Well that wasn’t the most enjoyable week, weather-wise, so fair play to all teams who turned out to make it another strong Ballers week.

LEAGUE NEWS

With the new MONDAY LEAGUE having kicked off as one division this week, we are looking for new teams to make up a SECOND DIVISION when the league reaches it’s halfway point. This means that friendlies are available for any new or returning teams to get games under their belt before it becomes serious!

The current TUESDAY LEAGUE is approaching that midway point, meaning there is a more immediate place for new teams to get started in the next couple of weeks. Three new teams started up this week so there’s not many spaces left, if you want one you best speak to us soon!

When the current SUNDAY LEAGUE finises next month, we hope to add a 5th division to our biggest league night. Lots of teams means we can accommodate teams of all standards, so if you want to finish your weekend on a high, get yourselves down for a game.

FOR DETAILS ON ANY OF THE ABOVE, CLICK ON THE ‘JOIN A LEAGUE’ TAB ON THE HOMEPAGE AND WE’LL GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU. ALTERNATIVELY, CALL OR TEXT US ON 07809252658.

SUNDAY LEAGUE

The Sunday league has got off to a belting start to the new year, and once again all league teams were available and in attendance. Duno were looking to get back to winning ways this week after their narrow first defeat to Kinky Slipper last week, and were heavy favourites to see off struggling Kipsta Cobras this week. Two goals in a minute, the second from Liam Watson, turned a 1-0 Kipsta lead into a 2-1 Duno half time lead, but things really kicked into life in the final 15 minutes. Dillon Lowth leveled things up for Kipsta with his second, before Calvin Alexander and Matt Sheehan scored within seconds of each other to make it 3-3 with 10 remaining. Watson’s second 5 minutes from time put Duno back in front again, but within two minutes the game had turned on it’s head as Jack Horgan and Sheehan scored the decisive goals to give Kipsta a shock win. Kinky Slipper are now the new leaders, but Insole looked to keep in touch with a win over El Caliente. 6 goals from Jack Atkinson helped them on a night when they didn’t need much help, Insole running out 13-0 winners ahead of their clash with Kinky this weekend.

Team Tom’s ‘dreams’ of a return to the top flight would start to look more realistic if they could continue their 100% start to the season with a win over The Veterans, and three first half goals from Andy Walker looked to have put them well on their way as they lead 5-2 at the break. The second half was much tighter, with Andy Carrington pulling one back for The Vets a minute into the second period. Walker’s 4th of the game 16 minutes from time was the final goal of the game, as The Toms made it 4 out of 4. Under Rated were looking to bounce back after last week’s defeat to Dench, and in a game that could potentially have provided a banana skin against The McMuffin Men, they were helped by two of their opposition having to go at half time, leaving the McMuffin’s with 4 men for the second period. Colin Stelfox, Stuart Carter and Brad Street all scored hat tricks in a 12-0 win that sees Under Rated stay within three points of Team Tom. Dench remain in the shake up as they were also comfortable winners against a Step Brothers team who had to start the game short as players turned up late. Marc Jagger scored 6 and Phil Carroll the other three as Dench picked up a 9-1 win to go clear in third with a game in hand on the top two.

Inter Row Z already seem to have a promotion spot sewn up in League One, as a 10-4 win over an under performing FC AOTS sees them go 10 points clear of third place. Ray Donnelly scored 5 as Inter turned a 4-3 half time lead into a pretty convincing win. If they keep this up they could be playing top division football as soon as next season! Wellspring sit second, just three points off the leaders despite a negative goal difference as they continue to pick up points in the tight games. This week they had a fairly comfortable 6-3 win over Rooneytunes, Mike Devitt with three of their goals and Mike Cocks with two. The Polish Army v SK Dons game always had a look of a tight game about it, and so it proved as two goals from Kamil were wiped out by goals from Jack Shariff and Kyle Norris to leave us at Desmond at half time. The poles opened up a two goal lead early in the second period, and Slawek’s goal 10 minutes from time completed the win after Dons had pulled one back. The Army are now third but sit 7 points behind Wellspring in second. The promotion places could be all but sorted this weekend as the Army face Wellspring.

League Two is a good one this season, with no one running away with it or being cast away at the bottom, and very few easy games for any of the teams. Case in point was game one as Stockport Eagles took on unbeaten Deportivo Lack Of Talent, with all to play for at 2-2 at half time. Ryan McAndrew gave Eagles the lead in the opening minute of the second half, but Rob Parker’s third of the game made it 3-3 a couple of minutes later. Paul Waugh’s goal for the Eagles 12 minutes from time sees them soar to the top of the division. Pathetico Madrid were also unbeaten going into this weeks games, but you never know how things are going to pan out in this division, and Inter lead 2-1 at the break. Carl Reynolds second of the game three minutes into the second half made it 2-2, but Craig Johnson restored the Inter lead a couple of minutes later, and they killed it off with a 4th three minutes from time. A much changed SFC Club took on FC Stront Bakken with both teams looking to avoid bottom spot. Two goals from SFC regular Matty Aked, along with goals from ‘guest’ players Matt Kealy, Mike Pinder and Jordan Cunningham saw them pick up a hard fought 5-3 win, with goals from Shaun Jemison, Benjamin Dean and Dylan Margarine being in vain.

WE WILL BE LOOKING TO ADD A 5TH DIVISION TO THE SUNDAY LEAGUE WHEN THE NEW SEASON KICKS OFF IN FEBRUARY. 

MONDAY LEAGUE

With the Monday league dropping to one division for the first half of this season before we split for the second half, there will be some tough games ahead for some of last seasons Championship teams. This proved to be the case for FC Rhino Ket as they took on last season’s Premiership runners up Expected Toulouse. The Rhino’s held their own in the opening stages, but as the first half went on Toulouse took control, and three Waz Akram goals helped them to a 6-0 half time lead. When Niall Hillen scored his second a minute after the break it looked like being a long half for Rhino Ket, but to be fair they kept going and two Jack Needham goals helped them draw the second half 3-3 as Liam Smith also completed a hat trick for Expected in the final 10 minutes. After a friendly win last week, it was a tougher task awaiting Murder On Zidane’s Floor as they faced Phantom Brazilians. Both teams shared a goal apiece in the opening 10 minutes, but Phantom then took control as a Zidane team missing a couple of players from last week struggled to stay with them. Paul Wilkinson scored a first half hat trick to help Phantom to a 5-1 half time lead, and things didn’t get much better for the new boys in the second half. Wilkinson added another two to go alongside 5 second half goals from Matt Barton, with just a solitary Sam Delgado goal, his second of the game, for Murder. A tough first league night for them, but it’s still early days.

The game of the night saw champions AC Milmanchester go into their game against Championship winners Not A Chance as heavy favourites to get their title defence off to a winning start. It wasn’t one way traffic in the first half, and we went into the break all square as Chris Priestley grabbed a leveler for the Chancers in the final minute. ACM went back in front early in the second half, and they looked to have killed it off with Jason Singleton scored 8 minutes in. They couldn’t pull away though, and they had to sweat when Kyle Bell pulled one back with a couple of minutes left. They held on though, but the Chancers look like they will be competitive at this level and will be looking to make the cut when the league splits.

THE MONDAY LEAGUE AS IT STANDS IS CURRENTLY FULL, BUT WE ARE LOOKING FOR NEW TEAMS TO JOIN US WHEN THE LEAGUE SPLITS TO MAKE UP A SECOND DIVISION. 

TUESDAY LEAGUE

One league game and a duo of friendlies took place on a not particularly pleasant Tuesday evening. That league game was a bit of a wash out as Gangs Of Dwight Yorke hammered Oooze FC 20-3 with Callum Jones, Jimmy Leeson, Connor Harding, Wez Barker and Aden Jones all scoring three or more. A scratch Duno team came in to give Only Kruls & Horses a game after their opponents were unable to field a side, and the friendly was a decent one. It looked like being one sided in the first half as Jack Mullern scored three to help Kruls to a 6-1 half time lead. Tiredness may have been a factor in the second half as Kruls haven’t played for a few weeks, but it became a game of two halves as Kyle Clarke scored 4 as Duno looked to complete an unlikely comeback. The fell just short though, as Only Kruls held out for a 9-8 win.

Potential new boys Beercalona took on a combination of players from Sunday teams Pathetico Madrid and Stockport Eagles in their first friendly with us, and they held their own for much of the first half before things got away from them a bit in the second, the scratch team running out 13-4 winners.

WE ARE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR NEW TEAMS WHO WANT TO COME IN AND MAKE UP A SECOND DIVISION WHEN THE TOP DIVISION SPLITS IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS. ONE OFF TRIAL GAMES ARE AVAILABLE FOR ANY NEW OR RETURNING TEAMS.

WEDNESDAY LEAGUE

With the return of Magpie and new team New Team joining us, the Wednesday league is now back to full capacity. Injuries to Polish Army and the unavailability of some of the Exeter Gently lads meant we didn’t have a full house, but a couple of games took place. New Team’s first game was against a Magpie team who would presumably be rusty having not played since well before Christmas. Pawel Klimczak gave Magpie an early lead, but New Team held their own throughout most of the first half and they drew level as Jake Riley scored their first Ballers goal 6 minutes before the break. Magpie took a firm grip quickly after, and Stanislaw Cierpiatka grabbed three in 4 minutes to give Magpie a 4-1 lead before Bren Jones pulled another back on the stroke of half time. The new team struggled to keep up the pace in the second half, and Magpie eventually ran out 14-4 winners as Pawel Klimczak ended up with 4 and Milosz Zawila three.

The other game saw champions Ruud van Ni-Ste-Lloyd (who will hereby be known as Michu At De Dea Ba) looking to maintain their 100% start to the season against Stockport Eagles. That 100% record looked safe at the interval as Michu raced into a 6-1 lead at the break with Matt Barton having scored two and the rest being spread out amongst the team. Adam Porter grabbed his second a minute after the break and the game looked done and dusted at 7-1. The Eagles showed some fight (almost literally), and they scored 4 goals without reply to bring the score back to 7-5. That was how it finished though, and De Gea boys are now 6 points clear at the top.

THE WEDNESDAY LEAGUE IS NOW FULL! FORTUNATELY WE HAVE THREE OTHER NIGHTS FOR YOU TO LOOK INTO IF YOU WANT TO SIGN UP…..

The first full week of 2018 was pretty awesome! It was great to see pretty much all teams back at it, with new teams set to join up over the next few weeks.

LEAGUE NEWS

While we have minimal spaces across our current league nights, we still have the possibility of expansion on a couple of them.

The BRAND NEW MONDAY LEAGUE starts next week, with a format change on the way. The league will drop to one division at the start of the season, with all teams playing each other once before the league splits for the second half of the season with new teams being filtered into the second division. It’s still not too late to get involved.

A mini league will be getting added to the TUESDAY LEAGUE in the next few weeks, with spaces there for new or returning teams to sign up.

For details on the above get in touch by clicking on ‘Join A League’ on the homepage.

MONDAY LEAGUE

We started the year with a batch of Monday friendlies ahead of the start of the new season which will start next week. The top two from last season faced off against each other as AC Milmanchester took on Expected Toulouse. As was the case last season, ACM were narrow victors, holding off a late Toulouse fightback to pick up a 5-4 win with Martin Gordon’s three goals the difference between the sides. Not A Chance picked up the Championship title to see them return to the top flight, so a game with Phantom Brazilians would be a good gauge for how they might do in the new season. An entertaining, competitive game ended up finishing 3-3 with Kyle Bell’s second of the game for The Chancers three minutes from time giving them a share of the spoils.

We welcomed new boys Murder On Zidane’s Floor to the Monday league this week, and they were involved in a great game with FC Rhino Ket. An end to end high scoring encounter finished 8-7 in the new boys favour, with 4 goals from Sam Delgado and three from Mitchell Robertson giving them the edge, with Ryan Stringer’s 4 goals proving to be in vain. Pathetico Madrid looked for all the world to be heading towards a win over Strikeforce as they lead 6-2 with less than 20 minutes to go, but a late comeback saw Strikeforce pick up a 9-6 win to give them a bit of confidence after a difficult last season.

THE NEW MONDAY LEAGUE STARTS NEXT WEEK, BUT NEW TEAMS WILL HAVE UNTIL 22ND JANUARY TO REGISTER FOR THIS SEASON.

THE NEW LEAGUE WILL BE ONE DIVISION, WITH EACH TEAM PLAYING EACH OTHER ONCE, BEFORE SPLITTING AT THE HALF WAY POINT OF THE SEASON.

TUESDAY LEAGUE

Three games this week in the Tuesday league, with Gangs Of Dwight Yorke making their mark in their first game of the year. The goals were spread around the team as 6 different scorers contributed to the 14 the teams scored in a 14-2 win to see them go top. Mirror Signal Malouda were looking to join Gangs on three wins from three, but they weren’t helped by the no-show of their keeper ahead of their game with Inter Row Z. A hard fought game ended up with each team taking home a point from a 5-5 draw.

Oooze were unbeaten going into this week’s game with Inter Mi Van (formerly O’Deli’s FC), but having picked up a creditable draw with Inter Row Z in their first game last week, Inter were looking to pick up a first win. They looked likely to make it a comfortable first win as they lead 6-1 going into the final 10 minutes, but Oooze rallied and very briefly looked like they could get something from the game, but Lee Boshir’s third and Gary Wood’s 4th helped them to an 8-5 win.

IF WE GET ENOUGH NEW TEAMS SIGNED UP, THE LEAGUE WILL SPLIT ONCE ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED EACH OTHER ONCE.

THE BOTTOM COUPLE OF TEAMS WILL DROP INTO A SECOND DIVISION ALONGSIDE WHAT NEW TEAMS WE GET SIGNED UP BETWEEN NOW AND THEN, SO GET IN TOUCH FOR DETAILS! 

WEDNESDAY LEAGUE

While we continue to wait for the return of Magpie FC and for our new team to be ready to go, the 4 other teams faced each other again this week. Ruud van Ni-Ste-Lloyd, who are still to give us a new team name with THE Ste Lloyd having nothing to do with the team, continue to be the team to beat. Three goals each from Jamie Longworth and Ian Davies helped them ease to a 9-1 win over Polish Army. Stockport Eagles were looking to join the Poles on 6 points with a win over Exeter Gently, and a strong second half showing turned a 2-2 half time score into an 8-2 full time victory, Pula Waugh, Ben Waugh and Michael Winn with a couple of goals each.

THERE IS CURRENTLY ONE SPACE AVAILABLE FOR ANY NEW TEAMS LOOKING TO SIGN UP FOR OUR WEDNESDAY LEAGUE. GET IN TOUCH FOR DETAILS.

SUNDAY LEAGUE

What a night! 22 teams played out 11 games as just the one team were unable to fulfill this weeks fixture.

Duno started 2018 as the firm favourites to win a debut Sunday Premiership title as they had picked up 4 straight wins since the opening day of the season. A win over Kinky Slipper this week would see them almost out of sight at the top of the table, but if they were to do it they would have to come from 2-0 down at half time as Jordan Hutchinson scored a first half double. They gave it a good go, but a third Hutchinson goal in the second period saw Kinky run out 3-2 winners to close the gap to two points at the top of the table. Kipsta and El Caliente were looking for a first ‘proper’ win of the season, and it was Kipsta who lead 1-0 at the break through Warren Yeo’s strike. The second half was one sided in Caliente’s favour though, and two goals from Fidelis Eberegbe and Nathaniel Odysseus-Kingsley, alongside another from Michael Jennison eased them to a 5-1 win that sees them sit in third place.

A quick shuffle around of fixtures saw Team Tom take on The McMuffin Men for the second time in their opening three games, looking to take their record to three from three. A tight first half saw just the one goal, as Charley Eyre gave The McMuffin’s a lead on the stroke of half time. The Tom’s hit back in the second period and 5 unanswered goals, three from Andy Walker and two from Tom Hornsby, saw them to victory. Another team looking to maintain a 100% record were Under Rated, but this turned out to be a rare bad night for them as they were beaten by Dench FC. Things were relatively tight going into the final 10 minutes before things exploded in the latter stages. Phil Carroll scored three of his 5 in this period, and Marc Jagger also scored a hat trick as Dench picked up a 10-4 win, their first of the season to go third in what’s looking like being a very tight division. Two other teams who would fancy themselves to get amongst the promotion pack would be Step Brothers and The Veterans, and a win for either of these teams would have been handy to get the year started. Step Brothers looked the rustier side as The Vets shared the goals around with 5 different scorers in a 7-3 win, their first of the season, and they go 4th.

Inter Row Z look odds on to be taking a step up for next season, and they took their record to 13 points from a possible 15 and a +39 goal difference with a comfortable 8-2 win over Polish Army, Ray Donnelly with 4 of their goals. FC AOTS and Wellspring look likely to be amongst the pack fighting it out for second place, and a 5-5 draw between the two this week saw Wellspring stay second despite their -8 goal difference. AOTS have games in hand but a couple of draw in their first three games sees them sit in 4th place. Rooneytunes are up to third following their second win, after a goal-less first half against SK Dons turned into a goal fest as Aiden Conway grabbed three of their 7 second half goals in a 7-3 win.

Pathetico Madrid and Deportivo Lack Of Talent went into their game this weekend with both teams on three wins from three. An Adam Norton hat trick looked to be helping Pathetico to the win as they lead 5-3 going into the final couple of minutes, but a late Brad Peet double meant a share of the spoils and a sharing of top spot. Stockport Eagles moved to within a point of the leaders as 6 Ben Waugh goals were the highlight of a goal fest against SFC Club. Paul Waugh also scored three as the Eagles soared to a 13-7 win. 2017 wasn’t the best year in the history of Inter Your Sister, as they started the year in the Premiership and ended it in League Two. Add to that the fact that they were yet to pick up a win at this level and things can only get better! They started this week with a narrow 3-2 win over FC Stront Bakken which sees all teams off the mark win-wise for the season.

WE WILL BE LOOKING TO ADD A 5TH DIVISION TO THE SUNDAY LEAGUE WHEN IT RESTARTS IN LATE FEBRUARY. TO BOOK IN YOUR ONE OFF TRIAL GAMES GET IN TOUCH.

 

Just play.

That’s all we are after. This isn’t the Premier League or Champions League, this is SK Ballers.

While SK Ballers is massively important to us because it’s our business, we know our place. This is social football. That might change in the future, Sky might end up showing our games, team sponsorship could be a massive earner and players might be getting paid a hefty sum to play, but that’s not yet. If you’re the kind of team who cannot play unless you have your very best team available, maybe you need to have a little more perspective. United didn’t cancel the Derby with City because Pogba was suspended, and some might argue that game is bigger than any of the ones at our place. Even Kinky Slipper v Insole. I know. I did say SOME might argue…….

We hope you can all agree on the general levels of priorities with regards to world football:

World Cup > Champions League > Premier League > FA Cup > SK Ballers > Carabao Cup

Our trophies aren’t that expensive. They aren’t worth delaying and delaying that big top of the table game for. The leagues roll straight over so you’ll get another chance soon enough if this isn’t your season.

Everyone wants to win, of course they do, unfortunately it can’t always be that way. So just get 6 lads out on a pitch and enjoy your football, get yourself a bit fitter, and use the time to keep in touch with your mates. That’s what we’re here for.

LEAGUE RULE CHANGE

Taking all of the above into consideration, we are now looking at making the following rule change with regards to game cancellations:

EACH TEAM WILL BE PERMITTED TWO CANCELLATIONS THROUGHOUT THE COURSE OF A SEASON. ANY FURTHER CANCELLATIONS AFTER THAT WILL MEAN THE GAME BEING FORFEITED AND A 5-0 WIN BEING AWARDED TO YOUR OPPOSITION.

We are doing this for a couple of reasons. Firstly, so that teams make sure they do everything they can to field a side for a game. At the minute it just seems a little too easy for teams to cancel without punishment, and has resulted in more games going down than we should expect. Secondly, it’s so that teams who fulfill all of their fixtures throughout the season aren’t punished by being made to wait several weeks for us to get the outstanding games played. We want to remain flexible and understand there will always be reasons why teams can’t field a side every now and then, but we have to try and prioritise the teams who want to play football.

These rule changes will come into place when a new league starts, we aren’t going to retrospectively punish any teams who’ve already cancelled games this season.

That being said, a massive thanks to all teams who’ve been involved last year, for getting us through the first full year and into our second, and hopefully we’ll still be around for a good while yet.

All the very best for the new year, and we’ll hopefully continue to see you throughout 2018!

For the second Thursday in a row, we were back at The Mike Doyle Centre to raise some money for a deserving charity, this time around it was Stroke Information. 12 teams this week compared to the 10 from last week, all giving generously, meant that we raised a decent wedge on the night, and some pretty decent football was played in pretty tricky conditions.

6 teams in each group meant more games of shorter length, putting more pressure on that first goal in each game…….

GROUP A

In the opening round of games, the three teams who were expected to be fighting out for the top two positions took on the three teams who would be considered to be the outsiders of the group. Sunday Premiership champions Insole beat Stockport Eagles 2-0 to get their campaign started, while Adswood Reformed were 3-0 winners over Exeter Gently and Step Brothers also didn’t concede as they beat El Caliente 2-0.

Adswood took on the Brotherhood in the second batch of fixtures, with neither team able to make the breakthrough in a game that finished goal-less. Insole took advantage to take control of the group with a 3-0 win over Exeter Gently. If Caliente or the Eagles were looking to make a play for a semi-final spot, one of them needed to win the meeting between the two of them, so a 0-0 draw did neither team any favours.

Insole faced Step Brothers next, knowing a win would effectively guarantee them a top two spot with two rounds to spare, but a third straight 0-0 draw in this group kept them in control, while putting Step Brothers chances of qualifying in the balance. Adswood joined Insole on 7 points with a 2-0 win over El Caliente, who were all but out following this result, while Stockport Eagles picked up a first Christmas Cup win (across both tournaments) by beating Exeter Gently 1-0 to end Exeter’s hopes.

El Caliente’s prospects were in the balance before the 4th round of fixtures, and they remained goal-less as a 1-0 defeat to Insole ended their tournament hopes. Adswood remained level with Insole, moving onto 10 points with a 1-0 over Stockport Eagles, who’s hopes also ended there. Step Brothers needed a win to keep their chances alive going into the final round of fixtures, and a comfortable 3-0 win over Exeter Gently meant it was two from three going into the final round.

Step Brothers had the advantage of playing the last game of the group, so would know what they had to do in their game in order to qualify. First they had to watch Insole take on Adswood, with the winner of this game guaranteed top spot. A hard fought 2-1 win for Insole meant they clinched first place, with that first defeat for Adswood leaving them on the brink of elimination when they’d looked good for qualification right the way through. Exeter Gently and El Caliente finished their campaigns with a dead rubber between the two, and with neither team having scored a goal so far a 0-0 draw looked nailed on. Exeter finished their night with a 3-2 win, which was the highest scoring game of the night….. With Adswood having lost their final game, a win for Step Brothers against already eliminated Stockport Eagles would send them through in second place. With the Adswood lads cheering them on, the Eagles nicked a shock 1-0 win that sent the Brotherhood home and sent Adswood into the semi-finals.

GROUP B

Group B had similarities with Group A in that it looked like being two from three at the outset, and those three teams avoided each other in the first round of fixtures. Gangs Of Dwight Yorke were comfortable 4-0 winners over FC Stront Bakken to get their campaign off to a winning start, while Ken & Barbie FC beat Team Tom 2-0. Duno were looking to go one further than their semi-final spot from last week, and they beat Wellspring 2-0 to get three points on the board.

The three winners from round 1 avoided each other again in the second batch of fixtures, and they were all winners again to create a 6 point gap between the top three and the bottom three. Gangs Of Dwight Yorke made it 7 scored, none conceded with a 3-0 win over Wellspring, Ken & Barbie made it consecutive 4-0 defeats for Stront Bakken, while Duno scraped a 1-0 win over Team Tom.

Gangs made it three from three to open round three, beating Team Tom 2-0, then they could stand a watch Duno take on Ken & Barbie in the first clash of the big three, and a 1-0 win for K&B looked to have put them in a strong position to qualify. Wellspring and Stront Bakken would know that the loser of their game would be done as far as this tournament was concerned, and a 2-1 win for Stront Bakken gave them the slimmest of chances of getting through the group.

Those chances ended in the next batch of fixtures, as a narrow 1-0 defeat to Duno kept Duno in contention while ending the Bucket Boys hopes. Gangs took on K&B in what looked like the tie of the group, but a surprisingly one sided game finished 3-0 in Gangs favour. Team Tom and Wellspring both picked up their first point of qualifying as they played out a 0-0 draw in a game that meant very little to either side.

Duno needed to call in favours in the final round of fixtures, as nothing but a win against leaders Gangs would see them eliminated, and even that wouldn’t be enough if K&B could pick up a point from their game with Wellspring. Duno couldn’t do their part though, and a 2-0 defeat left them in third place in the table. K&B eased to a 4-0 win over Wellspring, while Team Tom ended their campaign with their first win, 2-0 over Stront Bakken.

SEMI-FINALS

Having scraped into the semi’s, and having made it to the same stage in last years competition, Adswood Reformed were looking to go one step further this year, but would have a tough task making it through against a Gangs Of Dwight Yorke side that cruised through the group without conceding a goal. This was a tight game though, with Adswood holding their own as we headed into the final few minutes at 0-0, but just as we looked set for penalites, Callum Jones scored the only goal of the game to send Gangs into the final.

The second semi also looked too close to call as Insole took on Ken & Barbie FC in what turned out to be an end to end affair. Insole struck first, but K&B leveled things up heading into the final 5 minutes. Matthew Atkinson restored the Insole lead almost immediately, and this time they were able to hold on for the win to leave the final between the top teams from each group.

FINAL

Gangs Of Dwight Yorke had made it all the way to the final without conceding a goal, and started the final the stronger side with chances coming and going. Throughout the 15 minute final Insole were only able to create a handful of chances, so when Jimmy Leeson scored to give Gangs a deserved lead it proved to be the only goal of the game, leaving Gangs Of Dwight Yorke as Christmas Cup 2 winners.

OTHER INFORMATION

The 12 team turnout, with each team having a minimum of 7 players on the night, meant that we cleared £286.40 for Stroke Information. The spot prize winner of a pair of tickets to a Stockport County game, for being one of 5 people to make a double donation to take part, was Tom Harrison from Exeter Gently. Many thanks to Tom, Shaun Mather, Anthony Pugh, Mike Belshaw and Tom Hornsby who were the people who double donated on the night, and thanks to all teams who took part.

See you all in 2018…..!

Gangs Of Dwight Yorke

A solid 10 team turnout for the first of two Christmas Cup tournaments for this year helped us raise a decent wedge of money for Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity. By the end of the event, no teams had a 100% win record, so the tightness of the standards made for a highly competitive event.

GROUP A

Group A got started with two games kicking off at the same time, but only one winner. Dench FC picked up a 2-1 win over Stockport Eagles while Wellspring FC picked up an impressive 0-0 draw against one of the pre-tournament favourites Duno FC. The Eagles stayed on for the third game in the group, but they had no more luck as they lost again, this time 1-0 against Inter Row Z. The third ’round’ of games saw a little controversy, as confusion reigned for a few minutes at the end of the Dench v Wellspring game, which eventually went down as a 2-1 win to Dench, meaning it was two wins from two for them. In a family affair, Inter Row Z drew first blood against Duno in what was looking like a must win game for Duno. The managed to turn it around and picked up a 2-1 win that put them back in control of their own destiny within the group. Any hope Eagles had of getting out of the group ended with a 2-0 defeat to Wellspring, who still had a chance of claiming one of the top two spots. The biggest game of the group was up next, as Dench looked to make it three from three against Duno, but Duno hit their stride in this one and ran out comfortable 4-0 winners. After a good start, Inter Row Z’s chances of qualifying looked all but over after they lost a second successive game, 1-0 to Wellspring, and Duno confirmed their place at the top of the group with a 2-1 victory over Eagles. Dench needed a win in their last game against Inter Row Z to ensure second place was theirs, and they just about got it, winning the match 1-0.

GROUP B

On paper, the first game in Group B looked like being a one sided affair as Sunday top division faced bottom. The game was tighter than many would have predicted, but it did end up going the way we’d have expected as J Stands Barmy Army beat FC Stront Bakken 1-0. A mix and match El Caliente side were up against it after the first round of games, as they were hammered 4-1 by Polish Army, while J Stands made it two wins from two with another 1-0 win, this time against Kelly’s Wanderers, who were the only non Ballers league team in the competition. El Caliente faced Stront Bakken next in a game both teams needed to win to retain a realistic hope of making the semis. Caliente’s bad start continued, as they suffered a 2-1 defeat that meant they would be out unless they could beat J Stands in their next game. A third straight 1-0 win for J Stands confirmed their place in the next round, while Caliente’s tournament was over before it had really began. The fight for second place was now a three way fight, and two of those faced each other next as Kelly’s Wanderers looked for their first points against Polish Army. A 2-0 win for Kelly’s saw them join their polish opponents and Stront Bakken on three points, but the Army had an immediate chance to hit straight back against Stront Bakken. A 2-0 win for the poles saw them go into their final round of fixtures still in with a good chance of qualifying, while Stront Bakken’s chances were now hanging by a thread. A 3-1 win for Kelly’s Wanderers against El Caliente meant they went into the final round of fixtures level on points with Polish Army, and the Army were up next with the tough task of trying to take points off J Stands, and a creditable 2-2 draw did just that. That point meant that Stront Bakken now couldn’t qualify, regardless of the result of their final game against Kelly’s Wanderers, with the Wanderers needing a win to go through. A 2-0 win for Kelly’s saw them claim second spot, earning them a semi final spot against Duno.

SEMI FINALS

Group A winners Duno took on Kelly’s Wanderers on pitch 1 in what looked like being a tough one to call, especially as Kelly’s had reeled off three straight wins after their opening game defeat. It was Duno who struck first, but Kelly’s hit back to take this one to penalties, and two misses from three Duno penalties was enough to send Kelly’s into the final.

The other semi saw Dench looking like facing an uphill battle against Group B winners J Stands, but it was the underdogs who struck first and the potential shock was on. J Stands struck back and once they had pulled themselves level they took complete control, easing to a 4-1 victory to see an all Group B final.

FINAL

These two teams met each other in the first game in Group B, with J Stands picking up a 1-0 win, but from that point on both teams had looked impressive in making their way through the tournament. J Stands would start this one as favourites, and they took the lead through Scott Stokes goal in the early stages. They had a chance to make it 2-0 a few minutes later, but Marcus Dean saw his penalty saved. They didn’t have to wait long for that second to arrive as Dean converted from close range, and despite Kelly’s best efforts they couldn’t find a way back into this one, and J Stands Barmy Army picked up the trophies from the first of our Christmas Cup competitions for 2017!

OTHER INFORMATION

11 players entered the draw to win a pair of tickets to a Stockport County game of their choice, courtesy of Richard at JR Sports, our football and shirt suppliers. Lukas Voveris and Declan Matthews from FC Stront Bakken, Dominik from Polish Army, and James Marshall from Stockport Eagles went into the draw for what they did on the pitch, while Shaun Mather, Paul Waugh, Alecs Pattison, Lee Bridge, Kyle Bell, Scott Stokes and Nicky Stokes all entered the draw as a result of making more than the standard donation to take part. The winner, picked completely at random, was James Marshall.

The full time result in terms of money to donate to Shelter after expenses had been removed, was £229.80. Thank you so much to everyone who took part, and hopefully we’ll have more of the same next week when we look to raise some money for Stroke Information.

From a league point of view, that’s us done for 2017. The next time we see a lot of our league teams there will be turkey and (dare we say) a bit of beer that teams will be looking to run off.

LEAGUE NEWS

The NEW MONDAY LEAGUE kicks off on 15th March, with friendlies available for any new or returning teams on 8th January. We will also be looking to add a mini league on a Tuesday evening, starting on 23rd January, also with friendlies available in the run up. Get in touch for details about either of these.

Following the success of our first Christmas Cup of the year this week, we have a second one taking place next Thursday, 28th December, in support of Stroke Information. Spaces are filling up, but there’s still a couple remaining on a first come, first served basis. Kick off is at 7pm, a minimum donation of £5 per player to take part.

MONDAY LEAGUE

This week saw the final night of a slightly disrupted Monday league season, but there was plenty of room for drama in the Premiership as AC Milmanchester and Expected Toulouse went into the final night level on points with Expected leading the way on goal difference. AC were up first. knowing they needed to set a target for Toulouse to chase down, and they went about it in the first half as three goals from Martin Gordon, and one each from Chris Singelton, Callum Jones and Kiarno Samms gave them a 6-1 lead at the break. They stepped on the gas in the second period, with Gordon and Jones adding 4 more each amongst others, as they ran out 17-4 winners meaning Expected needed a 10 goal win in their game with Phantom Brazilians to claim a debut Monday Premiership title. They gave themselves a fighting chance in the first half, as three goals from Liam Mottram and two from Jordan Milne gave them a 5-1 lead at half time. Matt Holbrook made their task harder by pulling one back for Phantom early in the second half, and Toulouse fell just short as three more for Milne and two for Niall Hillen meant they won 10-2, leaving Milmanchester as back to back Monday Premiership title winners.

In the Championship, Not A Chance already had the title wrapped up before they took on relative new boys FC Rhino Ket. It was the new side that took the lead through a Louis Moore goal on 12 minutes, and they came within two minutes of holding that lead until the break, but Kyle Bell struck a leveller for the Chancers. Jack Needham restored Ket’s lead early in the second half, but Not A Chance were the stronger team in the final stages as Bell grabbed another three and Phil Carroll two inside the final 20 minutes to give the Championship winners a perfect 10 for the season.

THE NEW MONDAY LEAGUE STARTS ON 15TH JANUARY 2018! GET IN TOUCH TO BOOK IN YOUR FRIENDLY FOR THE 8TH JANUARY IF YOU ARE THINKING IT COULD BE FOR YOU.

TUESDAY LEAGUE

Only a couple of games barely survived in the final Tuesday evening of the year, and title holders Mirror Signal Malouda made it two wins from two heading into 2018 as 5 goals from Josh Morrisey, three from Jake Dean, two from Kieran Hamilton and one from Wez Barker gave them a comfortable enough 11-6 win over Wellspring, for whom Lewis Arden and Jamie Berrisford grabbed three apiece. The other game was an entertaining affair as Oooze FC took on a Cheadle FC team who were fielding a stronger side this week than the last time they turned out. An end to end first half saw Oooze lead 5-4 at the break, before they edged themselves clear to eventually run out 10-6 winners to take top spot as the only team to have fulfilled all of their fixtures so far.

THE TUESDAY LEAGUE MAY CURRENTLY BE FULL, BUT WE DO HAVE SPACE TO GET A MINI LEAGUE STARTED IN EARLY 2018, SO GET IN TOUCH FOR DETAILS.

WEDNESDAY LEAGUE

Just one game in the Wednesday league this week as the final few days before Christmas started to bite, but it was a tight one between Polish Army and Exeter Gently. Dominik and Marcin gave the poles an early two goal lead, but a couple of Kristian Igo goals and a tidy finish from Tom Harrison turned things in Exeter’s favour approaching the break. They couldn’t hold the lead until half time though, as Dominik grabbed his second in the final seconds of the half to see us into the break at 3-3. The Polish style of play was proving to be a distraction to the Exeter players, and their loss of concentration throughout the second period was to cost them dear as goals from Marcin 7 minutes into the half and Slawek two minutes from time gave them the win.

THE WEDNESDAY LEAGUE IS CURRENTLY FULL, SO FOR NOW IF YOU’RE LOOKING TO JOIN A LEAGUE, MONDAY OR TUESDAY IS WHERE YOU’RE BEST OFF LOOKING!

SUNDAY LEAGUE

There were still 7 games on this week in the Sunday league (should have been 8…..) as our biggest league night showed little sign of slowing down heading into the festive period. Duno had got off to a decent start to life in the top flight, but they faced their toughest test of the season so far against reigning champions Insole. They got off to the ideal start when Steven Whetham gave them the lead in the third minute, and Roberto added a second for them 9 minutes from the break. Jack Atkinson reduced the arrears a couple of minutes later, and Insole were level with 14 minutes remaining when Liam Atkinson grabbed a goal. Duno hit straight back as Calvin Alexander scored a minute later, and in a frantic final few minutes Duno were able to hold on for an impressive win that sees them clear at the top of the table at Christmas. Kinky Slipper were playing only their second game of the season after a fairly disrupted start to the Sunday Premiership season, and they faced El Caliente this week. Rob Creswell gave them the lead in the 7th minute, but Michael Jennison leveled things up on 16. Joe Lailey restored the Kinky lead two minutes before the break, and they looked to have killed the game off with two Jordan Hutchinson goals in the opening 4 minutes of the second period. Matthew Kealy (we think) did pull one back for Caliente with 20 minutes still to play, but that was it as far as the scoring went, as Kinky set themselves up to be the nearest contenders to Duno in these early stages.

The only game in the Championship saw family members go up against each other as Step Brothers took on The McMuffin Men. The McMuffins were in just their second game at this level having skipped League One, and they were looking for their first points of the campaign. They got off to the better start as two Jack Derbyshire goals gave them the advantage in the opening stages. A piece of magic by Chris Moore got Step Brothers back into it, and they were level 7 minutes before the break as Rob Sheldon scored. The McMuffins lead at the break though, as Sam Delgado scored three minutes from the interval, but things quickly turned in the Brotherhood’s favour early in the second period. Goals from Gaz Fay, Tom Cioffi and two from Josh Armitage saw Step Brothers take a three goal lead in the first 9 minutes, and though Derbyshire pulled one back for McMuffin, further goals from Cioffi and Sheldon took the game away from them. Derbyshire added another two to reduce the deficit to two goals again, but Moore ended any thoughts of a comeback before Delgado grabbed the final goal of the game to leave Step Brothers with a 9-7 victory.

Rooneytunes had done ok since they joined the Sunday league a couple of weeks ago, with one 5-4 win and one 5-4 defeat in their first two games, but they didn’t have quite as strong a team out this week and boy did it show! Inter Row Z look set to claim a promotion place at least as they remain unbeaten so far, and when 5 goals from Ray Donnelly helped them to a 10-0 half time lead this week, there was no danger of that run ending. The eventually ended up running out 16-2 winners as Donnelly added another three in the second half, while the rest of the goals were spread around the team. The other game in the division saw SK Dons, who were still looking for their first League One point, take on a Wellspring team who had started the season well before taking a hammering against Inter last time out. Mike Devitt seemed to have put Wellspring on the way to s comfortable win when he scored twice in the opening 10 minutes, but Kyle Norris halved that lead and we went into the break at 2-1. Nathan Wilkinson made it 3-1 a couple of minutes into the second half, but two goals in a minute for the Dons made it 3-3 with 14 minutes left. George Quayle and Wilkinson grabbed the decisive goals in the final 10 minutes as Wellspring returned to winning ways as they sit second in the Christmas standings.

With Pathetico Madrid picking up a forfeit win this week as SFC Club failed to recover from their Christmas hangovers, Deportivo needed to pick up a win to keep pace with the leaders. No one can remember the last time Inter Your Sister picked up a point, but they were level at 1-1 10 minutes into this one after Craig Johnson cancelled out Jake Riley’s opener, but Deportivo lead at the break as Chris Cunliffe and Brad Peet added goals towards the end of the half. The goals flowed a little more in the second period as Rob Parker grabbed 4 for Deportivo as they eased to an 8-5 victory to join Pathetico on 9 points. Stockport Eagles and FC Stront Bakken would both be expecting to push towards the promotion spots, but having dropped points already this season they both needed points from this week’s game. The Eagles soared into a 3-1 half time lead as Ben Waugh grabbed a first half hat trick, but Declan Matthews second of the game early in the second half meant it was game on again going into the latter stages. Ryan McAndrew grabbed the final goal of the game in the final 5 minutes to give the Eagles the win, and they go third, three points behind the leaders.

THE SUNDAY LEAGUE IS CURRENTLY FULL! WE CAN ALWAYS LOOK AT THE OPTIONS FOR ADDING A 5TH DIVISION IN THE NEW YEAR, SO FEEL FREE TO ASK AWAY……

Since the launch of the new website we’ve had people asking us about the possibility of us producing more stats, so here’s what we’ve come up with.

We now have a Zepp Play Football tracker device that records all kinds of stats for the player that wears it, and an app that does a whole bunch of other stuff that we haven’t had chance to try yet!

Our first victim last night was Mike Pinder of Strikeforce, with the photos showing the information it provides, including distance covered, how much of it was walked, ran and sprinted, how many times he kicked the ball, his top speed, how hard he kicked the ball, all broken down by 5 minute intervals throughout the game. It also breaks down the teams goal conversion rate.

HOW COOL IS THAT?!

If we get off to a good start to 2018, we plan to buy another 5 of these trackers so we can do a full teams stats each night, but for now if you want to give it a go (or if you’d like to be able to show that lad in your team how lazy he is), let us know!

Hopefully into 2018 we will be able to keep coming up with new ideas to keep adding more to the overall Ballers experience!

Christmas is rapidly approaching, and with next week being the last round of games until the new year, we will hopefully go out of 2017 on a high.

LEAGUE NEWS

We’ve still got spaces available in our second Christmas Cup on Thursday 28th December, kicking off at 7pm. All money cleared from the event will be donated to Stroke Information, so get yourselves involved! The current spaces won’t be there for long……

The next new league to start will be the Monday league which will kick off on 15th January. There are currently three spaces available for new or returning teams, but with the new year on it’s way we don’t expect them to stick around for long!

We will also be looking to add a mini league to our Tuesday league as soon as possible in the new year, so the options are there for getting your team signed up!

SUNDAY LEAGUE

Quite surprisingly, given the weather and the little matter of the Manchester Derby, 5 games still went ahead on Sunday evening. None of them were in the Premiership as Kinky Slipper and Insole were the last men standing, and we weren’t getting them playing each other again this week!

The Championship looks like being a good division this season, but the only game this week saw Team Tom looking to join Under Rated on 6 points as they took on The McMuffin Men in their Championship debut. The more experienced team started the stronger, and THE Tom Hornsby scored twice in the opening 5 minutes as they went into the break 3-2 in front. They looked to have killed it at 4-2 with 18 minutes left, but the McMuffin’s hit back and Charley Eyre’s second of the game helped them draw level at 4-4 with three minutes left. Hornsby was the hat trick hero though, as his third a minute from time gave them the narrowest of victories.

It was a night of narrow victories, with 4 of the 5 games all as tight as you can get. The only one that wasn’t was in League One, where Inter Row Z shared the goals around as they hammered Wellspring FC 14-2, Ray Donnelly with 4 while Callum Donnelly and Ryan McAndrew helped themselves to three each. Bizarrely, that result ended Wellspring’s 100% start to the season and sent Inter top. In the other game, Rooneytunes were looking to make it second time lucky after the lost their first game against Wellspring by the odd goal in 9 last week. It was the odd goal in 9 again this week as they took on Polish Army, and the new boys held on in the final few minutes after letting a 5-2 lead close to 5-4 with 7 left to play, Daniel White with two of the Rooneytunes goals. The freak Wellspring result aside, this is looking like being another good, competitive division.

Two more close games in the bottom division, and the game between Stockport Eagles and Deportivo Lack Of Talent was unique for a couple of reasons. Firstly, there were only three goals in a 50 minute game of 6-a-side, and secondly, all three goals were own goals! Deportivo came away with a 2-1 win to see them join Pathetico Madrid at the top of the table with Pathetico not playing this week. SFC Club picked up a first Ballers win last week, and were hoping to make it two from two against an FC Stront Bakken side who’s return to the Sunday league hasn’t been all plain sailing. We entered the final knockings of the game with the scoreline locked at 3-3 and both teams going for the win, but Benjamin Dean’s last gasp goal gave The Bucket Boys the win in another division where anyone can beat anyone.

THE SUNDAY LEAGUE IS CURRENTLY FULL! THAT 5TH DIVISION COULD COME IN THE NEW YEAR THOUGH, SO FEEL FREE TO ASK….. 

MONDAY LEAGUE

The hangover from Sunday continued into Monday with three games going ahead. The one in the top division was an interesting looking one between Expected Toulouse and Phantom Brazilians, who were facing each other for the first time this season, this close to the end of the season. Three first half Liam Mottram goals saw title chaser Toulouse lead 3-2 at the break in a game they had to win to retain any real hope of claiming the title. 4-2 a minute into the second half became 4-4 with 16 minutes to play, but a second half hat trick for Jordan Milne helped Toulouse to an 8-5 win. With Old Reddish now having left us, despite being top of the table, Expected Toulouse now lead AC Milmanchester on goal difference with both teams having one game left to play. IN the other game, new boys FC Rhino Ket picked up a first Ballers win, beating Strikeforce 10-6, Ryan Stringer picking up the man of the match award after baggin himself 5 goals.

Assuming we can maintain two divisions going into the new season which start in the new year, Not A Chance will finally be back in the big time. Going into tonight’s game against Pathetico Madrid they were 7 from 7 for the season, and after a tight first half they lead 2-1 at the break. The second half was a little more one sided, and 4 goals from Phil Carroll helped the leaders to a comfortable 8-1 win.

THE NEW MONDAY LEAGUE KICKS OFF ON 15TH JANUARY 2018. IF YOU, OR ANYONE YOU KNOW ARE MAKING ANY NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS, SIGNING UP FOR SOME NEW YEAR FOOTIE IS A GOOD START!

TUESDAY LEAGUE

It would seem that Gangs Of Dwight Yorke are very much the team to beat this season. On paper they faced a tough game this week against an Only Kruls & Horses team who gave Mirror Signal Malouda a good game last week. 4 first half goals from Aden Jones eased the Gangs into a 7-2 half time lead, and though Kruls managed to get back to 8-4 early in the second half, a quick fire double from Connor Harding took the game away from them again, as Gangs ran out 11-5 winners.

Only a couple of games were played this evening as the prospect of Christmas looms large, but the other game was a belter! Oooze FC were looking to make it two wins from two, and they started well against Inter Row Z, going 3-1 up in the opening 11 minutes. Inter began to pepper the Oooze goal but could only pull one back before getting caught out by a double sucker punch in the final minutes of the half to go into the break 5-2 down. That became 5-4 early in the second period as Inter hit back again, but Phil Parker’s third of the game 9 minutes from time looked to have clinched the win for Oooze. Callum Donnelly also grabbed his third two minutes later to make it 6-5, and Ray Donnelly made it 6 apiece in the final minute to end a breathless game with a point each.

WITH THE AIM IN THE NEW YEAR TO GET BACK TO TWO DIVISIONS, MINI LEAGUE SPOTS WILL BE AVAILABLE FROM JANUARY.

WEDNESDAY LEAGUE

The opening night of the new Wednesday league saw a couple of games played in slightly ropey conditions! Last day Champions Ruud van Ni-Ste-Lloyd plowed through the slush a liitle better than Polish Army, and 4 goals from Adam Porter helped them to a 9-3 opening day win.

Stockport Eagles will fancy having a bash at the title this season, and they were also opening day winners as hat tricks from Paul Waugh, Connor Harding and Ryan McAndrew helped them to a 12-6 win over Wellspring FC.

THE WEDNESDAY LEAGUE IS CURRENTLY FULL! GET IN TOUCH FOR DETAILS OF ANY OTHER SPACES.

As a temporary replacement for the individual match reviews at this busy time of year, we will put a little more meat on the bones of the weekly round up. We will also mix things up a little in terms of the order in which we review the leagues

LEAGUE NEWS

First things first, we’ve got our two Charity Christmas tournaments coming up:

Cup 1: Thursday 21st December, 7pm kick off, in support of Shelter

Cup 2: Thursday 28th December, 7pm kick off, in support of Stroke Information

Minimum donation of £5 per player to take part, get in touch for details.

The new Wednesday league starts NEXT WEEK, with ONE SPACE currently available.

The next new league after that will be the MONDAY LEAGUE, which kicks off on 22ND JANUARY 2018. The ideal time to get back into it after the festive period, with friendlies available in the first couple of weeks of the year. Fill in a ‘Join A League’ form on the home page to register your interest.

WEDNESDAY LEAGUE

With Magpie having blown their chances to win the league by losing their last two games, Ruud van Ni-Ste-Lloyd had the chance to steal the title if they could beat Exeter Gently this week. Exeter had pulled a performance out of the bag last week in defeating Magpie, but there was to be no repeat this week as the Ruud boys went into the break 4 goals in front. They could even afford a Phil Coyne missed penalty in the second half as they completely ran away with it, eventually winning 14-0, with Jamie Longworth and Adam Porter helping themselves to 4 goals apiece. Congratulations to Ruud van Ni-Ste-Lloyd, who are the FIRST WEDNESDAY LEAGUE WINNERS! In the other game of the night, Stockport Eagles picked up a 4-2 win over Polish Army in a friendly ahead of the new season.

The NEW WEDNESDAY LEAGUE starts NEXT WEEK! We currently have ONE SPACE AVAILABLE in what has been a fantastic league this season.

TUESDAY LEAGUE

The opening night of the new, slightly restructured Tuesday league season got underway this week with three games being played despite United being at home.

New team Gangs Of Dwight Yorke were given a bit of a bonus as they went up against a Cheadle FC side who had really scrambled around for a team this week. They raced into a 6 goal half time lead, and eventually ran out 12-4 winners as Jimmy Lesson scored 5 and Connor Harding 4. Two other teams who were struggling to scrape a team together this week week were Oooze FC and Wellspring FC, who met for the second week in a row. The team changes affected Wellspring more, as Oooze picked up an 8-3 win to get their season off to a winning start with two goals each for Tom Galbraith, Phil Parker and Josh Armitage. The game of the opening night saw Championship winners Only Kruls & Horses take on Premiership winners Mirror Signal Malouda. It looked like being a one sided affair as Malouda raced into a 4 goal lead in the opening 6 minutes, Kieran Hamilton with two of them. Kruls settled into the game and two Seb Etchells goals saw them claw it back to 5-3 at the break. Kruls continued to knock at the door in the second period and got it back to 5-4 with 15 minutes to play, but a couple of breakaway goals from Jake Dean eased Malouda to a 7-4 win.

There are currently no spaces in the Tuesday league, however we will be looking to get a mini league going in January, so for further details get in touch.

MONDAY LEAGUE

Just a couple of games survived this week as the run up to Christmas begins to kick in, with the big disappointment being the cancellation of the big Premiership clash between Old Reddish FC and AC Milmanchester. Expected Toulouse maintained their position as a potential title challenger as 6 goals from Liam Mottram and 5 from Waz Akram helped them to a comfortable 13-2 win over Strikeforce. We welcomed new boys FC Rhino Ket to the Monday league this week, and though they looked good in spells against Phantom Brazilians, the more experienced side eased to a 14-4 win with Matt Barton also grabbing 6 goals, with Robin Hulme scoring 5. Hopefully back to a better turnout this week!

The NEW MONDAY LEAGUE starts on 22nd January 2018. Currently TWO SPACES AVAILABLE for any new teams looking to get involved.

SUNDAY LEAGUE

A slightly stuttering start to the Sunday Premiership saw just the one game played this week, with Duno looking to make it two wins from two at the start of their debut top flight season. Kipsta Cobras have slightly struggled for numbers of late, and the team they put out this week never really looked likely to pick up any points as Duno took an early three goal lead. They kept Kipsta at arms length throughout the first half and lead 6-2 at the break, before scoring 4 unanswered goals in the second period to make it 6 points from two games with Luke Newsham helping himself to a hat trick. Two own goals didn’t exactly help the Kipsta cause……

A couple of games in the Championship included ‘favourites’ Under Rated taking on Step Brothers and Team Tom and Dench FC getting their seasons underway. Under Rated took early control of their game by going three up in the first 10 minutes. A magic finish from the returning Chris Moore pulled one back for The Brotherhood, but Steven Batho and Colin Stelfox got their second goals of the game before half time to make it 5-1. Step Brothers grabbed the only goal of the second period, but Under Rated maintain their 100% start to the season. Another team with a 100% record is Team Tom, though that is after just one game! They won a hard fought battle with Dench 4-3 as Rob Jordan’s second of the game 7 minutes from time proved to be the difference between the two teams.

We welcomed a new team this week as Rooneytunes (name subject to change!) replaced the departing Exeter Gently. Their first half of Ballers action was a good one as they shared 6 goals with Wellspring FC, who had picked up a narrow win in week one. In the end it was a Lewis Arden penalty 11 minutes from the end that gave Wellspring a 5-4 win that sees them go top, though a goal from Wellspring ‘keeper Jack Kerton in the first half is probably worth a mention. We potentially got things a little wrong with League One last season as a couple of teams were head and shoulders above the rest, but it looks very right this time around as FC AOTS and Inter Row Z also played out a very tight game. 2-2 at half time became 6-6 at full time with neither time ever enjoying a two goal lead. Ray Donnelly scored 5 of the Inter goals, with Eoghan Scott grabbing three for AOTS. Polish Army pulled out a better performance this week as they went 4-0 up by half time against SK Dons, who are struggling to adapt to the higher level of football. The second half was tighter, but three goals from Kamil helped the Poles pick up an 8-3 win and they get their first points on the board for the season.

Old rivals Pathetico Madrid and Stockport Eagles went up against each other with both teams having won their opening game. As is often the case, this was a tight one with Pathetico edging in front 2-1 at the break. A third goal for Pathetico just after the interval was the final goal of the game as Pathetico become the only team with 6 points after two weeks. A big night for SFC Club, who pick up their first Ballers league win in a game where defences weren’t exactly on top. SFC lead 8-3 at the break, and a hat trick in each half from Phil Carroll helped them to a 13-10 win, despite 4 goals from Ryan McAndrew for Inter, who now sit bottom of the bottom division just a few seasons after being in the top flight!

The Sunday league is currently FULL, but there is always the option of adding a 5TH DIVISION as we enter 2018. Get in touch for details.

 

With our first Christmas Cup having filled up in double quick time, we decided with the time of year and the chance to support another charity we’d throw a second one in!

The second Christmas Cup will take place on Thursday 28th December, kicking off at 7pm.

All cleared proceeds will be donated to Stroke Information, with a minimum donation of £5 per player to take part.

For more information or to register your team, get in touch!