FFUK CUP UPDATE – TOUGH AT THE TOP

Well that’s it boys and girls, the last sixteen round of the FFUK Cup has now been played out, January is over and while some are planning for a quarter final others, like me, are now giving 100% focus to the league. Quite right too.

Tough at the Top

We’ll start at the start, the FFUK Cup, and why I’ve titled this article ‘Tough at the Top’. Is it because I want to give you a link to an old E-Z Rollers track? Yes. But it’s also because it is tough at the top. Some of the third-round FFUK Cup fixtures were played out in the lower echelons of the league but when fixtures were decided back at the end of December, two matched players sat in 1^st and 3^rd place in the league. Hardcore. In the end Toby Glicher (3^rd) beat Mark Turnbull (1^st) by a mere 16 points. Was this a tight fixture? Maybe. It’s certainly one of a number of fixtures battered by a terrible January as far as FPL goes.

Lester Deeble

Sitting in 2^nd place at the start of January, anyone would’ve thought it would be an easy ride for Lester Deeble (7^th), but for some unknown reason Lester decided to go on holiday mid-way through January. No one I have spoken to (which aint many) can understand this notion. Surely Fantasy Football is more important than everything else? If I ended up in a gutter, alone, distinctly smelling of wee but I’d had a great weekend in FPL then of course I would be as happy as a pig in sh*t. I wouldn’t be far away from that image at all of course but as far as fantasy football goes I’d be a God. For a week at least. I plan to have a word with Lester at some point and point out that all normal people these days only go on holiday in the Summer, or at least during an international break, its not just logical, its sane. As it happened Lester was left beaten by fate, any of a few flips would have meant he went through in the cup but alas, c’est la vie. For anyone like me who wants to share in Lester’s pain let me tell you that if Willian had got his shot in the back of the net in the latter stages of the match against Arsenal that would have been enough. Painful. If Lester had made a different captain, same. How about this? If Lester hadn’t made any transfers? He would have gone through. Lester’s tie against Euan Philips (46^th) came down to just 5 points. Fair play Euan, and seriously Lester, I was gunning for you from the moment I woke up on Sunday morning. Don’t worry, I’m not in the cup either, but I’ll be back and fighting like a bitch next year.

Elsewhere

Elsewhere Donald Macauley (up to 6^th!) smashed it against Yabah Turnbull (13^th) by 55 points, by far the biggest lead and surprising considering Yabah’s December form. Well done Donald, your gambles most certainly paid off. FFUK veteran Tim McEwan (36^th) fell to David Smith (32^nd) by 32 points despite seeing some recent form in the league. I have my eye closely on the likes of Tim, can you see my binoculars? Rrrrrr. Paul Baker gave a solid performance versus Marc Speer, winning by 21 points, I have to say Baker’s consistency is an inspiration this season. Another of the fallen who is Scott Volker (21^st). I’m happy to be back above you in the league Scott though disappointed you’re not still flying the flag in the FFUK Cup. Scott lost to Nick Verardi (50^th) by a decent 44 points. Congrats Nick. A bit of a turnaround occurred in the match between Matt Cox (10^th) and Graeme Letts (69^th), Matt actually started the final week of January behind Graeme but a flourish at the end courtesy of Alli, Dawson, Deeney and Kane et al served Matt well. The final fixture saw Marcus Blowers (44^th) defeat Tom Wollin (53^rd) by 23 points. A decent win, I feel for you Tom.

The next round

This means the quarter finals of the FFUK Cup is a diverse line up which we hope is partly due to playing the Cup with an initial draw. The Quarter finals line up as follows:

1. Toby Glicher (3^rd) v David Smith (32^nd)
2. Matthew Cox (10^th) v Nick Verardi (50^th)
3. Paul Baker (4^th) v Marcus Blowers (44^th)
4. Euan Philips (46th) v Donald Macauley (6^th)

So as you can see, there is a Top Ten player in each of the rounds while all of the other contenders fall in the latter part of the Top 50. Nevertheless, it just shows how worthwhile it all is, almost all of those contenders beat players higher in the league to get through.

All that’s left to say is…. BRING ON THE QUARTERS!!!!