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X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

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    Sorry, all, you'll have noticed there's been no round-up from last Thursday's OTF games. I intended to do one, but the flipping DIY task I am tackling is taking much bloody longer than I had anticipated (don't they all?). I may still manage a quick one, but don't hold your breath.

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      Originally posted by Hot Orange View Post
      Sorry, all, you'll have noticed there's been no round-up from last Thursday's OTF games. I intended to do one, but the flipping DIY task I am tackling is taking much bloody longer than I had anticipated (don't they all?). I may still manage a quick one, but don't hold your breath.
      Please don't feel obliged, all of the round ups are bonuses for me and I'm sure others feel the same.

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        That.

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          To hyperbolize for a moment, Division 3 in the Human League, specifically the future of Cornfield FC and all the hopes and dreams of a nation... all comes down to the most important matchday of all time.

          One point against (or with?) Hammerpot WFC should be enough to ensure promotion for Cornfield (currently in 2nd), unless both Queues Likely and N Haymarket Munitions manage to win and swing the goal difference in their favor. The latter two are currently only separated by goal difference for the final promotion spot. Haymarket has the better final game, playing away at Warriors of Ashra... one would think, except the win over Haymarket in the opening game is the Warriors only victory of the season.

          Either of them should be in contention - one or the other promoted - unless they both lose and Penelope Pittsburgh puts up a +7 goal difference swing against already relegated Rock River Ravens.

          FC Boifica are the team at most risk of a last day disaster, as they face Queues Likely and sit only one point above the drop zone. The team below them, Zanarkand Abes, play against already promoted and likely Div 3 champions Wolfstone Ladies FC. It should be noted that Zanarkand defeated Wolfstone in the opening match of the season.

          The aforementioned Hammerpot should be safe in Division three for another year.... unless they bottle it against Cornfield, failing to get a draw as they did in the opening round, shipping several goals, and get hopped over by Boifica and Zanarkand.
          Place Team GP W D L GF-GA Diff P
          1 17 9 5 3 32 - 19 13 32
          2 17 8 5 4 24 - 18 6 29
          3 17 8 3 6 26 - 21 5 27
          4 17 7 6 4 20 - 16 4 27
          5 17 7 3 7 15 - 17 -2 24
          6 17 6 5 6 23 - 21 2 23
          7 17 5 6 6 14 - 21 -7 21
          8 17 5 5 7 13 - 15 -2 20
          9 17 4 4 9 13 - 21 -8 16
          10 17 1 8 8 6 - 17 -11 11
          Drama.

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            I posted the above only because it is a frantic end to season, for my three teams, the only league that has one worth watching. (In my official team, over in Classic league, one team has run the table undefeated, and the 2nd place team has only lost to them. The three being relegated have a combined 17 points. And Eintracht Midwest... well... you can't win anything with kids.)

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              Queues Likely (going for a distinctly unlikely second promotion in two seasons) tactics now set and waiting.... it's going to be a long 3 hours and 22 minutes.

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                Les Sangliers are 90% likely not to get a spawny promotion to Division 1.

                No drama.

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                  No drama for Hazers either, as they've shocked me with nine successive wins to seal the division one title with a game to spare. As a reward, I get to have my first experience of struggling in the top division across any of my X11 teams.

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                    It did turn out interesting, hurray for that. Most interesting on inspection, the winner of division 3 ended up with with same amount of points - and worse goal difference - then they had the previous season, when they finished 5th.

                    Spoilers ahead: Show

                    (Bad luck to the two teams that ran up against their bogey teams on the last day)

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                      Congrats Matt

                      further spoilers: Show
                      Congratulations also to ad hoc and Bill Bones, who complete an OTF clean-sweep of the Division 1 promotion places.

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                        Well done everyone. If anyone fancies an Admin job, I’m open to offers. Not desperate to quit the job but would ideally, medium term at least.

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                          It's the sharp end of the season in the OTF too, so here we go with the...

                          OTF League roundup for 21st June: Season 63 round 16
                          Quite suddenly, the title races across three-quarters of the league are pretty much all sewn up at once with a week to go!


                          Division 3
                          D3 favourites Nieuwegein Kneebiters were, to be fair, already in that position. They looked in with a real chance of not only making the whole campaign unbeaten but finishing with 12 straight wins, after completing three straight midseason doubles then consecutively beating all three teams with whom they drew on the outward leg – leaving just three whom they’d beaten once back at the start of term. Well, that all came unstuck in spectacular fashion on Monday, when despite taking the lead at Heffron Hendecagon soon after the break the Biters took their foot off the gas too soon. The hosts found another gear and roared back with two goals in three minutes just after the hour mark from Leo Felix and Professor Slocombe, and held on to the final whistle. That ends Nieuwegein’s unbeaten record for Season 63 – the OTF League’s last one to fall – at the 16th hurdle, and overall a run that had stretched back 19 matches since a 2-0 home reverse to Andromache FC on April Fools’ Day.
                          It also denied Smallcaps’ men the title with two games left, but realistically they are still almost there with a five-point lead and six left to play for – despite Littlewoods Legends taking the fight into the final week via a 3-0 win at rebuilding bottom side Eintracht Midwest. Heffron’s win has though greatly boosted the Hendos’ own promotion chances, as they remain 3rd and three points behind the Legends (with a big clash between the two this Thursday) while three ahead of Cods of War in 4th. The Cods’ 3-1 home victory over Brian Munchingflapjack (6th) kept up the furious fishes’ (dammit!) own promotion aspirations and Wharfedale Generals (4th) remain in the hunt too after a 4-1 thrashing of Veni Vici Vigata (9th), but the Flapjacks’ outside hopes are ended. Elsewhere, in a minor subplot Pinewood Passers (8th) came from behind to win 2-1 at OWC Albion (7th) and raise their chances of overtaking Albion in the final standings.

                          Division 2

                          Another team with one-and-a-half hands on a divisional crown is die Ambosse, whose 12th victory of the season was a straightforward enough 4-0 sweep past bottom club New Dresden on Monday that left them also 5 points to the good. Steaua Bridge will keep them honest to at least the penultimate day though via a 3-0 home win over Andromache FC, netting in both the 1st and 91st minutes plus on the hour for good measure. That result leaves Andromache (8th) in deep trouble at four points adrift of Great Northern Railway (7th), whose timely 4-1 tonking of Tree Hill High (9th) at the Clump leaves them looking fairly safe but ensured THH’s relegation.
                          The interesting battle looks to be for the minor podium places. Steaua are two points ahead of Turd Division, who are now in 3rd after a key 2-1 comeback win at Wednesday de la Zouch, where an 89th-min penalty miss by Wednesday’s Boaz Benyozef meant the two sides swap positions in the table. A point behind Weds in 5th meanwhile are Wensleydale Blues, who nicked a 1-0 win at Hampshire Deers to also swap places, effectively ending the Deers’ own promotion hopes as they are now 5 points behind 3rd with two to play.

                          Division 1

                          And yet another 5-point lead with a week to go gives Croesoswallt Dragons an almost unassailable advantage too in D1 after they crushed bottom club Athletico Deva 5-0 at the Host of Trophies Past to pull well clear in front as well as confirm Deva’s relegation. Rejects Redux’s hopes of taking the title fight to the last day dimmed following a 1-1 home draw with Saltney Drawers, though it did nearly confirm their promotion as the Drawers failing to cut the gap means there is now another 5-point chasm between 3rd and 4th. Waveney Valley Swifts in 3rd are a single point behind the Rejects, and thus also almost up, after a 3-0 dispatching of FC Gloryhammer at Dundee Park. Saltney actually drop to 5th on GD behind Whoft Fluffopolis, who were another side to produce a 2-1 comeback win to take all the points from a trip to Zeugmaspor.
                          A 2-0 home win for Locomotiv Noj over The Gang Play Football means Locomotiv are just a point further back in 6th, but mathematically must be out of contention (I can’t be bothered to work out all the unlikely permutations) at 6 points and 13 goals behind the Swifts. Their penultimate game today at Zeugma (7th) is probably more significant to AE’s side, then, who are only 3 points above Gloryhammer (8th) – whom they visit in a potential relegation decider on the last day. That loss at Noj though leaves The Gang (9th) a point worse off than the Hammers, whom they host today in a fixture that could see either side or indeed both fall through the trapdoor before the final round of fixtures arrives.

                          OTF

                          The only division where top spot isn’t virtually nailed down is, as fate would have it, the highest one. And Monday saw the lead change hands in dramatic fashion, as Berkshire Swine’s 13-match unbeaten run and five-match run at the summit ended in a 92nd-minute defeat at home to Vita Mortis while Four Candles were beating bottom side Somers Town Sugar Imps 2-0 to seize back the initiative. The Swine’s momentum had been stuttering after an 8-match winning streak petered out in back-to-back 1-1s last week against both the Candles and Banik Roystonov, although admittedly the Sty Council’s 94th-min equaliser in Hertfordshire last Thursday made that one feel more like a point rescued than two dropped. Their luck ran out four days later however when, despite taking a 19th-min lead through Helmuth Seiffert, the Swine became the day's highest-profile victims of a 2-1 comeback – pegged back by Willie Cougar just after the hour, before Ernest Crompton struck a potentially fatal blow to their title hopes in stoppage time. At Hurlingham Park, first-half goals from Matteo De Angelo and Dougie MacElfrish (pen) had eased the Candles past the relegated Sugar Imps; the defending champions were already heading top even before Crompton’s late intervention at the Stef Tolsma Arena, but they are now two points clear with two to play.

                          In 3rd, Dandy Town’s hopes of sneaking up on the rails were all but snuffed by a 2-1 loss at Csiki Monkeys (5th) that left the Highwaymen still four points behind the Swine but now six off the summit. They host the Swine in their penultimate game, which could end with both clubs officially missing out on the title. The Monkeys’ win though was an important one as they pulled four clear of the dropzone prior to a big trip to 8th-placed Eriskay Expression this Thursday where a point would ensure their safety. In 4th, an improving Mortis’ last-gasp win at the Swine also effectively ensured the Reaper Men’s survival as they are now six clear of Expression, after a seven-match unbeaten run including five wins since the halfway turnaround.
                          Eriskay though blew the opportunity to jump out of the relegation places on Monday when they conceded a terrible 89th-min equaliser to visitors Great Ouse Town’s only shot of the match, having led since early in the second half. The 1-1 result thus kept them a point behind Ouse – who nonetheless themselves drop a place to 7th, due to Kernow Kensa’s vital 1-0 win at Banik Roystonov via a Dean Booker long-range effort on 73 minutes. That hauled Season 60 champs Kensa up to 6th and three points clear of the line, but Banik’s defeat coupled with that unlucky last-ditch failure to win last Thursday means Janik's side are condemned to the drop with two games to spare.
                          Last edited by Various Artist; 26-06-2021, 14:25.

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                            Good work VA; form and momentum can be irrepressible forces in X11 and so:

                            spoiler: Show
                            Congratulations Jdsx on retaining the OTF title in style, with a game to spare.

                            Comment


                              The change report is in for the Human League, how did everyone do?

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                                Queues Likely - (ignoring reserve keeper 26/0 Fara Andong) had 13 single jumps, 1 double jump (Rosemary Beads' last minute winner to seal promotion probably justified this) and poor old 25/10 forward Melaney Sniffle living up to her surname and wondering what she's done wrong not to get an extra bar (I was going to say a jump there, but in context of a Ladies league that would have sounded plain wrong).

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                                  Ignoring the Hazers reserve keeper, 10 out of 15 single jumped, no doubles. Of the non-jumpers, at least two must have been close to jumping, based on their percentages.

                                  We now have six players with skill of 14+, only two of which are over 30, which will hopefully give us a strong enough base to survive in the top flight!

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                                    9 single jumps, 1 double, 1 drop. Archdale announced her retirement, Plamínková surprisingly didn't, and Truth thankfully didn't.

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                                      Ten jumps, one double and no retirements for Les Sangliers.

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                                        Cornfield was all positives, but had no doubles and no retirements. Good news in midfield as everyone but the 30-year old got a bar. Bad news in the low-end of the 20-year olds, as the young GK (22), a DF (21), and a FW (21) are all stuck on 6 bars, meaning I'm probably going to have to unload them and find younger prospects. Unfortunate that.

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                                          No double jumps for Æthelflæd, but all the 25 and under players jumped. Trisha Wicox announced her retirement at 35, despite gaining a bar in the change report. Will maybe bring in an experienced defender before the season starts.

                                          Comment


                                            One double and 10 singles for Braceby Ladies. No retirements due, plus as the squad is at my optimum size of 16 no plans to recruit. It’s all quiet at Braceby!

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                                              A couple of doubles at Lysistrata and all the other youngsters singled. I was expecting two of my senior players to announce their retirements, but apparently not, although they both lost a bar. My midfielder who got injured towards the end of the season was on course to go up a bar but her injury saw her form plummet and consequently she hasn't jumped. Grrr.

                                              Comment


                                                Originally posted by Sits View Post
                                                Good work VA; form and momentum can be irrepressible forces in X11 and so:

                                                spoiler: Show
                                                Congratulations Jdsx on retaining the OTF title in style, with a game to spare.
                                                spoiler: Show
                                                Thanks!
                                                [/QUOTE]

                                                Comment


                                                  For Chaplizod Hornets there are 9 jumps, 2 jumps back and two retirements for the end of the season, of course Brenda Weady, our strongest midfielder will retire as well. No money for replacements, no worthy player to sell available, so next season will be a tough one.

                                                  Comment


                                                    An unspectacular Change Report for Sandringham Park – 10 single jumps, no doubles, not much of a 'feel-good atmosphere' to take into preseason. Two exits: senior defender Grace Darling-Budd as a (post-CR) 38/13 (as our all-time appearances record-holder, and having scored 4 goals in her final 2 matches!) and senior and best midfielder Charisma Bypasse-Root as a 36/14. No new retirements announced, at least.

                                                    Bobbing around in midtable yet again looks the limit of our ambitions next season, although brief scenic excursions (travel restrictions permitting) to either end of the table along the way may be possible. A six-season current spell in the Human League top flight is twice our previous longest, producing the following breathtaking sequence of sustained mediocrity:

                                                    Pos W D L F–A
                                                    5th 6 8 4 23–17
                                                    6th 6 6 6 25–23
                                                    3rd 8 6 4 21–17
                                                    7th 6 4 8 23–28
                                                    5th 7 5 6 21–17
                                                    5th 6 6 6 23–19

                                                    That unbroken run of nothing but 6s, 8s and 4s was ruined only when we went into the closing two matches of last season on a tantalising 6-4-6 yet, with the world of fair-to-middling permutations at our feet, went and had that 5th draw with Eintracht Eindhoven then foolishly beat Just Plain Random 2-1 on the (incredibly dramatic) final day. But we redeemed ourselves this season, without me even noticing it until I spied the final standings, after we drew with Lysistrata on Wednesday to log a perfectly balanced 6-6-6 once more.
                                                    Last edited by Various Artist; 26-06-2021, 14:44.

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