Well, the Chelsea fans tried to own our "Liquidator" song.
Hope it's not an omen to haunt them if they all have to start supporting Fulham or Brentford.

Altrincham 0-3 Chesterfield
Eastleigh 2-2 Dag & Red
Grimsby 1-2 Solihull Moors
King's Lynn 1-0 Stockport
Maidenhead United 0-2 Southend
Notts County 1-0 Boreham Wood
Torquay 2-1 Aldershot
Woking 1-2 Weymouth
Wrexham 1-1 Halifax
Yeovil 2-1 Bromley


League Table After Matchday 47

Devon = 490
Lord Snoots = 490
Amelia = 474
St Charles = 464
Dancing = 454
Spireitematt = 416

This year's Championships have already started in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada with Scotland back to being independent.

Unfortunately, this year's team are very inexperienced at World level and has definitely lowered expectations from curling followers. The Women are Rebecca Morrison (Skip), Gina Aitken (Vice-Skip), Sophie Sinclair (2nd), Sophie Jackson (Lead) and Fay Henderson (Alternate). Only the 2 Sophies have played at World level before.

To make matters worse, Rebecca Morrison and Fay Henderson have both tested positive for Covid on the eve of the event and Beth Farmer has been called up to play at the last minute. Being forced to play defending champions Switzerland in their 1st game with only 3 players proved too difficult for the Scots, who lost 1-12 against the ruthless Swiss.

In their next game, still with only 3 players, Scotland faced Czech Republic who also had an eventful time, thanks to their last-minute participation following the RCF being ruled out after a "special sporting operation" by World Curling. It was a much more competitive game, but still a loss by 9-10.  Hopefully, Beth Farmer will arrive in time to play in the remaining games, the first of which will be against Denmark at 02.00 tomorrow.

Then they play Japan at 16.00 tomorrow and Sweden at 02.00 on Tuesday.  There will be no easy games for the Scots and it will prove to be a steep learning curve.

2 points for a correct result
4 points for a correct score
2 points for each correct scorer
Correct joker doubles your score      
Wrong joker result gives you minus 2
Correct Random Badger gives you 2 points

The random badger is used for any random prediction used once in each matchday sequence. For instance, a scorer at a particular match, the number of red cards in the matches or yellow cards or own goals or owt you want really within reason, I do need to be able to check whether it's correct or not. Please don't put stuff like....."Commentator says...."  
The joker   is played for one match in each sequence and if correct you get double points. So if you've predicted 1-0 and it finishes 2-0, you get 4 pts, but if you've predicted 2-0, that's 8 pts. But if you get it wrong, it's minus 2.
Jokers and badgers are optional. You don't have to play one if you don't want.


Cup games:
In the event of a draw, it's half the points if you've predicted a draw when it gets to 90 mins and the full points if it's still a draw after extra time. Half the points will be awarded for correctly predicting the winner of the match if it goes to penalties. Similarly with the badger, if your random prediction is affected by this, it'll be half the points.

Random score generator: I will be using the random score generator again for those who miss predicting, so we shouldn't get some people too far behind that after missing a couple of weeks they lose all interest, because I know it's not easy getting on here every week.
To be fair to everybody, this is going to be like, say if three people in one week miss their predictions, the first one in the table will be given all 0-0, the second one down the line will get 1-0 and the third will get 0-1 and so on, like if there's four missing the 4th will get 1-1, then 5th 2-1, 6th 1-2. and if there are so many missing, might as well pack in.
And if you miss two weeks on the trot, I'll stop until you come back on again. Not doing it for half a season like I did t'other year.  

NEW FOR THIS SEASON: End of season Play Offs.

The one who finishes top of the league will still be champion, but after the season finishes there will be Play Offs between the top 4, with 1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd. This will take in stuff like the EFL Play Offs, FA Cup Final, final day of Prima Donna League, European Finals etc. It will be one matchday for the semis and one for the Final. It will be the individual scores for each matchday against the allotted opponent, with some kind of tie breaker for a drawn match.
So last season's matches would've been Baggiebob(BBB) v theo_luddite and jjamez v St Charles Owl and would've given a bit more to play for towards the back end of the season.
The prize for winning will be enormous. Another rep point.

We now have an Appeals Committee set up, consisting of me, myself and I. All appeals must be made before the next Matchday kicks off.

The World Cup qualifiers are one leg matches, with a winner on the night.

Thursday 24th March:
World Cup Qualifier Play Offs:
Italy v North Macedonia
Portugal v Turkey
Sweden v Czech Republic
Wales v Austria

Friendlies:
Scotland v Poland

Friday 25th March:
Luxembourg v Northern Ireland

Saturday 26th March:
England v Switzerland (17:30)
England scorers:

Tuesday 29th March:
England v Ivory Coast
England scorers:

Northern Ireland v Hungary

Bonus matches:
Saturday:
League One:
Sheffield Wednesday v Cheltenham Town

League Two:
Bradford City v Newport County
Scunthorpe United v Harrogate Town

Table after Matchday 34:

1. Baggiebob(BBB) = 827 pts
   
2. jjamez = 784 pts
   
3. St Charles Owl = 767 pts
   
4. theo_luddite = 751 pts
   
5. themaclad = 741 pts
   
6. Lord Snooty = 736 pts
   
7. neonfoxinthebox = 719 pts
   
8. SHEP_HTAFC = 674 pts
   
9. ritchiebaby = 652 pts
   
10. WakeyTerrier = 603 pts
    
11. Amelia Chaffinch = 582 pts

Premier League

Sanjay 17pts 1CS 6CR 0GB 9BB 0SB
Derby 15pts 2CS 5CR 5GB 0BB 0SB
Snooty 15pts 1CS 4CR 5GB 3BB 1SB
Minizin 10pts 1CS 4CR 0GB 3BB 1SB
Silver 10pts 1CS 4CR -3GB 6BB 1SB
SCO 8pts 0CS 4CR -3GB 6BB 1SB
BaggieOne 5pts 0CS 3CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
BBB 4pts 2CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 0SB

Sanjay's fine recent form continued this week - that's now double figure scores in 8 out the last 10 weeks - as he once again topped the table with the week's high of 6 correct result predictions. He was helped by good use of his bonus balls but he did miss out on 3 extra points by not playing his gamball. Derby's sojourn in Nepal hasn't seemed to affect his form as he took second place and will increase his overall lead. He was helped by ggetting one of only two Gamball scores though he was let down by his choice of the extra bonus . Snooty, the other player to be Gamball positive (there's probably a pill for it) matched Derby's 15 points and was the only player to score on all 3 balls.

Minizin and Silver both scored 10 points - Mini also got the gamball result right but, guess what, didn't play it and his correct score was one of his bonuses though he got the other one wrong. Silver lost out on the gamball but made up for it with a maximum bonus. SCO and BaggieOne failed to secure any correct scores though SCO was helped by his bonuses while BBB matched Sanjay's 2 correct scores but had a 'mare with his balls to sit at the foot of the table.

Derby 291
Sanjay 265
Silver 262
SCO246
Minizin 245
BBB 243
Snooty 228
BaggieOne 197
AAA 79

Derby is approaching the 300 point mark as he looks a good bet for thhis year's title. Behind him Sanjay and Silver swopped places and this pair have opened up a bit of a gap to the rest. BBB's bad week cost him 2 places with SCO and Minizin climbing above him but these 3 are separated by just 3 points so I expect more movement over the coming weeks. Snooty is valiantly trying to climb away from the relegation play-off place leaving BaggieOne somewhat marooned in 8th.

Zin


Championship

Stairs 14pts 2CS 2CR NPGB 3BB 1SB
Salop 10pts 1CS 2CR NPGB 3BB 1SB
Twerton 7pts 1CS 2CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
Dingle 7pts 1CS 2CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
Blue Baggie 6pts 2CS 2CR -3GB -3BB 0SB
Zinman 4pts 0CS 3CR NPGB -3BB 1SB
Amelia 4pts 1CS 1CR -3GB 3BB 0SB
Lady Jane 3pts 1CS 2CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Themaclad -2pts 0CS 3CR -3GB -6BB 1SB

A classic case of a Gamball that everyone thought was a cert and ended up being a complete bust!! The only players not to lose points on the Gamball were the three players who chose not to use it, and even they got the wrong result like everyone else. So leading this week of course is Stairs with 14 points, he needed this "win" to claw some of the gap back on Blue at the top of the table. His partner in crime in terms of not playing the Gamball Salop was second with 10 points, crucial in his push for the PO place. Twerton and DD share 3rd place with 7 points. Twerton continues his resurgence and Dingle continues his fine recent form.

Blue is 5th with 6 points, he got 2 CSs but also missed on all his balls to keep his score down. Zinman is 6th with 4 points, he also did not play the Gamball and it ended up saving him 3 points!! Level in 6th is Amelia, she did at least manage to get a positive result on her Bonus but not much else. Lady Jane is still in a bad run finishing 8th with 3 points and our completely our of form North Ender, Themaclad finished with -2 and is dropping down the table fast!!

275 - Blue Baggie
271 - Stairs
237 - Salop
226 - Zinman
222 - Dingle
211 - Themaclad
197 - Lady Jane
193 - Twerton
184 - Amelia

No positional changes this week. Stairs closes the gap to Blue a bit. Salop is now 11 points ahead of Zinman for the PO spot with Dingle now right on Zin's heels. Themaclad is probably now done for the PO spot he held not so long ago. Lady Jane is being caught by Twerton and Amelia is hanging in there but still in last place.

Cheers
SCO

On a lovely sunny day for a game of footie, Celtic "kicking in to top gear" and delivering a super display with Giakoumakis scoring a "hat trck" of goals and showing why Celtic/Ange signed him - he scores lotsa goals when fit and provided with the scoring opps! Four goals eventually scored, but should've been many more. Celtic improve their GD while attaining a 6 point lead in top Scot Prem position.

Town XI: O’Hara (GK), Jules, Butterworth (Camps 46’), Johnson, Biggins ©, Baggley (G. Garner 46’), Lane, Nsiala, Boyle (J.Garner 72’), Johnston, Hayes

Subs: Cairns (GK), Clarke, Pilkington, Macadam

Doncaster XI: Mitchell (GK), Knoyle, Olowu, Williams, Rowe ©, Smith, Barlow, Hiwula (Gardner 87'), Martin (Jackson 60’), Galbraith, Agard (Griffiths 13’)

Subs: Jones (GK), Younger, Clayton, Dodoo

Referee:
Paul Howard
Attendance:
3,146

Given the North End v Blackpool M55 Classico was re arranged due to a Conference in Blackpool, at a loose end today, sit on my arse all day or go to a game, so off to the land of Cod it was.
As is the want these days, cashless ground and worst of all no programmes, gloriously sunny day, but with a cold Easterly gale force wind, so ideal weather to get the shorts out for the first time this year.
Both teams needed the win so this resut did neither side a favour, could tell with an error strewn first half that neither side is brimful of confidence
A frenetic start personal view the home side were lucky not to have a player sent off in the first 20 seconds for what looked a shocker of a tackle, however the referee waved play on as Donny were on the attack. The away started the better of the twohowever lost experienced forward Agard after 10 minutes through injury, the home side gradually got into the game a couple of efforts went close, one well saved by Mitchell in the Donny goal however playing with the wind Donny looked the more dangerous although the closest they went is when they were gifted opportunities by the home side.
Early substitute Griffith presented a chance by an horrific bit of defending didn't make it hard for O'Hara to save, Martin should have done better following more defensive ineptitude but the best chance fell to Hiwula as O'Hara tried to play the ball out, the forward charged the ball down and looked to have been brought down by the keeper, nothing given although Hiwula didn't complain too much. Level at half time

Two substitutions at the break made the home side better and looked more lielier to find the net than their opponents, Biggins probably the best player on the pitch and Hayes did their best to break the deadlock, the latter having his goalbound shot tipped round the post by Mitchell
Donny relying on the breakaway had a little bit of pressure but never looked like scoring as the game drifted to the end.
Suspect these two might be playing each other again next season in League 2

Congratulations to Callum Robinson, Dara O’Shea and Jayson Molumby on being called up to the Republic of Ireland squad for the internationals the end of the month.

My only request, can we have them back in one piece this time please.