Boreham Wood 1-1 Aldershot Town
Chesterfield 5-0 Wealdstone
Dagenham & Redbridge 2-0 Bromley
Eastleigh 2-2 Wrexham
Grimsby Town 1-0 Weymouth
Maidenhead United 4-1 Dover Athletic
Notts County 0-0 Torquay United
Solihull Moors 5-0 Barnet
Woking 1-2 FC Halifax Town
Yeovil Town 4-0 King's Lynn Town
Southend United 2-0 Stockport County

League Table After Matchday 1

St Charles = 16
Spireitematt = 14
Amelia = 12
Dancing = 10
Devon = 4
Lord Snoots = 4

I woke up this morning singing to myself John Lennon/Plastic Ono's "Give Peace A Chance".
Couldn't get it out my head. And then I remembered the Brummie Road version (1969).
Pete "Percy" Freeman was deputising for Jeff Astle, and the Brummie Road helped settle him in by singing:-

"All we are saying......
Is give Perce a chance"



Any one-off songs/chants you recall to give us a laugh?

Premier League

BBB 27pts 2CS 8CR 10GB 3BB 0SB
SCO. 24pts 2CS 8CR 5GB 3BB 0SB
Snooty. 21pts 1CS 7CR 5GB 3BB 1SB
Derby. 21pts 1CS 7CR 5GB 3BB 1SB
Silver. 21pts 1CS 6CR 10GB 3BB 0SB
BaggieOne 20pts 1CS 7CR 5GB 3BB 0SB
Minizin. 19pts 0CS 7CR 5GB 3BB 1SB
Sanjay. 14pts 1CS 6CR 5GB -3BB 0SB
AAA. 9pts. 0CS 6CR 0GB -3BB 0SB

OK, that's the gentle introduction over. This week I'll be picking some tough games to predict because this is obviously too easy for most of you - Napa Valley 1839 v Legendas Del Guadalajara should sort you out.

So another high scoring week - well, for most players. A good week for playing the gamball, as everyone who did gained points from it (ironically, the only player not to gamble got it wrong so saved points - not that Alanis Morrissette will be adding a new verse to her song even though that's more ironic than any of the things she did include, ironically). Moving on....

Top this week is our reigning champion BBB responding to SCO's challenge from last week with an excellent 27 points helped by a gamball maximum. He scored on 8 games with 2 correct scores though did miss out on the score ball. SCO's great start continued with another 20+ score to come in second. Like BBB he scored on 8 games including the gamball and bonus with 2 correct results - just BBB's gamball maximum kept him off top again. Snooty, Derby and Silver tied for 3rd place with 21 points, Silver being the second player with a maximum gamball but only (only!) scoring on 6 matches. Snooty and derby had identical records and were also 2 of the 3 players to claim the extra score ball point.

20 points would secure top spot most weeks but is only good enough for 6th place this weekend for BaggieOne. Only his missing score ball kept him a point behind the trio ahead of him. Minizin was another to get 7 correct predictions but failed to convert any into maximums to put him down the table in 7th place - still, 19 points isn't to be sniffed at. A bit of a gap to Sanjay who was one of only 2 players to lose points on his bonus and at the bottom is AAA who failed to reach double figures. He chose not to play the gamball, saving himself 3 points and also lost on his bonus. There will be weeks when 9 points would head the table but this time leaves him well adrift at the bottom.

Overall Table
53 - SCO
41 - Silver
39 - Minizin
37 - Derby
35 - BBB
32 - Snooty
27 - Sanjay
21 - BaggieOne
16 - AAA

Early days but SCO has started at a sprint!

Zin


Championship

Twerton 18pts 1CS 5CR 5GB 3BB 0SB
Themaclad 16pts 1CS 5CR NPGB 3BB 0SB
Blue Baggie 15pts 1CS 3CR 5GB 3BB 1SB
Salop 14pts 1CS 4CR NPGB 3BB 1SB
Stairs 13pts 1CS 4CR NPGB 3BB 0SB
Dingle 13pts 0CS 4CR 5GB 3BB 1SB
Zinman 12pts 2CS 3CR NPGB -3BB 1SB
Amelia 10pts 1CS 3CR 5GB -3BB 0SB
Lady Jane 8pts 0CS 5CR -3GB 3BB 0SB

Points were a little harder to come by this week compared with Week 1 and the spread between first and last was only 10 points compared to 23 points last week. Twerton with 18 points went from last place in week 1 to first place this week and a much needed good week for him!! He was one of 4 players to get a CR on the Gamball and he backed that up with the same on the Bonus and scoring on 6 games in total. In second place and also getting a bit of redemption is Themaclad with 16 points, he didn't play the Gamball and got the score spot on costing him points, more on that later. Rounding out the top 3 is Blue Baggie who kept up his good form with 15 points, he scored on all his balls and that is a recipe for a decent score no matter what else you do.

The next three, Salop with 14 points, Stairs and Dingle with 13 points, all scored less than last week but were only a few points off the leaders so no real damage done. Salop and Stairs both didn't play their Gamball which cost them both while Dingle scored on less games but like Blue scored on all his balls.

Zinman is 7th with 12 points, a slight improvement on last week and he did manage to get 2 CSs but at this rate we will be halfway through the season before he scores 20 points!! Our resident ladies fill the bottom places this week, Amelia did improve her score and gained 10 points with a CR Gamball in there. Lady Jane drops to bottom spot with just 8 point despite scoring on 5 games, I think that will hurt her position in the first table of the season.

I mentioned earlier the points lost by players not playing the Gamball so I thought I would just give a few stats on this. So far the leaders on the Gamball are Blue Baggie and DD with 15 points each gained from it but its not those who play it that have interesting stats, its those that don't!! Stairs and Salop have so far not played the Gamball, yet both weeks they would have gained from doing so and this has cost them both 9 points in just 2 weeks!!! Themaclad also has yet to play it but got a CR this week, costing him an extra 6 points. The only non-player getting it right is Zinman, he is renowned for being truly crap with the Gamball and his inactivity in playing with that ball has saved him 6 points so far as he has, true to form, got both predictions wrong anyway!! Obviously there is a risk with the Gamball, but does the reward outscore it over a long season?? We shall keep an eye on this as we go through the season.

Stairs stays top of the table just ahead of Blue and DD. Salop is right in there as well and Themaclads good week pushed him up 2 places. Zinman stayed in 6th and Twertons table topping score pushes him up 2 places. The real loser this week is Lady Jane who dropped 3 spots and sits just 3 points above bottom placed Amelia.

39 - Stairs
37 - Blue Baggie
34 - DD
30 - Salop
26 - Themaclad
23 - Zinman
21 - Twerton
20 - Lady Jane
17 - Amelia

Cheers
SCO

THE MATCH

SATURDAY 28TH AUGUST KO 3:00PM

v

LAST MATCH



We made it 3 wins in a row and kept our unbeaten start to the season as we ground out a win. Rotherham started the better but any chances they had, they didn't trouble BPF. Our best chance fell to Kamberi but he blazed over. Rotherham were awarded a penalty (though the challenge was outside the box) but BPF made a great save to keep it level at HT. On to the 2nd half and we started better and took the lead when Paterson got down the right and crossed for Kamberi to fire home form close. We made it 2 when there keeper spilled the ball and Gregory fired in. BPF made one more save from Smith as we saw the game out

THE MATCH



Next up, a trip to Morecombe. This will be our 2nd visit there, we played them in the FA Cup 10 years ago and won 2-1, with Chris Lines & Chris O'Grady on the scoresheet. They have had a mixed start to the campaign, losing there last two after a win & a draw in there first two. Stephen Robinson was appointed manager in July. Staying in the league will be there priority as I cant see them challenging anywhere near the top half.

CURRENT FORM

OWLS               -                                       

MORE               -                                                                                    

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

ANTHONY BACKHOUSE
Mark Cunliffe and Matthew Parry
Fourth Official : Ivan Stankovic

THE TEAM

Looks like 433 may be DMs starting formation:

Peacock-Farrell
Hunt Hutch Iorfa Palmer
Bannan Wing Adenarin
Paterson Gregory Brown

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

1-2 Gregory

BML STANDINGS

SCO 1
SS 1
Kev 1
Wash 1
Pei 1

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Oxford United v Lincoln City
Plymouth Argyle v Fleetwood Town
Shrewsbury Town v Gillingham
Sunderland v Wycombe Wanderers
Wigan Athletic v Portsmouth

HHAHD

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE

PEIOWL




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

Starts on Tuesday. Are we all interested? I think it's brilliant and we will be watching as much as we can. As we have done since, I think it was Sydney when we first took an interest.

Anyway, Channel 4 have got it again and they usually do a great job, so here's looking forward to it all.......

Gamball Game
Liverpool - Chelsea

Others
Brighton - Everton
Newcastle - Southampton
Derby - Nottingham Forest
Barnsley - Birmingham
Huddersfield - Reading
Luton - Sheffield Utd
Preston - Swansea
Burnley - Leeds
Sunderland - Wycombe

I hope this is more testing!

I note that some blunt Blunts fans are comparing Rhian Brewster's lack of success to Diego de Girolamo a few years ago. In some ways of course the comparison is apposite. Both players were being touted as superstars. Brewster had been the tournament's star player when England won the U-17 World Cup and Diego had represented Italy at every level despite living in Chesterfield, was getting raves from people like Mauritzio Sarri and had every top Italian club stalking his every move. Both players then got enormously serious injuries from which many people never return to professional sport. They both lost over a season at a vital point in their development.

Diego was never the same again. He certainly tried to be. He was loaned out to places like York and Chesterfield, showed a few flashes, but the devastating bursts, extraordinary skill and power shooting were no longer in evidence. He was subject to a lot of abuse for his failure. It was somehow suggested he didn't want it enough, but he still wants to play. Unfortunately he has again become the star man, but it is only with Buxton Town, he may top the charts for the whole league and is certainly a feared player at that level. But whether he could even function again at perhaps Chesterfield's level is questionable, much as he'd like to.

Brewster was on to be a world-beater, but though he worked to get back he hasn't been able to capture that same edge. Whether the injury scarred him mentally, physically, or both remains open to question but he commanded a high fee, because he managed to get a long way back along the road with Swansea where he ended up somewhere in the teens of goals. Marooned at Bramall Lane in a team which was searching for its own lost form from the previous season he never had a chance. He spends much of his time out wide and when he is down the middle he is served by team mates who have seen only failure from him. No wonder he can't re-find any of that lost brilliance.

If I were the Blunts I'd take him out of the firing line. Arrange some friendlies, give him some easy youth and reserve games and play to get him in on goal and keep doing it until he either finds the confidence to start scoring and making the searing runs again, or it becomes obvious he just can't manage it. At the moment he gives me the impression he doesn't really want the ball, and when he does get it he tries to do exactly what he thinks will satisfy the coaches. When he was good, he was cocky and selfish.

With Diego de Girolamo's decline the Blunts had seen how a young player can go backwards due to serious injury, yet they paid a big fee to get Brewster on the basis of a few goals at Swansea who had handled him very carefully. It looks like terrible business, but on the other hand they sold Ramsdale for £800,000 to Bournemouth, after experiencing three relegation campaigns they paid was it £8miilion to get him back and now after getting relegated themselves they've got the best part of £30million for him. Swings and Roundabouts? You pays your money and you takes your chance. Stop whining maybe?

It is just over a week till the transfer window slams shut, so what business will the baggies do. 

I have no monetary prizes but the closest I will bestow upon them the title of transfer prediction champion! 

What do people think will happen, positions or names if you really want to obtain this title!

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 28th August:
Town v Reading
Town scorers:
Reading scorers:

Cardiff City v Bristol City (12:30)
Derby County v Nottingham Forest (12:30)
Barnsley v Birmingham City
Fulham v Stoke City
Hull City v AFC Bournemouth
Luton Town v Sheffield United
Middlesbrough v Blackburn Rovers
Millwall v Blackpool
Preston North End v Swansea City
Queens Park Rangers v Coventry City
Peterborough United v West Bromwich Albion (20:00)

Bonus matches:
Premier League:
Saturday:
Liverpool v Chelsea (17:30)

Scottish Premiership:
Sunday:
Rangers v Celtic (12:00)

Table after Matchday 4:

1. jjamez = 89 pts
   
2. Baggiebob(BBB) = 88 pts
   
3. theo_luddite = 78 pts
   
4. Lord Snooty = 77 pts
   
5. St Charles Owl = 77 pts
   
6. SHEP_HTAFC = 75 pts
   
7. WakeyTerrier = 75 pts
   
8. neonfoxinthebox = 73 pts
   
9. Amelia Chaffinch = 69 pts
   
10. ritchiebaby = 65 pts
    
11. themaclad = 63 pts