Into June we go, 11’s seasons and bank holidays are out of the way, so here’s to a nice long summer of Ballers action.
LEAGUE NEWS
The first heat of the BALLERS WORLD CUP took place last week, with two groups of 4 and a pair of last 16 games taking place. Congrats to Peru and Argentina for making it through to Finals Day on 15th July.
The second heat takes place THIS SUNDAY, 3rd June, we’re hoping by the time you read this the heat will be full, but the next one on SUNDAY 10TH JUNE does still have spaces available. Get in touch for details.
The next leagues that are due to start up again in the not too distant future are the TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY LEAGUES, which both come to an end this month. For an immediate start, for anyone who fancies it, we have spaces in the top division of the MONDAY and TUESDAY LEAGUES.
Get in touch…..
SUNDAY LEAGUE
The first week of the new Sunday league dropped on a bank holiday, which is a good and a bad thing. Bad as a number of teams were unable to play, but good because we could pair together the teams who could play. The new champs Duno were one of the teams who could play, and they started the new campaign with a game against Championship runners up El Caliente. A rapid start saw both teams score in the opening two minutes, Liam Watson for Duno and Kieran Norris for Caliente, before Duno looked to take the game away from their opposition before the break. Watson grabbed two more, Jack Cope a hat trick, Steven Whetham a pair and Calvin Alexander and Luke Cope a goal apiece, meaning Michael Jennison’s goal on the stroke of half time was only able to reduce the Duno lead to 10-2 at the break. Kyle Sparkes got Caliente’s third a minute into the second half, but with the game already won Duno scored two in three minutes half way through a quieter second period, Alexander and Luke Cope with those goals. Caliente at least won the second half as Norris got his second and Fidelis Eberegbe another in the final minute to give Duno a 12-5 victory. Real Maskid cruised to the Championship title last season, so their opening Premiership game with two time champs Kinky Slipper looked like being a belter. In the early stages it looked like Maskid might struggle with the step up as two goals from Adam (just Adam) and another from Joe Lailey gave Kinky a three goal lead in the opening 15 minutes. In truth, Maskid had been better than that, and they finally converted a couple of their chances in quick succession to go into the break just the one goal behind as Jack McConnell and Kieran O’Connell scored their first Premiership goals. Wesley Harney gave Kinky a two goal lead again at the start of the second half, but an end to end game saw O’Connell scored twice in 7 minutes to make it 4-4 with 15 minutes to play. Kinky hit the front again with 9 minutes left throughLailey’s second, but it wasn’t enough to claim all three points as McConnell grabbed the 10th and final goal of a breathless game with 5 minutes to play. Maskid are going to do just fine at this level……
Just the one game in the Championship saw Team Tom, who finally dropped out of the top flight at the end of the season, take on Stockport Eagles, who won the League One title (trophies this week!). The normally rock steadyTommers have struggled for numbers in recent weeks, and had a couple of debutants in their ranks this week, so it was little surprise that Eagles went into the break two up thanks to goals from Ray Donnelly and Michael Winn. Two more goals in as many minutes in the early stages of the second half from Winn and Ryan McAndrew took the result away from Team Tom, before goals from Ben Waugh and Shaun Mather in the final 10 minutes put the icing on the cake in Eagles first game at this level.
Following the one friendly they played before the end of last season, we took the decision to place Sevilla Lacatalent in League One rather than Two for their ‘debut’ season. Two goals from Jake Riley and another from Daniel McDonald in the opening 6 minutes against The McMuffin Men made it seem like this level might not be high enough, especially as McDonald added another and Sam Melling two more before the break to make it 6-0. The opening 15 minutes of the second half passed by without any further goals, before Mike Lavin added Sevilla’s 7th with 8 minutes remaining. Sam Delgado finally got McMuffin on the board a minute later, but Riley added 4 more in the final 7 minutes to give Sevilla a big opening night win. We welcomed new boys Ladzio to the Sunday league for the start of the new season, and they had a potentially tough opening game against League Two winners FC Stront Bakken (trophies this week!). The new boys struck first as Lewis Findlow scored their first Ballers goal on 11 minutes, but Benjamin Dean, shifted outfield this week, drew the Bucket Boys level two minutes before half time. Findlow got his second in the final minute of the half to ease Ladzio into a half time lead, and the same player and Jack Shepherd both struck in the opening 5 minutes of the second period to give the new team a 4-1 lead. Lukas Voveris pulled one back for Stront Bakken almost immediately, but Findlow’s 4th restored Ladzio’s three goal lead with 16 minutes left. An own goal kept Stront Bakken in touch, beofre Voveris’ second 4 minutes from time looked set to give us a big finale. Findlow’s 5th a minute later ended the Stront Bakken hopes, and Ladzio start their Ballers life with an impressive first scalp.
Deportivo Lack Of Talent have struggled for numbers in recent weeks, but we have faith that this is the season where they rise like a phoenix. They at least started by fielding a team on a bank holiday to take on SK Six on the opening night, but it was SK who went in front early as Henry Cooke put them in front on three minutes. Rob Parker leveled up for Deportivo on 8 minutes and they were in front on 11 through Ben Proctor’s goal. An own goal 10 minutes before the break made it 3-1, but Cooke got his second to keep SK in touch as we approached the interval. Brad Peet struck two vital goals in the final 5 minutes of the half to give Deportivo a 5-2 half time lead, and they controlled the second half as Parker and Proctor eased them 5 clear before Peet added three more in the final 5 minutes to ease Deportivo to a 10-2 opening night win. The Veterans have gone from being on the brink of the Premiership to League Two in successive seasons, and opened another campaign against Rooneytunes. It looked like being a successful start as Simon Grainger and Ryan Prestwich put them two up in the first 13 minutes, but Rooneytunes hit back with two of their own from Finn Gosnie and Jack Hodkinson to send us into the break all square. Paul Atherton restored the Vets lead 14 minutes from time, and this time there was no Rooneytunes comeback as Prestwich added two more in the final 8 minutes to give The Veterans a 5-2 win to start the season.
THE SUNDAY LEAGUE IS CURRENTLY FULL. WE WOULD STILL LOOK TO ADD A 5TH DIVISION INTO THE SEASON AS WE GO, SO IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR SOME SUMMER FOOTBALL GET IN TOUCH!
MONDAY LEAGUE
Yay for bank holidays….. Just the one league game and one friendly this week as only three of our current Monday teams were able to field a side due to the attraction of the beer garden……
That one game took place in the Championship as two teams who have become very familiar with each other went head to head again as Nice Buns took on Netsix & Chill. The Buns started brightly as Charlie Williamson and Tom Dempsey put them two up in the first 5 minutes, but Netsix hit back with two Callum Jones goals to take us into the break all square. Dempsey put Buns back in front in the opening minute of the second half, but we were level again with 20 to play as Liam Atkinson grabbed himself a goal. He got a second 5 minutes later to give Netsix the lead for the first time, and further goals from Jones and Matthew Atkinson looked to have secured the result for them. Dale Kirkham pulled one back for Buns with three to play, but Mike Pinder grabbed the final goal of the game a minute later to give Netsix the 7-4 win.
Exeter Gently stepped into the breach to give Pink Panthers a game this week, but the Monday Premiership team were too strong this week as Christie O’Brien grabbed three and Corey Rafferty two of the Panthers 8 as they ran out 8-5 winners in a fairly relaxed game.
WE HAVE ONE SPACE FOR AN IMMEDIATE START IN THE TOP DIVISION OF THE MONDAY LEAGUE – GET IN TOUCH FOR DETAILS
TUESDAY LEAGUE
The Tuesday Premiership has stumbled somewhat in recent weeks, with Inter Row Z, Only Kruls & Horses and (we assume) Inter Mi Van running short on players and having to call it a day for now, so only one game survived this week. That game was Shaka going up against Oooze with their hopes of claiming the title still alive following just the one defeat this season to leaders Gangs Of Dwight Yorke. They got off to a good start as James Holden gave them a third minute lead, but Chris Gee leveled up for Oooze two minutes later. Mark Brookes restored the Shaka lead, but we looked set to go in level at the break when Jay Berrisford drew Oooze level for a second time. Two late goals from Andrew Cadwallader and Ryan Green saw Shaka take a two goal lead into the second half, and from there they were able to pick Oooze off time and time again on the break. Tom Hannan got two, Holden and Green another each to ease Shaka to a comfortable 8-2 win.
Stroke Titty are still Premiership bound, despite a slight downturn in performance in recent weeks, and they went up against an ever improving Beercalona this week in what looked like another reasonable test. Two goals midway through the first half eased them into a two goal half time lead as Joe Lailey and Jay Willingham got on the score sheet. A third from David Dunn 6 minutes into the second half looked to put the result beyond doubt, but he got his second 4 minutes later to make sure. Three more in the last 5 minutes made the scoreline a little harsh on Beercalona as Willingham, Ryan Stevens and Craig Gould scored to make it 7-0 to give Stroke a 7 point lead at the top. The title would be there’s if Wellspring failed to beat LQ FC this week, and they fell behind to Max Brookes 16th minute opener in what turned out to be a very tight game. An own goal drew them level three minutes before half time, and in a second half where there were plenty of chances at either end, a fortuitous Callum Clarke goal in the final minute gave Wellspring a second straight 2-1 victory as they remain strong favourites to finish in second place. At the start of the season Turkish Delight would have been one of the favourites for a promotion push, but the same fate that affected their half season in the top flight last time has reared it’s head again in dropping points in games they looked like getting more from, and they needed a win against Black Jack this week to stay in realistic contention. There’s was a slightly patched up team this week, but they were 2-0 up in the opening 9 minutes as Volkan grabbed two early goals. Luke Waiting halved the deficit for Black Jack a minute later, and it remained 2-1 at the break before Waiting grabbed his second two minutes into the second half to make it 2-2. Ali edged Turkish back in front 15 minutes from time, but the patched up team weren’t able to hold out as Ant Cronshaw and Jack Roberts scored in the final 7 minutes to give Black Jack the lead for the first time, a lead they were able to hold onto until the end to end their pitch 1 hoodoo.
SPACES ARE AVAILABLE FOR AN IMMEDIATE START IN OUR TUESDAY TOP DIVISION. SO IF YOU FANCY YOUR CHANCES, GET IN TOUCH FOR DETAILS AND TO REGISTER.
WEDNESDAY LEAGUE
Massive shock in the Wednesday league this week as one of the teams couldn’t play! Thankfully we pulled in a last minute replacement to ensure three games went ahead as normal. Stockport Eagles weren’t punished for their first defeat of the season last week as Michu were only able to draw to keep them top, and they would have been expecting to get back to winning ways against bottom of the table Exeter Gently this week. It didn’t seem as if it would be that straightforward in the first half as Ray Donnelly levelled up Adam Robison’s opener for Exeter to see us into the break at 1-1. The shock looked on when Mehrad Torkian and Brad Robison scored two in a minute 10 minutes into the second half to give Exeter a 3-1 lead, but it was game on again when Donnelly scored his second 11 minutes from time to reduce the deficit to one. It was Exeter’s night though, as the two Robison’s scored again in the final 10 minutes, meaning Ben Waugh’s last minute goal was just a consolation. As Michu didn’t play tonight Eagles stay top, but Michu have a game in hand and the two teams still need to face each other in the next few weeks. Third place was the best last season’s runners up Polish Army could hope for, while Ajax Treesdown have showed promise in the early stages of their Ballers Wednesday life, but they didn’t start well here as Marcin and Danny put the Poles two up in the opening 12 minutes. Chris Gee pulled one back for Ajax two minutes later,but two more from Julian and Bania seemed to have the Army in control 6 minutes before the break. That lead was back to one by half time as Sam Cawthra pulled two back for Ajax in the final 5, and the Evan Farrell made it 4-4 in the first minute of the second period. Daniel Kitchingham put Ajax in front for the first time with 21 to play, but we were all square again through Bania’s second goal just two minutes later. Ajax proved to be the stronger team in the final stages, and two more from Cawthra and another from Gee eased them to an 8-5 win.
Magpie took on a mish-mash of Wellspring and Insole in a hastily arranged friendly, which the mix’n’match team won 4-1 as Kyle Clarke got three and Brad Steet the other, while Magpie ‘keeper Lukasz Skiera netted a late penalty to give them some consolation. Back to league action for them next week, hopefully…..
THE WEDNESDAY LEAGUE IS CURRENTLY FULL AND LOOKS LIKE REMAINING THAT WAY, SO LOOK ELSEWHERE FOR IMMEDIATE BALLERS ACTION!