LEAGUE NEWS

Still not a lot to ‘sell’ in terms of new leagues or vacancies at the minute, so we’ll just give everyone a quick reminder of our BALLERS SURVEY that we would really like as many teams as possible to complete. It will only take about 30 seconds to complete, so please click on the link below:

https://bit.ly/2uuXpE5

SUNDAY LEAGUE

Out of the blue, and for no particular reason, we seemed to have a larger than normal amount of teams struggling this weekend, so this won’t take long….

PREMIERSHIP

Literally not a solitary game to report on in the top division this week, as Kipsta Cobras, Gangs Of Dwight Yorke and Sevilla Lacatalent were all unable to field a side.

CHAMPIONSHIP

FC AOTS were three from three heading into their rearranged game with Stockport Eagles. They looked like making it 4 in a row as Paul Buckley’s 4 goals saw them head into the final stages with a 5-4 lead, but Paul Waugh’s last minute leveler, his second of the game, added to Michael Winn’s hat trick, meant that both teams shared the points. It was a week to forget for The Veterans as 5 goals from Tom Hall and doubles from Williamson’s Charlie and Jimmy gave Nice Buns B a very comfortable 9-2 victory in their game this week.

LEAGUE ONE

League One looks like anyone’s this season, and Polish Army took top spot this week after Mateusz scored three and Sebastian two as they picked up a 5-1 win over FC Stront Bakken to pick up their second win of the season. Team Tom are up into second after their second straight one goal victory. They came back after trailing 2-1 at the break to Fat Boys Run Wild to win 3-2 with Tom Hornsby scoring the winner 4 minutes from time. The McMuffin Men finally got their campaign up and running at the third time of asking and started off with a comfortable 10-4 win over Step Brothers. Daniel Havern was the main man as his 5 goals proved to be the difference.

LEAGUE TWO

New team NHTMD FC had the chance to take top spot from SK Six this week if they could pick up their second three pointer since joining, and that’s what they did as Ryan Conway scored three of their 5 in a fairly comfortable 5-1 win. Deportivo Lack Of Talent are finally off the mark at the third attempt as they picked up a 5-3 win over Pathetico Madrid, Rhys Moult grabbing tow of their goals as they leapfrog this weeks opponents and climb out of the bottom two.

FRIENDLIES

Neither CA FC or Pique Blinders had league opposition this week, so we decided any game was better than no game. The game was played in the right spirit, but the Blinders are clearly at least a level above this weeks opposition, and they won this one 17-2 with Chris Sinclair scoring 7, Cameron Higginbottom and Connor Ferguson both grabbing three apiece.

ONE SPACE HAS BECOME AVAILABLE IN THE SUNDAY CHAMPIONSHIP – GET IN TOUCH FOR DETAILS!

MONDAY LEAGUE

PREMIERSHIP

Expected Toulouse looked to be in cruise control on the way to claiming the Monday Premiership title this season, and would have anticipated another three points against struggling champions Netsix & Chill. Netsix didn’t get that memo though, as two goals each from Chris Murray and Jimmy Leeson saw them lead 4-1 at the break, and though Waz Akram pulled two back for Toulouse in the second half, a late brace from Mike Pinder sealed a shock win for the champs. The other Premiership game played this week was a cracker as Grand Street Wanderers and Nice Buns went at it. Jay Bebbington can feel unfortunate to have ended up on the losing side as his brilliant hat trick wasn’t enough to stop Nice Buns claiming a 5-4 win, with Charlie Williamson and Paul Cheetham grabbing two each for them.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Kinky Slipper joined us in the Monday league this week, but they probably won’t be sticking around in the Championship for long as they ended leaders Ruby Kazam‘s 100% start to the season. Wesley Harney grabbed three, James Radcliffe and Rob Cresswell two each as they started off with a 9-5 victory. Unprotected Cesc‘s improvement continued as they picked up a first point from a hard fought 4-4 draw with Delph & Safety. Late goals from Pete Tickle and Fidelis Eberegbe, their second each of the game, claimed the point for Cesc after Andrew Harrison’s double had helped Delph to a 4-2 lead heading into the final stages. It was one of Athletico Pathetico‘s bad weeks this week, as Phantom Brazilians picked up the most comfortable of 12-1 victories, with Daniel Clayton grabbing half of their goals and Matt Barton picking up three for himself.

THE MONDAY LEAGUE IS FULL! GET IN TOUCH TO JOIN OUR WAITING LIST

TUESDAY LEAGUE

We had a feeling that the game between unbeaten Gangstas Allardyce and new boys Gud Vybz would be a good one, and it looked like being a belter when Vybz went in at half time with a narrow 2-1 lead. no one could have predicted that the second half would become so one sided as Declan Hince added three more to his first half goal, with Lewis Settle and Callum Bullock grabbing three each as the new team romped to a 14-3 win. This meant that we would have new league leaders if either Club Tropicana or For Fuchs Sake could pick up a win, and Club Tropicana did their work early by heading into half time of their game with previous unbeaten Stroke Titty 5 goals to the good. Nick Goodwin got three of their goals as they saw out the second half to claim a 7-3 victory. Fuchs looked to be fluffing their lines as they trailed against struggling Only Kruls & Horses 4-2 with 12 minutes to go, but they maintained their unbeaten record as Alex Amidulla scored three late goals to add to a brace from Tom Smith to give them an unlikely looking 7-4 win. Sons moved into 4th place with a surprisingly comfortable 9-3 win over Bandit Athletic, with Asa Melville pipping Matt Peck on the score card as he grabbed 5 to Peck’s 4, with Bandit dropping into the bottom half.

THE TUESDAY LEAGUE IS FULL! GET IN TOUCH TO JOIN OUR WAITING LIST

WEDNESDAY LEAGUE

We closed out the final couple of fixtures of the Wednesday league season this week, and the champions Wellspring FC finished off their campaign by proving to be stronger at the long game against FC Rhino Ket. They scored 5 in the last 15 minutes to run out 12-6 winners, with Shane Bridges scoring 4 and Mike Cocks three, while Louis Moore scored 4 of his own in a losing cause. The still relatively new team New Team ended up finishing second, despite only playing 6 games, and they also finished strongly with 4 goals in the final 11 minutes to turn a closely fought 2-1 scoreline into a 6-1 win over Exeter Gently, John Shaw scoring twice. A genuinely new team with a link to New Team joined us for a first game this week, but it was a less than gentle introduction for On The Beach FC as fitness and rustiness went against them as Tomasz Glebiowski scored 5 goals in an 11-1 win for Out Of Shape FC. We’re sure things will get better over time….. With teams falling over each other to get a game this week, we even threw Stockport Eagles and Netsix & Chill into the cage for a 5-a-side game, and a late burst of goals gave Netsix a 9-5 win.

THE WEDNESDAY LEAGUE IS FULL! GET IN TOUCH TO JOIN OUR WAITING LIST

As we’re now two and a half years into Project Baller, we have a number of teams who’ve been with us for a while who have been able to establish their own way of playing. While we have divisions on each night to allow new teams to come in at a standard that hopefully suits them, any team that is brand new to the 6-a-side game will find themselves playing catch up in terms of how to best set themselves up. If you’re looking to get the lads together this year to get your first small sided team set up, or if you’ve played before but have a new set of lads, here’s some pointers that should hopefully allow a team of average players to get themselves set up to be competitive right from day 1…..

In the early days it is probably best to channel your inner Mourinho, rather than your inner Pep….

THE BASICS

Get behind the ball

While you are trying to work out your teams best way to play, the best way to start is to plan to concede as few goals as possible. An ideal start point is to go with the basic idea that when you give the ball away, immediately get as many players back behind the ball as you can. If you can avoid giving your opposition the time and space to play in your half of the pitch, you give yourselves the best chance of being competitive in those early games

Stick with your man

6’s is a lot different to 11’s, you can’t carry too many players who aren’t willing to do the work, so when you’ve picked up your man you need to stick with them. None of this zonal marking nonsense, pick your man, stick with them, and work your backside off to get back to them if they get away.

Split from the keeper

This is small sided 101. When your keeper has ball in hand or a goal kick, you need players to split either side of the goal area to give the keeper options of playing the ball out from the back. The opposition will probably retreat back towards their own half at this point, but if they leave players up to stop you from playing the ball out this way, it’s best that you DON’T PLAY A SHORT PASS OUT INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE PITCH! If you try a short pass to a player inside your own half and that player loses the ball, the two defenders being split either side of the keeper will leave the opposition player with a free shot on goal. If the short pass is cut off, it’s best to go long.

Have an ‘out’ ball

It’s likely that every team you play against will leave someone at the back at all times, so you have the option of leaving someone up (this player still needs to be able to track the oppositions ‘last man’ if and when he gets the ball). When your team is under pressure it’s important that this player takes up a position where he is at least able to make life difficult for the opposition when the long ball gets played out. This means working across the width of the pitch depending on where the ball is in order to offer up the option of a ball being played down the line.

COMMUNICATION

Have a ‘talker,’ preferably someone at the back with a full view of everything. Ideally, the keeper is best placed to do this as they really can see everything, but if they aren’t the loudest or the most talkative, it is probably best being a defensive outfield player. The nominated player needs to be talking almost non-stop, keeping players on their toes and letting them know where the opposition players are going, who should be picking up who, and generally encouraging their players to keep going. Individually everyone needs to be talking to each other as well, it maybe that you need to ‘hand a player over’ to one of your team mates while you go and pick up someone else. Make sure you tell your team mates what you’re doing, otherwise it looks like you’re just going for a wander!

BE SUPPORTIVE

I’m not sure I’ve ever known any player get considerably better by having his team mates giving him a load of grief every time he gives the ball away. You’re all part of the same team and should all want the same thing. The early days are likely to be the most difficult, and also the time where players decide it might not be for them, so treat these early games as the learning curves they are, be positive and support each other when players make mistakes, and remember the chances are that the team you’re playing against have been doing this a lot longer than you! If you’re wanting to join a league for a new season, you’re best off taking up the option of any friendlies that might come up in the meantime, so you can get the team used to the style of 6’s before the real thing kicks off!

DON’T OVERPLAY

Unless you actually have your own David Silva or Kevin De Bruyne, chances are you’re going to want to throw Pep’s philosophy out of the window in your early days. An insistence on passing the ball around at the back is likely to see you giving the ball away in dangerous areas, so as soon as you’re in trouble you’re best off sending the ball down the line or putting the ball out of play so you can regroup, rather than trying a risky back pass to your keeper. You’re much better off making yourself hard to beat in the early games, as setting up to be destructive is a lot easier than going all out to play a peak Barca style game.

DON’T GIVE UP!

The first few weeks are going to be the most difficult, and as long as you realise that before you start you should be ok. What you don’t want to do in those early weeks is let a 4-5 goal deficit turn into a 9-10 goal defeat. If you’re 4-5 goals down with 10 minutes to go, it’s fair to say that the game is lost, but with 6-a-side football requiring a very specific type of fitness, you can at least work on that fitness by keeping on going right until the final whistle.

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO ADD? ANYTHING YOU THINK WE’VE MISSED? IF SO, LET US KNOW.