This year's Championships are being held in Richmond, British Columbia from Saturday 4 March to Sunday 12 March. Richmond is the home of Vancouver Airport and interestingly (to me anyways) over half of the residents identify as Chinese.

The competing teams in the Fours event are Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Norway, Scotland, Sweden and United States.

Scotland is represented by Gregor Ewan (4th and Vice-Skip), Hugh Nibloe (3rd and Skip) Gary Logan (2nd) and Joanna Butterfield with Alternate Meggan Dawson-Farrell. They will play Korea and United States on Saturday, then Sweden and Denmark on Sunday.

Briefly, the format is that the top six teams after the round robin advance to the play-off stage, where the teams ranked first and second progress directly to the Semi-finals. The third-ranked team will play the sixth-ranked team in one qualification game, while the fourth-ranked team will meet the fifth-ranked team in the other qualification game with the winners going into the Semi-finals.

Running concurrently with the Fours event is the Mixed Doubles event and the teams are split into two groups. Group A is China, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Scotland, Slovakia, Switzerland and United States with Group B consisting of Canada, Denmark, England, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia and Sweden.

Scotland's Double is Charlotte McKenna and David Melrose and England is represented by Stewart Pimblett and Rosemary Lenton.

Scotland play Hungary on Saturday and China on Sunday. England are up against Italy on Saturday, then Latvia on Sunday.

The top teams of each group progress directly to the Semi-finals. The teams ranked second and third in each group play in qualification games for the other Semi-final places.

Aldershot 0-2 Torquay
Bromley 0-5 Notts County
Dag & Red 2-2 York
Dorking 1-4 Halifax
Gateshead 1-2 Chesterfield
Oldham 1-1 Boreham Wood
Scunthorpe 1-4 Eastleigh
Solihull Moors 2-1 Maidstone United
Wealdstone 1-3 Altrincham
Yeovil 0-0 Woking
Maidenhead United 3-2 Wrexham

League Table After Matchday 45
Devon - 801
St Charles Owl - 757
Lord Snoots - 729
SaltergateBorn - 723
Spireitematt - 700
Dancing - 661
Amelia - 612

Premier League

Sanjay      28pts 4CS 8CR 5GB 3BB 0SB
Zinman    28pts 3CS 7CR 10GB 3BB 1SB
Minizin      27pts 2CS 8CR 10GB 3BB 0SB
Derby        21pts 1CS 7CR 5GB 6BB 0SB
SCO          19pts 1CS 6CR 5GB 6BB 0SB
Stairs        17pts 2CS 8CR 0GB -3BB 0SB
Blue          14pts 1CS 6CR 5GB -3BB 0SB
Snooty        4pts 0CS 3CR -3GB 3BB 0SB

Well, my brand new abacus was certainly given a good work out this week as the Premiership recorded their highest score of the season by some distance - 43 points more than the previous high and braking the 100 point barrier for just the 3rd time. I must try to pick some harder games in future! Only 1 player got the gamball wrong, probably the best ever bonus week with only 2 negatives though the scoreball proved tough with only 1 player good enough to score on it (modesty forbids me etc etc). oddly, given the high scores, one fixture returned negative points as nobody predicted that Everton would lose against Villa - wishful thinking getting the better of us?

The top 4 all secured their highest points total of the season with Sanjay and Zinman sharing top spot with 28 points. Sanjay scored on 8 games with a magnificent 4 correct scores though unfortunately those didn't include his balls. Zin secured a gamball maximum among his full set of balls and 7 correct results. Minizin matched Sanjay's 8 correct results and Zinman's bonus maximum too sit just a point back in 3rd place.

21 points would normally be an exceptional score but Derby will lose ground at the top of the table despite his best score of the season! He fell short of the top 3 due to only getting 1 correct score, though he was helped by that being his bonus. SCO had a better week - his 2nd best so far - just failing to hit 20 points and Stairs will be regretting his no gamball policy as his reluctance to play it cost him 6 points.

There have been several weeks when 14 points would secure top spot but this week it sees Blue sitting in 7th. He was let down by his bonus selection and failure to turn more than 1 of his correct results into correct scores.

And then there was Snooty, left adrift at the foot of the table as the only player not to secure a correct score, missing out on the gamball and getting the week's low of just 3 correct results. At least 1 of those was the bonus to put him positive.

Minizin 247
Zinman 233
Derby 231
Stairs 220
Blue Baggie 186
Sanjay 183
Snooty 182
SCO 172

A few positional changes after this week's high scores. Minizin remains top but Zinman moves ahead of Derby into 2nd. Blue and Sanjay take advantage of Lord Snooty's bad week to climb a place with Snooty dropping into the relegation places. SCO remains firmly at the foot of the table.

A ball round up. Just 3 players are showing negative scores from the gamball as Derby, Zinman and Minizin remain the biggest beneficiaries from it. Bonuses remain a problem, adding just 24 to the total points scored so far with Stairs still the biggest struggler - it has so far cost him 24 points. Outliers on the scoreball are Sanjay and Blue who have nailed this ball just 8 times - 7 behind Derby and Snooty.
 
Zin


Championship

Lady Jane 23pts 2CS 4CR 10GB 3BB 0SB
BBB 23pts 2CS 4CR 10GB 3BB 0SB
BaggieOne 19pts 1CS 5CR 5GB 3BB 1SB
AAA 18pts 2CS 4CR NPGB 6BB 0SB
Themaclad 10pts 2CS 2CR -3GB 3BB 0SB
Dingle 8pts 0CS 5CR -3GB 3BB 0SB
Twerton 6pts 0CS 4CR -3GB 3BB 0SB
Amelia 6pts 0CS 4CR -3GB 3BB 0SB

I am sincerely sorry for the delay in getting this posted.  Been a crazy week traveling around the US for work and just wasn't able to find the time to get this done!!

Well this week the Championship set a new record total score of 113 points!!  Helps when we get two maximums on the Gamball but in particular the fact that everyone scored positive points on the Bonus for the first week this season boosted the points.  Leading the way, both with a personal season high score this week are Lady Jane and BBB, with 23 points.  They both got there in identical ways scoring maximums on the Gamball, CRs on the Bonus and scoring on 6 games.  Third spot goes to BaggieOne with 19 points, he also scored on 6 games but crucially the difference between him and the top 2 was he only got a CR on the Gamball.  He was the only player this week to score a point on the Scoreball through, with 8 of the 10 games having one team not scoring its no surprise he was the only one!!

AAA was 4th with 18 points, he wisely bottled the Gamball but did pick up a maximum on the Gamball.  Themaclad ended with 10 points, he missed on the Gamball but did get 2 CSs.  Dingle had a poor week by his standards with 8 points, he missed the Gamball and while he scored on 5 games he wasn't able to convert any of them into CSs.  Twerton and Amelia both finished on 6 points, down by not getting and CSs like Dingle and missing on the Gamball.

256 Dingle
251 Lady Jane
241 BaggieOne
220 AAA
206 BBB
170 Themaclad
151 Twerton
144 Amelia

No positional changes but it is suddenly a lot tighter for the promotion places. LJ by scoring 15 points more than Dingle has closed the gap at the top to just 5 points and BaggieOne is only 10 points behind her!!  A seemingly set order has now become a tight race!  AAA needs to step it up if he wants to catch the top 3, as does BBB.  Themaclad, Twerton and Amelia are all essentially playing for pride at this point!!

Cheers
SCO

League Two side Colchester United have appointed former Charlton Athletic boss Ben Garner as their new head coach.

The 42-year-old succeeds Matt Bloomfield, who left the U's last week to take the helm of League One side Wycombe Wanderers.

Garner will take charge of the club after Saturday's game against Bradford.

He worked in League Two last season as Swindon Town boss before leaving in June for Charlton, where he lasted just six months.

Garner was sacked by the Addicks in December, with the London side 17th in League One table after collecting just two points in his final five games in charge.

The length of Garner's deal at Colchester has not been disclosed, but his first game will be at home to Stockport County on Saturday, 11 March.

The former Bristol Rovers boss takes over a U's side that are 19th in the table and nine points clear of the relegation places.

'Taking the U's job at a good time'
Garner says he sees "real potential" at Colchester, a side that was helped up the table by rookie boss Bloomfield.

"A big attraction for me was the structure in place and the vision moving forward," Garner told the club website. "I can't wait to get started and am looking forward to the opportunity.

"I think there is real potential. I think I'm taking the job at a real good time and right time in order for us all to move the club in the direction we want to go.

"This season is about making sure we stay in the division and making sure we are solid for next year, then it's about looking forward.

"We will be looking to improve things for next season, and will start working on that now - looking ahead to recruitment and where we want to take the squad. I think it will be exciting."

Caretaker manager Ross Embleton will remain in charge for this weekend's game against the Bantams, with Garner there to "observe".

Garner will then take training for the first time next week, by which time the U's say "it is expected that additional staff will have joined" the new head coach.

LAST TIME OUT



FORM GUIDE

Watford 8 PNE 7

https://www.watfordfc.com/

https://wfcforums.com/index.php?forums/t...-chat.128/

https://www.not606.com/forums/watford.57/

Manager

Slaven Bilić (pronounced [slǎʋen bǐːlitɕ];[2][3] born 11 September 1968) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. He is the current manager of EFL Championship side Watford.

Bilić, who played as a defender, began his career in 1988 with his hometown club Hajduk Split, later having successful spells with Karlsruher SC in Germany, and West Ham United and Everton in England before retiring from active football in 2001. At the international level, Bilić served as one of Croatia's most consistent defenders during the tenure of coach Miroslav Blažević, earning 44 caps between 1992 and 1999, and playing in UEFA Euro 1996 and the 1998 FIFA World Cup, helping the team to the third place at the latter tournament.

Following his playing retirement in 2001 at Hajduk Split, Bilić coached the team in the second half of the 2001–02 season. Between 2004 and 2006, he managed the Croatia national under-21 team before taking over the senior national side. He led the team to the quarter-finals of the 2008 European Championship and left after the next edition four years later. He was praised for his long-standing service to the national side and credited with successfully overseeing the introduction of a series of young players from the under-21 squad to the senior side.[4][5] He left for the Russian club Lokomotiv Moscow in 2012 and then spent two years apiece managing Turkish club Beşiktaş and West Ham United. During the 2018–19 season he was the head coach of Al-Ittihad, and on 13 June 2019 he became the manager of West Bromwich Albion. After this he became manager of Chinese team Beijing Guoan, before becoming manager of Watford in 2022.

Musical Connection to Dave Whelan tenuous in the extreme

But here we go

Elton John also known as Reg Dwight previously a director of Watford his cousin was Roy Dwight who scored for Forest in the 1959 Cup Final before being carried off with a broken leg llater in the game, Dave Whelan played in the cup final a year later for some crap club in East Lancashire and also broke his leg apparently, a fact Whelan rarely mentions in interviews.
Elton wrote a song called I'm still standing about not breaking his leg

Well this is another one of those challenging matches on an artificial pitch that fills me with great trepidation esp after a stable period of results in the past six fixtures. Hibs will no doubt attract a big support to Livingston and here's hoping Johnson chooses an appropriate starting line up with players who can play effectively on this surface and hopefully win this match. Kevin Nisbet could be fit to start although I'd utter caution re starting him on this pitch. C'mon Hibs. Lets keep this positive momentum going for as long as poss.

GGTTH

Gateshead have been deducted one point by the National League for fielding an ineligible player.

The deduction sees the Heed slip back into the fifth-tier relegation zone.

The National League said in a statement that the player had featured in a game despite being suspended, and also fined the club £750.

In a statement Gateshead said "substantial" mitigation had been put to the league in their defence, but they have accepted the decision.

They also said the breach was made because of an "administrative error".

Meanwhile, National League South side Welling have also been deducted one point after failing to ensure a player had international clearance.

The Wings remain in 15th in the sixth tier.

A winding-up petition against Southend United has been dismissed by a judge after the club paid £1.4m owed to HM Revenue & Customs.

Southend said on Tuesday that the debt had been cleared and the club also had new "funds as working capital".

The Shrimpers have faced a series of winding-up petitions in recent years, and the previous one was dismissed in January 2020.

Southend are in seventh place in the National League table.

The club were founded in 1906 and have been based at Roots Hall for 68 years.

In a brief hearing at the Insolvency and Companies Court, a lawyer representing HMRC confirmed the outstanding money had been paid.

Judge Sally Barber then dismissed the petition.

Southend chairman Ron Martin vowed earlier this month that he would not let the club be wound-up and insisted the future will be "bright" when they move from Roots Hall to a new site at Fossetts Farm.

However, supporters' groups began exploratory work about setting up a 'phoenix club' in case the HMRC payment was not made in time for Wednesday's hearing.

Martin bought the club for £4m almost 25 years ago but has been the target of several protest by fans in recent years.

Southend fans protest against owner Ron Martin
Southend fans have staged a series of protests in recent seasons
Last autumn, the club revised its plans, reducing the capacity at the new stadium from 21,000 to 16,226.

Chief executive Tom Lawrence said in January that the club hoped building work could commence "before the second quarter" of 2023.

They do, however, have an annual funding gap of £2m and had been seeking bridging finance, thought to be £5m, to clear the HMRC debt and move the club forwards.