable looking victory than it was, Bell and Jay Ratcliffe with one each, and Tom Ratcliffe with three more. So that’s the League Two title also won! Deportivo Lack Of Talent finished off a consistent season knowing that second place would be theirs if they could beat The Veterans this week. A busy opening saw The Veterans make the better start as an own goal and two from Simon Grainger gave them a 3-1 lead after Brad Peet had given Deportivo the lead. Rob Parker and Ben Proctor scored to drag Deportivo level, and Peet’s second, followed by a Dean Minshull strike for The Vets meant we headed towards half time all square at 4-4. An own goal just before the break put Deportivo back in front, and Proctor added two more in the opening 10 minutes of the second half to put them in control. Peet looked to have secured the win 5 minutes from time with his third, but Ben Mercer grabbed another before Peet put one in at the wrong end to give The Vets a sniff of a chance. Deportivo did pick up the win that confirms second place as Parker got his second with the final kick to mean the promotion spots in League Two are done for the season. Rooneytunes may be looking at mounting a promotion push next season and third place was still within reach as they started this week’s game with SK Six, who’ve had player issues with holidays etc in recent weeks. The guesting Ben Mercer gave SK a three goal half time lead. We’re pretty sure you can guess how the second half went on this week of comebacks, and Rooneytunes fired back with a vengeance in the second half as they struck 8 goals without reply, 5 from Josh Borthwick, two from Dec Church and one from Jack Hodkinson put them 8-3 up, before Steve Blunsten grabbed a late reply for SK.

In friendlies, Stockport Eagles faced an interesting challenge from League One winners Ladzio, that they eventually won 10-8 with Paul Waugh scoring 4 and Callum Davies three for them, while George Cox grabbed a hat trick in reply for Ladzio. SK Dons were back for a second friendly ahead of their return for the new season, and 5 goals for a debuting Paul Russell were enough for them to edge a 15 goal thriller with Wellspring, as 4 goals from Nathan Wilkinson weren’t enough to stop the existing league team slipping to an 8-7 defeat.

WE’VE NO IDEA WHERE WE ARE UP TO WITH THE SUNDAY LEAGUE! THE NEW SEASON STARTS ON 2ND SEPTEMBER, AND WE KEEP RECEIVING APPLICATIONS AND ENQUIRIES FROM NEW TEAMS WANTING TO GET INVOLVED! AS IT STANDS WE ARE LOOKING AT OUR OPTIONS FOR EXPANSION, SO GET IN TOUCH IF YOU WANT TO GET INVOLVED

MONDAY LEAGUE

The ever changing line up for AC Milmanchester met up with a much changed line up for Ruud van Nipplerooy this week. It was pretty much a Kinky Slipper reunion for the Ruud boys, but their rustiness showed in the first 10 minutes as David Murphy scored two and Reece Nevins one as ACM took an early 3-1 lead, with Jordan Hutchinson scoring Ruud’s response. The Nips lead 5-4 at the break though as Tommy Schofield scored two, Wesley Harney and Luke Braden one each with Murphy’s third being the solitary response in the final 15 minutes of the half the Premiership champs. Van Nipplerooy secured a second straight win with further goals from Schofield, Harney, Rob Cresswell and two more from Braden, with Murphy’s 4th of the game near the end providing small consolation on a bad night for the three time Premiership winners. The Nips are two from two on their return….. Kroos Control will look to provide stiff competition for the other Monday Premiership teams, and they started their time in this league with a game against Diva Fever. Liam Watson scored 5 first half goals to help them to a 6-2 half time lead, with Calvin Alexander scoring the other and Joe Dodd scoring two for Diva in reply. Diva threatened a comeback in the second half, and got it back to 6-5 with 14 minutes to play as Dodd got his third and Bevan Southward added two of his own. Watson scored two either side of Southward’s third to leave us at 8-6 with 10 left to play, but the new team then Kroos’d clear as Watson got three more to make it 10 in total (all of them within 6 inches of the goal line…..), and Jack Cope got the last after Dodd had got his 4th for Diva. The top division looks pretty competitive.

Netsix & Chill and Phantom Brazilians couldn’t be split after last week’s 0-0 opener, and it looks like they quite like being close to each other after week 2…… Class On Fake Grass made their first appearance of the season against the only other team they’ve played on a Monday in Netsix. Things were a little different this time around as Netsix lead 2-1 at the break through Warren Yeo and Aaron Campbell goals, with Mike Cocks having grabbed Class’ goal in between. Two goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half from Wayne Reeves and Yeo edged Netsix close to the winning post, and an own goal 9 minutes from the end sealed that win as Class take their time getting back into it again. So that’s 5 goals scored and on conceded for Netsix, what could Phantom do? Well it never helps when the team organiser somehow manages to get the game time wrong while the rest of his lads were there, so Nice Buns kindly played the first half with 5 men to make it an even game, but they might have regretted that as they went into the break three down through goals from Daniel and Ryan Clayton. Restored to 6 players each, Paul Cheetham pulled one back early in the secon half for Buns, but Paul Wilkinson scored a couple of late goals to give Phantom a 5-1 lead that keep them level with Netsix on everything!

WE HAVE ONE SPACE IN THE MONDAY CHAMPIONSHIP. ANY NEW OR RETURNING TEAMS WHO MIGHT BE LOOKING TO GET INVOLVED SHOULD GET IN TOUCH ASAP!

TUESDAY LEAGUE

Gangs Of Dwight Yorke are looking to make it another unbeaten season in the Tuesday Premiership, and went up against a Stroke Titty team who were coming off the back of their first top division win last week. A repeat looked unlikely as Gangs went into the break 4 goals to the good as Jake Dean got two either side of goals from Josh Morrissey and Connor Harding. The second half didn’t get much better as three from Callum Jones and one each from Harding and Morrissey made it 9-0 with 8 minutes left. They could even afford to have their ‘keeper Ash Cobban miss a penalty, but it was a great save from Jack Tetlow in the Stroke goal. A bad few minutes for Cobban got worse when he lost his chance of a clean sheet as Aaron Collins finally got Stroke on the board with 5 to play. Morrissey and Harding added another each either side of Collins second for Stroke to see the champions and leaders to a third win from three. Total Bala were looking to take second spot if they could beat a pointless and much changed Shaka team, but Jake Tyler took advantage of an early mix up to give them a lead in the opening seconds. Lee Manion marked his first appearance since Total’s recall to the league with the leveler 6 minutes later, and he put them in front at the break with his second in the 21st minute. Rick Kelly and John Wood stretched the Bala lead in the early stages of the second period, but Danny Harwood kept Shaka in touch with a quick response. Kelly and Manion looked to have put the result out of doubt with 10 minutes left, and Wood restored the 4 goal lead after Liam Paull had pulled another back. Mark Brookes gave Shaka a glimmer of hope with 4 minutes left, but Manion grabbed the final goal of the game to give Bala their second win ahead of the game with Gangs next week.

In the Championship, Wellspring were the only team with a 100% record going into this weeks round of games, but their squad was a little short this week as they took on a Beercalona team who’s only defeat had come when they themselves were short. Lewis Arden gave Wellspring the lead, but things quickly turned sour for them as Craig Scanlon scored 4, Jay and Tom Ratcliffe two each as Beercalona went into half time with an 8-1 lead. They added 5 more after the break through Martin Bell, two more for Jay, one more for Tom and a final goal for Ste Bowler, with Arden grabbing his second to provide scant consolation for Wellspring, who lose top spot. The newly formed Team Randommer pulled players from all over to fill the space we had previously had, and took on Europeans who were back after missing out last week. Having tasted heavy defeats in their first couple of games, Europeans found themselves level at 2-2 inside the opening 10 minutes as a Mike Pinder own goal, and one from Mohammed matched up to Mikey Freeburn’s and Andy Carrington’s. We remained level at 3-3 at the break as Freeburn and Sufyan struck for each team. Pinder scored at the right end twice in three minutes to give the Randoms a two goal lead with 13 to play, but Europeans looked like they might nick a first point when Sufyan and Saad scored to make it 5-5 with 5 minutes left. Carrington got his second in the final minute to give Randoms a debut win, while Europeans will go looking for that first point next week.

Stockport Eagles were down this week and they raced out of the blocks into a 5 goal lead against Michu At De Gea Ba in the opening 11 minutes. Ryan McAndrew scored three, Ray Donnelly and Callum Davies the others. Matt Barton quickly pulled one back for Michu, and there was only two in it at the break as Michael Jennison and Barton both struck in the final 6 minutes of the half. Three goals in 7 second half minutes from Adam Porter edged Michu in front, and they were the only goals of the second half as Michu held on for an incredible comeback win.

WE HAVE ONE SPACE IN THE TOP DIVISION OF OUR TUESDAY LEAGUE FOR ANY NEW TEAMS LOOKING TO GET INVOLVED. GET IN TOUCH FOR DETAILS 

WEDNESDAY LEAGUE

The Wednesday league needs a little repair work after the two new teams who joined for this season didn’t really work out, plus Magpie were unavailable this week….. So the only game that took place this week at a lonely Ballers Wednesday was Stockport Eagles (again) against Exeter Gently. It was a good one though, and after Kristian Igo had given Exeter a third minute lead, 5 goals in 6 minutes half way through the period saw us level at 3-3 with 9 minutes of the first half to go, Paul Waugh with two and Ray Donnelly the other for Eagles, Tom Harrison and Mike Belshaw for Exeter. It was Exeter that lead at the break as Igo finished the half the way he started it by putting Exeter in front, but Ben Waugh brought us level again 5 minutes after the restart. Michael Winn, Donnelly and Ben Waugh looked to have taken the game away from Exeter with three quick goals, but James Magnani and Igo reduced the deficit to one again with 5 minutes left. Donnelly got the final goal of the game to secure a win for Eagles against the team that took points off Ajax Treesdown last week.

WE HAVE A COUPLE OF SPACES TO FILL, WITH ONE LIKELY TO BE FILLED BY A TEAM OF INDIVIDUAL PLAYERS FROM NEXT WEEK. IF YOU HAVE A TEAM WANTING TO START, OR YOU’RE A PLAYER WHO FANCIES A REGULAR WEEKLY GAME, GET IN TOUCH FOR DETAILS.