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

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!!!