TOTALLY ROUND-UP WEEK 20

Penny and Ronan have started to pull away, yet ominously Penny still holds the lead by a mere point, and it's looking like the lads will have to seriously sharpen their predictive skills to wrestle top spot away from the current holder.
Two 3 pointers helped Penny stay as front runner...Darren and Ronan should really have pegged that Sunderland v Everton had draw written all over it.
A!F!C!'s woes continued with a 2-0 home loss to Oxford Utd, however much the Skillers are willing them to pick up at least a point most weeks. Their powers only stretch so far it seems.

WEEK 20 TABLE
                                 Pts
Penny                        121                 
Ronan                       120
Darren                       109

Plank President For Life

Mention had to be made this week of our Plank President for Life as he excelled himself, even by his very high standards.
First there were some sort of shenanagins during the international break a few weeks ago, then there was Pizzagate. Classic diva behaviour in a danish pizzeria as his card is declined and the staff won't give him his pizzas for free, even though he is the god Bendtner.
Not content with this, he then found himself arrested in Newcastle on suspicion of criminal damage to some cars before issuing an apology to fans, family and the world at large. Only to miss a sitter against Spurs the next day....
Sir, you are a legend.

TOTALLY ROUND-UP WEEK 19

Not long to go before the flood of Christmas games is upon us and our last Totally Skill week beforehand was a bit of an improvement on scoring of late. Ronan is very quietly plugging away with some solid performances to the point where he and Darren are once again level and both are still are very attainable 3 points behind leader Penny whose spot-on prediction of the Hull v Millwall game saw her retain theat lead. Ronan may hate the league of doom that is League One but the Tranmere fixture this week still saw him take a valuable 3 points so maybe he knows more than he is letting on...
Unfortunately, our guest league, Portugal (in honour of Ricky van Wolfswinkle), yielded no points for anyone.
Another loss for A!F!C! sees them continue their slide down the table but Stockport managed a draw for the first time in weeks so maybe things are looking up there.

WEEK 19 TABLE

Penny         107 pts
Ronan         104 pts
Darren         104pts

Week 19 Results
                                            Result        Penny    Ronan    Darren
Man City v Arsenal               1-0             0-1        2-2        2-2
Hull v Millwall                        2-0            2-0        2-1        1-2
Stevenage v Tranmere            2-1            1-1       2-1         0-2
Rotherham v A!F!C!              1-0            1-1       1-1         1-1
Hayes v Barrow                     1-1             3-0      3-0         2-1
Fraserburgh v Formartine       3-2             3-1       1-2        3-1
A Madrid v Real Betis            0-2            2-1        2-0       1-1
Caen v Nancy                         1-2           0-2        0-1       0-1
Hamburg v Augsburg               1-1           1-0        3-1       2-0
Academica v Sporting              1-1           0-2        1-3       0-2

PLANK OF THE WEEK PART 10!!!!

A ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!Oh Manchester; you dreamt of the stars but find yourselves in the gutter that is the Europa League. And no, Mr Mancini, the Europa League is NOT a great competition and I doubt very much if you would have thought so 24 hours before your exit from the Champions League. I wonder if Sami Nasri is wishing he had taken that £90 grand a week now too...
Special mention must go to Manchester United's David Gill for speculating beforehand about Barca and Real Madrid's fear of meeting them in the knockout stages. That's called hubris, sir. Enjoy!

TOTALLY ROUND-UP WEEK 18

Hmmm... I sense a mid-season slump coming on as all our skillers again struggled this week. In mitigation, there were no points to be had from the postponed Highland League game, or the Danish match. Slapped wrists to Penny and Ronan on this one as in their excitement at including the Danes in the rotating spot, they failed to notice that the date of the fixture is for next March, when the league resumes after it's winter break. Doh!
So, Darren's five points brings him within spitting distance of leader Penny and at only a further three points behind Darren, Ronan still has it all to play for. This is a very competitive league this year, make no mistake.
Surprise result of the week has to be high-flying West Ham imploding at Reading and not only going down to nine men but losing so comprehensively, something no one predicted. Penny will also rue her lack of faith in Barca in the Classico; it may have been at the Bernabeu and Leo may have been lucky to stay on the pitch but this IS Barca afterall. That'll learn ya.

Week 18 Table

Penny         102 pts
Darren        101 pts
Ronan         98 pts

Week 18 Results

                                         Result         Penny    Ronan     Darren
West Brom v Wigan            1-2             2-1        2-2         2-1
Reading v West Ham           3-0             0-2        1-1         2-1
Oldham v Sheffield Wd       0-2             1-1         1-3        2-3
A!F!C! v Accrington           0-2             1-0         2-0        2-0
Truro v Ebbsfleet                 2-5             0-1        1-2        1-2
Cove v Deveronvale            OFF
Real Madrid v  Barcelona    1-3             2-1         1-1        2-3
Auxerre v Nice                    2-1             2-0         1-1        2-0
Hanover 96 v Lverkusen      0-0             0-2         2-3        0-2
AC Horsens v Koge            IN MARCH YOU CLOWNS!!!

Supermarine's Cup Run Ends

Alas, an away game against last year's Conference playoff finalists Luton was a bridge too far for our plucky Swindon team and they lost 2-0 in their FA Trophy fixture. Next year lads, next year...

Short Celebratory Interlude

Well, it's not every day your club reaches 125 years old, so it had to be marked somehow...
There's been ups, there's been downs (but never down to the league below, much to our neighbour's chargrin), and Herbert's words on defence may need to be taken a little more seriously at present. But to be the first English team to qualify for the knock-out stages of the Champions League and to be in the top four for the first time this season (albeit maybe only until tomorrow evening), things could be on the up again.

Now if we could just work out a way of cloning RVP...

Totally Skill Hall Of Fame Part 1

Each week, or whenever we remember, we will induct a former player we feel has earned the right to enter our newly constructed Hall Of Fame. Naturally, said player will have had to have been 'Totally Skill' in all aspects of his play, and we fell STEVE FOSTER is a well deserving first inductee.
The Portsmouth, Brighton, Aston Villa (for 15 games.....3 goals though!), Luton, Oxford and Brighton (Again) legend sported a rather magnificent headband for the duration of his career, while the beard he cultivated during his first stint at Brighton will probably never be equalled. Least of all by the current crop of eejits, who favour that wimpy pencil thin line where a great big bloody sideburn should be. Planks the lot of them. But not our Steve....no, he takes pride of place in our Hall Of Fame, anxiously awaiting the next inductees to join him in the coming weeks and months. Good job Steve!!!

WHY???

PLANK OF THE WEEK PART 9!!!!

Don't think we need to add anything here....

TOTALLY ROUND-UP WEEK 17

Well, another low-scoring week all round, but Penny's meagre two points still saw her clinch the honour of being the first Skiller to reach 100 points. Ronan made some headway with the week's top score of five but Darren's measley one point was enough to keep him ahead of his rival.
Clearly none of our competitors were on their game enough to predict not one but two 7-0 results; York thumping Kettering, and poor VVV Venlo, in their guest appearance losing by the same margin to the aptly named Heracles. And with a 6-2 up in the Highlands, it was a free-scoring week all round.
Although A!F!C! fell to Bradford in the cup, we have to hope that this means they can focus all their energies on the league.
But Matty Tubbs scored a hat-trick, so there was some good news at least.


Week 17 Table

Penny            100 pts
Darren           96 pts
Ronan            95 pts

Week 17 Results
                                        Result        Penny     Ronan    Darren
Newcastle v Chelsea           0-3           1-0         1-1       1-1
Blackpool v Reading           1-0            0-2        2-2       1-2
Bradford v A!F!C!              3-1           1-2         2-2       1-2
Southend v Oldham             1-1           1-0         1-2       2-0
York x Kettering                 7-0            0-2        3-0       1-3
Nairn County v Rothes        6-2            3-0        2-1       1-2
Mallorca v A Bilbao            1-1            2-2        2-0       2-1
Dijon v Sochaux                  0-0           1-0        3-1        0-2
Wolfsburg v Mainz              2-2           2-0        0-0        2-1
Hercales v VVV Venlo       7-0           1-1        2-0        4-2

Socrates R.I.P.

A totally skill legend. R.I.P.