Not the best lead up to Xmas and Boxing Day this year, but lets make the most of it in the best way we can. Enjoy!!

Well it's the last fixture before the revised winter break "kicks in" and here's hoping Hibs have "turned the corner" under Shaun Maloney by picking up another 3 pts to pull away from United - an apt time to do it! Hibs have a decent record v United apart from that last horrible result v them at ER Stadium - time to get back to normal service! C'mon Hibs! Keep up the momentum, no letting up now!

GGTTH

Boxing Day football, oh yes there is
Oh no there's not

We have the Vid's absolutely nothing to do with the lads having a night out, to paraphrase King Harald after the arrow hit him the eye in 1066 Bollocks

Premier League

BBB          8pts 1CS 2CR 3BB 1SB
Minizin      5pts 0CS 2CR 3BB 0SB
Sanjay      4pts 0CS 2CR 0BB 0SB
BaggieOne 4pts 0CS 2CR 0BB 0SB
AAA          3pts 0CS 1CR 3BB 0SB
Derby        0pts 0CS 1CR -3BB 1SB
SCO          -1pt 0CS 1CR -3BB 0SB
Snooty      -1pt 0CS 1CR -3BB 0SB
Silver        -1pt 0CS 1CR -3BB 0SB

Not a huge amount to say this week given that half of the fixtures got postponed. Several balls will carry over to the next set of matches (whenever that may be) and I'll remind those affected when I post the next fixtures. Fortunately for everyone, what turned out to be the most predictable game was actually played with everyone scoring on the Leeds - Arsenal game. that single match provided 22 of this week's total points (which was 21!).

BBB made the best of the surviving matches to score 8 points. He was the only player to get a correct score and also scored from both his balls. Minizin also scored from his bonus to claim second, just a point ahead of Sanjay and BaggieOne, neither of whom had a bonus in play this week (Sanjay will carry both of his ball forward). AAA remained in positive territory due to his only correct prediction being his bonus.

A week to forget for the rest. Derby replicated the form of most of England's cricket team with a duck, but that was better than SCO, Snooty and Silver who all lost a point this week.

Derby 191
Silver 161
BBB 161
SCO 158
Minizin 135
Sanjay 120
Snooty 115
BaggieOne 110
AAA 71

As you'd expect with so few games played, there wasn't much movement in the overall lead though BBB climbed above SCO to take a share of 2nd place. Derby retained his strong position but only 3 points separate 2nd form 4th. Sanjay also broke his tie with Snooty - with the relegation positions looking tight, every point helps.


We now enter our traditional mid season/Christmas/Covid break. Happy Birthday/Christmas/Anniversary/New Year (delete as appropriate - all apply to me which explains the winter break!) to everyone. Stay safe, stay sober (Ok, maybe not) and we'll be back for the weekend of Jan 8th when we get to predict such delights as Kidderminster v Reading U23s!

Zin


Championship

Stairs          9pts 1CS 2CR NPGB 3BB NPSB
Dingle        6pts 1CS 2CR NPGB -3BB 1SB
Lady Jane    5pts 0CS 2CR NPGB 3BB NPSB
Twerton      5pts 0CS 2CR NPGB 3BB NPSB
Amelia        4pts 0CS 2CR NPGB NPBB NPSB
Salop          3pts 1CS 1CR NPGB -3BB NPSB
Blue Baggie  0pts 0CS 1CR NPGB -3BB 1SB
Zinman      -1pts 0CS 1CR NPGB -3BB NPSB
Themaclad  -3pts 0CS 0CR NPGB -3BB NPSB

Not a ton to report on this week with the Covid postponements.  Stairs leads the way on 9 points including a CR Bonus.  Dingle found some form in second with 6 points, closely followed by Lady Jan and Twerton with 5 points. 

Amelia is in 5th on 4 points but was the only player who in the end didn't use any of her balls!!  Salop ended with 3 points and Blue for the second week in a row didn't both the scorers with a zero. 

The bottom 2 are wishing all games had been postponed!!  Zinman ended on -1 and Themaclad on -3.  Themaclad didn't score positive points on any game!!

161 - Blue Baggie
155 - Stairs
153 - Lady Jane
144 - Salop
133 - Zinman
127 - Dingle
126 - Themaclad
106 - Amelia
71 - Twerton

Not a lot of change this week.  Blue sees his lead shrink again, now standing at just 6 points from Stairs who climbed back into second spot.  Lady Jane drops a place but is well in touch with those above her.  Further down the table Dingle climbed a spot back above Themaclad.

Cheers
SCO

So these are the Boxing day fixtures if they go ahead.

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

League Table After Matchday 23

Amelia = 282
Devon = 276
St Charles = 272
Dancing = 266
Lord Snoots = 264
Spireitematt = 238

Restrictions imposed for 3 weeks at all public events and an arbitrary 500 max allowed at footie stadia(?)
Celtic FC has responded by asking for a fixture reshuffle (bring some fixtures forward, change the dates!) and bring in an early winter break. I notice Saint Johnstone now affected by Covid and having to play out their next fixture. IMO it makes the whole footie league operation a farce as I reckon some Scot footie clubs are definitely "playing the system" while others are following the rules,. Totally unfair and it makes a mockery of the league operation in place. Advantage for some, disadvantage for others! I notice the same questions being raised down south.

Well it is back to league business after a huge disappointment at Hampden - another Hampden match lost. Hopefully our newly appointed manager, Shaun Maloney, and his new coaching team, can change that trend as it is becoming a tad monotonous with lotsa Hibs fans travelling through to Hampden on a rotten, cold and grey day when winning that cup would've "lifted spirits" and add an element of positivity to Hibs and the way forward in the coming weeks. At least there is a significant financial gain for the club. Lets hope Shaun Maloney can use some Hibs money and use it wisely to strengthen this team. IMO I'd like a major overhaul with a good number of players moved on as proved yesterday they were not good enough v an understrength Celtic side that didn't play particularly well yesterday either, but they were still better than Hibs. Probably the wrong time to do it extensively at this time. So the next best thing is to try to strengthen key positions that have failed the team. Anyway, onward to AFC and we'll see if the players acquire a boost on the arrival of the new manager - picking up the 3 pts on Wednesday night would be great v a Dons' side that has picked up a few decent results in the past 3-4 weeks. It would lay down a "statement of intent" as they leapfrog above the Dons and take up the 6th place in the Scot Prem. I don't think it will happen with this disappointing Hibs defence. I hope they prove me wrong. C'mon Hibs!

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football...d=msedgntp

Preceding the start of this cup final, Celtic fans hoping that their listed centre forward was gonna be Kyogo while Hibs fans were studying the lineup and looking for confirmation he was still injured and were hugely disappointed to see him actually playing!! The importance of this miraculous return can't be underestimated in the Hoops winning this match, a game that was certainly not one for any footie purist to enjoy - not the best of games, particularly in the 1st half. As for refereeing? Well critical comments and concerns were already made weeks ago when John Beaton was bizarrely confirmed to be the chosen match official and he didn't fail in confirming what a lotta critical fans more or less knew how he'd handle this match! Celtic? Dominated possession for most of the match, lost the the 1st goal to a brave header from Paul Hanlon right after HT. Then responding almost immediately with a strike from that man Kyogo albeit fortuitous - a close offside call? No ref/AR call on it and no VAR to overturn the decision. So 1-1 it is! As for the second goal? Clinical finishing personified as a Hibs defence "switched off" and Kyogo lobbing a Hibs goalie standing in "no man's land" - not a good watch from a Hibs fan's perspective and a simple question to ask is, "Who the f### coaches these players"??? Then what followed after that was a number of Hibs players confirming again that clinical finishing isn't a striking description they are familiar with - should've at least forced this match into extra-time, but missing that "killer instinct" AGAIN!!! Ange already lifting his 1st trophy after thankfully ensuring Kyogo was gonna crucially start this match.

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.

Saturday 1st January:
Sheffield United OFF Middlesbrough (12:30)
Blackpool v Hull City
Coventry City OFF Luton Town

Sunday 2nd January:
Blackburn v Town (14:00)
Town scorers:
Blackburn scorers:

Bristol City v Millwall (13:00)
Birmingham City v Queens Park Rangers (14:00)
West Bromwich Albion v Cardiff City (14:00)

Monday 3rd January:
Nottingham Forest OFF Barnsley
Reading v Derby County
Stoke City v Preston North End
Swansea City OFF Fulham
AFC Bournemouth OFF Peterborough United (19:45)

Bonus match:
Sunday:
Premier League:
Chelsea v Liverpool (16:30)

Table after Matchday 22:

1. Baggiebob(BBB) = 549 pts
   
2. jjamez = 491 pts
   
3. theo_luddite = 487 pts
   
4. Lord Snooty = 471 pts
   
5. neonfoxinthebox = 468 pts
   
6. St Charles Owl = 467 pts
   
7. themaclad = 463 pts
   
8. SHEP_HTAFC = 428 pts
   
9. WakeyTerrier = 416 pts
   
10. ritchiebaby = 401 pts
    
11. Amelia Chaffinch = 363 pts