TOTALLY ROUND-UP WEEK 25

As Team Penny departs for a week's training in the UK, she can begin the drills and stretches safe in the knowledge that she remains the League leader this week with a handy 6 point total. It was looking bleak for our Pen after the first few matches, but Giroud popped up in the 90th minute to score the winner as Montpellier beat Nice, handing her a welcome 3 pointer.
Darren also nabbed 6 points, but needs to start gathering up larger totals as the weeks progress. Ronan, with 7 points this week, cut the gap between Penny and himself by a point, and already this is shaping up to far closer than we could have anticipated.
The GLUTEN FREE BROWNIE CUP also took place this weekend, and it's no surprise that Cup Queen PENNY got her hands on that particular cakey trophy with a resounding victory. The brownie shall be awaiting her in the Dubray kitchen upon her return. 

WEEK 25 TABLE
                                Pts
Penny                      178
Ronan                     175
Darren                     161

TOTALLY ROUND-UP WEEK 24

Kicking into gear as we enter a crucial point of the season (all points are crucial really, but this point is REALLY crucial), Penny creates a sliver of daylight in between herself and the chasing flock. A handsome 9 points puts her four clear at the summit. The air must be getting thinner by the day up there. Aston Villa and Cardiff both had the decency to win their games by one goal to give her those all important 'winning margin' points, while the same happened in the German and Woodlleoodleoodleooo matches. Penny knows her 'spors'.
Ronan and Darren managed 6 and 3 points respectively, but are now starting to crane their necks to catch a glimpse of Penny as she begins the ascent of the North Face that is Feburary in the Totally Skill League. She's well equipped to deal with the trials that lay ahead, but the lads will be hoping she runs out of energy bars, or possibly slips down a ravine, so as to clear their way to battle it out for the honours.

WEEK 24 TABLE
                           Pts

Penny                 172
Ronan                 168
Darren                155

TOTALLY INJURY UPDATE

Penny's recurring groin strain has struck again, but she is expected to be fit for tomorrow's predicitons, despite fears an operation may have lead to an extended absence.
Ronan's elbows are holding up alright, but he has reported a slight niggle in the right elbow lately, and has only been involved in light training today. A full recovery is expected.
Darren has a clean bill of health this week....no aches or pains and he has been taking part in full training since the weekend. He made a trip to the Arsenal medical team recently and received the all clear, so we fully expect him to pull up early during this weeks prediction round with a torn ligament of some sort.

TOTALLY ROUND-UP WEEK 23

After the excitement of last week's bumper round, we were very nearly brought crashing back down to Earth when this week's Totally Skill sheet went missing...presumed dumped. Luckily, the Totally Skill League avoided a heavy fine and possibly even sterner action from FIFA by locating the sheet just before the deadline to declare this week's results. Phew!
Well it's a topsy-turvy league this year and no mistake. Penny re-takes pole position by a single point, and in a generally lax week, Darren come out on top with 5 points to continue his fightback, including a perfect score in the Watford v Reading game. Ronan.....he got one point. ONE point. Not champion form at all. This one certainly looks as though it's going wight to the rire.


WEEK 23 TABLE
                         Pts
Penny               163
Ronan               162
Darren              152  

WEEK 22 BUMPER BONANZA BONUS ROUND-UP

Oh my stars; well they may be great at predicting football scores, but I reckon none of our skillers could have predicted that even with such an extended round this week, they would all end up on THE SAME POINTS!!! 28 points won by all three of our plucky heroes, but over a range of games. Both Darren and Ronan had faith in Tubbs and Torres to beat Bristol City, 2 leagues above them, whilst Penny's instincts for a less than thrilling encounter between Nots Forest and Leicester, saw her in good stead.
So what does all this mean? Well, it's as you were with Ronan still just edging it over Penny and Darren in need of a couple of good weeks. This must surely be one of the most exciting Totally Skill League seasons in living memory, with so much all to play for...

WEEK 22 TABLE
Ronan           161 pts
Penny            160 pts
Darren           147 pts

FA CUP THIRD ROUND HEROES

Who else but Sergio and Matty; Sergio's pass splits the Bristol City defence and finds Matty who beats David James to score Crawley's winning goal. Nice one lads

TOTALLY ROUND-UP WEEK 21 (PART 2)

Na na na na na.
Now then, now then. How's about that then?
Ronan takes the lead at a CRUCIAL point on the season. Penny slips into SECOND PLACE, whilst Darren also makes up some ground, but really it's all about RONAN in this round up. RONAN gets the POINTS, RONAN goes TOP, RONAN what guessed right more than the others, RONAN is KING of the CASTLE.
I think we should just stop the League right now. Anyone with me?

WEEK 21 TABLE (PART 2)
                                                   Pts

RONAN!!!!!!!!                        133
Penny                                       132
Darren                                       119

Gary Ablett R.I.P.

One of the few players who excelled with both Merseyside clubs during his career and retained the affections of both clubs well after he hung up his boots (to briefly manage Stockport County at one point!!!!). Gary will be missed. A Totally Skill legend, and then some.

TOTALLY ROUND-UP WEEK 21 (PART 1)

At the halfway point of this week's Totally Skill shenanigans, we find Penny once again holding onto top spot for all her worth as she maintains the slenderest of leads, in no small part thanks to a quite impressive run in both Blue Square Premier and Highland League fixtures this weekend. A remarkable prediction materialised in the Lossiemouth v Keith tie, whilst she picked up a point apiece in each of the other bottom four Totally Skill fixtures.
Ronan is hot on her heels though, as he picked up a valuable three pointer in the Middlesbrough v Peterborough game (as boring sounding a fixture as there possibly can be). Darren keeps plugging away, but he really needs to pick up the pace in the next few weeks to keep a viable challenge alive. The correct margin in the Turriff Utd v Formartine Utd clash was a welcome two pointer, but he really needs to don his clairvoyant cap soon , and start to predict those really ridiculous Highland League results exactly.
Anyway, there do be a second round of fixtures this week over the coming days, so we'll see if the table changes drastically in the meantime.

WEEK 21 TABLE (PART 1)
                                    Pts
Penny                          128   
Ronan                          126
Darren                         112

WEEK 21 Results (PART 1)
                                                     RESULT    PENNY    RONAN    DARREN
Liverpool v Newcastle                       3-1            1-1            2-1             2-1
Stoke v Wigan                                   2-2            1-2            1-0             1-0
Middlesbrough v Peterborough           1-1            2-1            1-1             0-1
Burnley v Hull                                     1-0            2-0            2-0             1-1
Walsall v Rochdale                              0-0            0-1            1-2             2-3
A!F!C! v Southend                             1-4            1-0             1-1            1-0
Kettering v Luton                                0-5            0-3             0-1            3-1
York v Mansfield                                2-2            0-0             3-0             1-2
Lossiemouth v Keith                           2-4            2-4             2-1              3-1
Turriff Utd v Formartine Utd               2-0            3-2             2-2              4-2