(Please note – current league placings are noted in brackets – all points scores refer to current monthly score for November).
As you will all know, there are no ‘easy’ cup games and anything can happen! Yes, there are games that ‘should’ be won – we would expect Chelsea to comfortably beat Stoke in any game, but seemingly it’s not always that easy. So it goes in our own cup. We would expect top of the league to have an easy time right? Well it happens that the current league leader isn’t having too bad a time in the cup. Lester (1st) is currently beating Allan Tomkins (54th) by 28 points so does look relatively safe going into gameweek 14, the final week of November, the final week of the first round of the FFUK Cup!
But not everyone is safe by any means, and there are some cheeky fixtures going into the last stage of the round.
My personal favourite has to be Olly Wimshurst (55th) v David Smith (51st). You’d think with their league placings this would be a tight match and it certainly is! Currently Olly is on 80 points to David’s 78. Pretty tight hey?
Well, to put these scores in perspective Andy Faulkner (33rd) is playing Lee Macnamara (77th). Both Andy and Lee are having a cracking month so are fighting eachother at 139 points for Andy and 127 for Lee. So while Andy and Lee are gaining massively in the league they’re still having a pretty tough cup match. On the other hand Olly and David are having an awful time of it while the cup spot is still free to the best team. In fact, somewhat surprisingly Olly stands 106th for the month of November and David is 111th for the month. You couldn’t write it. I am sure there will be some seriously good scores for November getting knocked out while the likes of Olly or David will go through even though they’re struggling to string a few passes together, let alone having a shot.
And there are a wealth of tight match ups going through the league.
The only head to head going into the gameweek is Robert Browne (30th) v Jim Whitley (46th), currently both on 109 points. I quite fancy the match up of Cox (15th) v Hannigan (7th). Two strong teams at the top of the table who are still getting in results. Currently the margin here sits at 6 points, with Matt on 116 to Duncan’s 110. We wish you both luck. Tarbox (14th) v Stewart (44th) is an interesting one (Neil Stewart is last season’s league winner, and FFUK Cup semi-finalist); currently Mark sits on 109 v Neil’s 104.
I wasn’t aware until now but in fact, last season’s winner and runner up actually got drawn together in the first round. Who knew? So Mark Leathem (16th) who won last year has been battling it out with runner up Vivaek (10th) quite under the radar. As it stands, Mark is leading Vivaek by 14 points (124 v 110), so a single captaincy choice or a couple of clean sheets could make all the difference. That’s some FFUKing quality at play right there, and it’s only November!
Asides of Andy and Lee’s high scoring bout, Yabah Turnbull (24th) vs Sam Blakey (16th) also looks a bit tasty. Yabah currently leads the November scores with 157 points for the month, while Sam doesn’t look too shabby with 140 points. That should be a good one to watch this weekend.
The biggest points gap is Graeme Letts (48th) v James Sheridan (69th). Graeme leads by a whopping 51 points which is going to be a tough ask for Jimmy to surpass.
Finally I should mention a big fixture for me. My own draw (8th) was v Mark Turnbull (5th). Admittedly I wasn’t in the Top Ten at the start of November but it’s starting to look even tougher now. There wasn’t much to separate Mark and I last weekend, but goals from Watford and Liverpool snatching Mark’s clean sheets was a lifesaver for me. GW12 are scores sat at 45 to 50 and last week my 84 played Mark’s 71, minus a cheeky hit for me to bring Kane in. We go into the weekend with 9 points separating us so neither of us can afford any hits or any slip ups. And I did my transfer early too. So here’s hoping Aguero doesn’t get injured midweek!
After next week we will collate the results from the first round of the FFUK Cup and also making the draw for the first round of the Challenge Cup. At least any losers in the FFUK Cup will get another chance and those that have been waiting can enjoy the start of the Challenge Cup, and the fun begins all over again!
I’m sweating.
For up to date scores for all the FFUK Cup ties please check the FFUK cup tab!
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