A quicker and more timely turnaround this time thanks to a day off work to sleep, relax and get ready to watch my own team light up the sky coverage on a Monday evening. Anyway, the Scout Leagues are what we are here for so let’s see who made the big moves up the ladder courtesy of Frank Lampard’s little resurgence…
Fantasy Football Scout League (Fantasy Premier League)
First. Again. Pretty much all that needs to be said really, we continue to be the folks everyone else is looking to topple, and hopefully we can keep this kind of form rolling along into the winter months, maybe even open up a nice gap. Joe Lewis has nabbed the top spot of the table once more after a few weeks separation, a very commendable score of 64 points was enough to sway it (powered by captain Lampard), and despite the fact Sorensen was taken ill and Almunia spent the weekend watching on from the pine at Upton Park. Our closest regular posters this week are Warlock and ShipstonTrevsitting in 10th and 11th place respectively.
Fantasy Football Scout League (Can You Kick It)
Over in Can You Kick It game, the Scout League continues to sit on top. Like a broken record, I seem to be saying it each week… but it’s good news so I love to do so. Paul Whittaker also continues in his constant reign in this game, with a comfortable 18 point gap over closest rival djman102 it’ll (probably) be some while yet until that changes. There are a few other regulars keeping their tails up too, as Feanor rose to sixth place with a very decent 61 points. I doubt too many folks can match his 3 clean sheets, plus if he had captained Mr. Lampard, he’d be the one in second place right now. Little Lukin continues his fight climbing to eigth spot and jms has also be charging up the table in recent weeks to now be up to tenth place.
Jimi only managed to hold on to top spot for only one week after a 64-47 crushing by my colleague Greek Fan, captain Frank Lampard once again the main difference in this tie. BP FC snatches back the top spot after also utilising Lampard in a win over Seal. Continuing his slow climb up the table this past week was Seanigula who managed to sneak victory with only a modest return of 41 points. He came up against Granville and his 33 points; a serendipitous draw as he would have only been able to beat three of his rivals with his score this week. Site editor Mark stayed in 11th place but managed to sneak the closest tie of the weekend against Bestparamedic by just 3 points. Oh and I won again, to finally get my points tally into double figures.
JWF has kept his hands firmly on the top spot of our second Head to Head league after a cakewalk of a victory over Fran this week, his 67 points were insurmountable for most foes but almost managed to double the points scored by his opponent this time around. Top beating bottom perhaps, not the most surprising thing by all accounts. Talking of the bottom of the table, Don Corleone finally got the bit of luck he’s been waiting for. By captaining Drogba over Fabregas, he earned four extra points and a victory of such slender margins over his opponent Roysbrotherjohnson. The “arm around the shoulder” award this week goes to my own colleague Superior Being. Now most of us would be more than happy with a 70 point return, but having scored the third best score in our Head to Head leagues this weekend, he must be a little sore in facing Monstery who was 1/100 and amassed 73 points himself this week. Well done Monstery, but as we are tied to competing in our own mini-league, personally I hope you don’t keep this kind of form for much longer.
djman102 keeps his good form up not only in CYKI, but also in his Head to Head league. This week he won out with a relatively low scoring victory over Higgo (47-41). Clean sheets for Liverpool and Stoke were amongst the main deciding points in this tie. Only three points back in the table, both Pure Olivia and Little Lukin (another CYKI star) chalked up victories to keep the pressure on for the top spot. Little Lukin did particularly well by notching up 72 points (second best out of our 100 restricted entry managers) to breeze past his opponent Defoe Rules.
No alarms and no surprises in our fourth Head to Head table, all of last weeks top three managed to walk away victorious once more. This means that Stengo stays top of the league after taking down JN and his team The Monsters with his mighty armoury of Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba. In the middle of the table tabfitz managed to climb up to 11th place with a low scoring victory over Chris Jones. Even without the advantage of a 12 point hit, his 42 points would have just been enough to secure his fifth win of the season. Starting to claw his way back from his spot at the bottom of the table, Uncle Ben also managed to get his second victory of the season. They remain bottom for now, but another victory next week could bring that right around with a chance to move up the ranks.
Atop of the last of our select entry Head to Head leagues is a familiar face – that of matzi11a. He won his Head to Head over Juha Hornborg by 10 points in a 43-33 fight-out. After cruising to victory over Peter Hwang this week, biting at the heels of our leader separated only by overall ranking is the persistent Captain Keg and his team of invincibles. With both managers facing low level opposition next weekend, one would expect another victory might be on the cards, but even as our own Premier League has shown – no opponent should be taken lightly. I’m sure that anton deco and tellithowitis will be looking to turn it around with a scalp over the two pacesetters. Last week’s bottom placed manager (Rusty Wheel) managed to overcome the aforementioned tellithowitis, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m reporting a similar upset this time next week.
Not much change to be reported at the top of the Reserve League, as mentioned before now it no longer takes a 100% record to be on top, but BKR (in second place) and current leader Duncan Burman, are still doing masterfully well with 9 victories and only 1 draw so far this season. As I avert my eyes down through the Reserve League today, I can see that RafaMC is currently sitting on 24 points and in 25th spot – 71 points this week was more than enough to win his Head to Head and make a charge for promotion to next year’s ranks.
On a slight league tangent, congratulations must also go out to eriksson who became the winner of our first paid entry Last Man Standing competition which we set up in conjunction with our friends at Paddy Power just before the season started. In our free entry tournament, also set up just a couple of weeks ago, we are experiencing massive levels of attrition already, thanks to the likes of Everton, Man City, Arsenal & Spurs (amongst others) losing matches many would not have expected – 397 entrants has already whittled down to 112 in the space of a mere 2 week spell – now that is massive loss, so those of you remaining keep your wits about you – there’s £500 up for grabs.
Our first double gameweek is coming around the block then, I imagine many managers will be chock full of Aston Villa players in particular, hoping they can propel them up the leagues over the regular ‘less observant’ managers. I’m not sold on it myself, it might be to my own detriment but I see Carlton Cole as the only viable option. Let us wait and see what goes down then next week, I’m likely to be proved wrong if the often mentioned James Miner comes close to doing something – will he earn you that all important Head to Head victory?