Matchday 35: Cantra Duprey and Isobel Foster have been signings worth their weight in gold for Mantlegrove, key in giving the side another dimension in attack. They show it today in a strong showing that dominates Hackett, 4-0 up by half-time, Merry Boys manager Lara Winter with a thousand-yard stare on the touchline. Hackett do manage to fight back somewhat in the second half, but with Garrick imperious in defence and Lowen Archer, one of the original Project +90 Treason players, brilliant between the posts, they can't get on the scoresheet. It gets worse for Hackett, as Crisisbless Athletic leapfrog them when Chris Suttner's header is enough to sink Coret and Ritter win back some ground through goals from Naga and Yew. Chatswood come back from 1-0 down at half-time to 3-1 winners at full-time in a match most notable for Belgrave manager Adalheid Metzelder foiling a Chatswood attack by kicking a spare ball onto the pitch. "It worked better than anything my midfield tried in the second half," she sniffed.
Matchday 36: "I told you you wouldn't miss the last guy!" Seneca Matthews laughs with the press after her Vermillion side come to Iron and come away with a 4-0 win. She's a former teammate at South Laithland of opposite number Reece Benedict, a tricky winger to his burly goalkeeper, and things were cordial on the touchline... up until the game started. Matthews is small, animated and loud; Benedict dour, with a face like thunder at every Vermillion goal. Valery Kovaleski, with a thunderous left boot, notches a hat-trick of basically identical strikes from the edge of the box. Serpentine, for their part, clear some distance from the drop with a 4-0 hammering over a miserable Greygate side, with Coret beating Mantlegrove and a ten-man Ritter hanging on for a 1-1 point away against the Smiths, Arista Tzorvas with a perfectly-angled header as she outmuscled former Starling man Orsay to beat Hasanu. Out of nowhere, Hackett annihilate Belgrave 5-2 - the exciting thing about this season is that even minnows like Hackett have quality like Varga Neury, who has torn up the league, on their side. Amidst all this, the only goalless match is the Cranequin derby, which is dire. At least City figure out how to stifle the Wanderers' options, but have little ambition to do much more.
Matchday 37: Twelve games, twelve clean sheets - it's a good day for the goalkeepers of the First Division. It's an especially good day for Marietta Briggs, Serpentine's stopper, who started the season on the bench and is ending it on the Premiership radar. Against Parrhesia, Serpentine take an early lead through an incisive pass from Passlach whipped into the bottom corner by Strong, and not one but two penalty saves from Briggs in the second half saves their lead. Also having a good day is Max Beyer, Vermillion's impressive Pasargan stopper, who is unsurprisingly active as the Wanderers beat Stahlburg Rovers 1-0 with just 29% of the ball, Pinnon making the difference from a free kick. Anders Rowett of the beleagured Greygate impresses, too, in a scoreless draw against Extreme Hills that really just makes you want to end it all. He's one that's risen to the challenge of Greygate being shit, and seems to relish all the saves he gets to make. He's supposedly being eyed as a Premiership backup for next season. Not exactly shining, however, is Hackett's Faraj Samara. She's not the shotstopper she used to be, age seeming to slow her down, and that inch or two is really getting to her when she does one of those things she does. She's narrowly too slow getting to a through-ball and clatters Corona Sharpe - Leitner sends her the wrong way from the spot - before Sharpe beats her at her near post and, when Leitner floats in a high corner, she sticks rigidly to her line as Prosper wins the ball unchallenged and flicks it on to Sharpe, who finishes, well, sharply, to round off a 3-0 win for Goodfeather.
Matchday 38: Iron's fifth straight defeat, a routine 2-0 in Brookford, intensifies scrutiny on manager Reece Benedict. They look short of ideas and inspiration, and only Preussler's scoring... just like when Garrett got the axe. Bruno Hawke gets the dreaded vote of confidence from the Leichhardt board after his side succumbs 2-0 to Crisisbless Athletic. Their hosts are energetic, physical and determined, and run rings around their lethargic opponents. Parrhesia put five past Extreme Hills goalkeeper Tournay from five different scorers, including Hounds leftback Ash Carter, to add to their troubles. They, at least, have no intention of sacking Malta Falconer. She's already saved them once. Meanwhile, Cranequin City haul themselves closer to an unexpected promotion berth, overcoming the more established Chatswood 1-0 away in a match high on sweat and low on quality. That is, except for Niko Rosmalen, a mercurial figure whose muscle helps wrest the ball off Grear before twisting and hammering a strike low into the bottom corner from twenty-five yards, past a flat-footed Aleksovic. They do seem to have everything - an excellent goalkeeper in Ledo, a stout defence, class in midfield and, in Gemmill and Kolar, a moderately lethal strike partnership of pace and power.
Matchday 39: Goodfeather swat down the Strongest in a dominant 2-0 win; from their past three, they've scored eight without reply. The Strongest, meanwhile, have a five-match unbeaten run snapped (the last four of which being 1-1 draws). Or, alternatively, they have one win from 21 games. They are well and truly floundering, and the ground is rising up to meet them. Do they stick or twist? They twist. Redruth is shown the door, in comes the aging Ewan Sanderson after they were turned down by Helena Fleischer. Sanderson has one season at this level under his belt, in which an admittedly outspent Riverkey were relegated. An uninspiring firefighter, though he has an excellent reputation in the lower leagues. Meanwhile, in a hilariously mismatched Stahlburg derby, City hammer Greygate 3-0. Juergen Stone, it's becoming clear, is not going to make it past the end of the season.
Matchday 40: "How shit must you be?" the away end bellows. It could apply to a couple games, really. Maybe the Gulls, incredulous at watching the Strongest actually contrive to concede three goals to them. Who concedes three goals to West Brinemouth? Most insultingly, the last one is a 91st minute winner from Daskalakis after Tristram's speculative long ball isn't dealt with. Perhaps Leichhardt, about their own team, as they get beaten easily by Belgrave. Bruno Hawke is absolutely not making it past this season. But it's definitely about Crisisbless Athletic, from incredulous Greygate fans. Petriak opens the fun with a flying header before even Cadell Cornerstone, who is terrible, and Karena Braham, who is well past it, pile on the damage - it ends 3-0, Athletic even missing a penalty for good measure. "We needed the points," manager Claire Antioch hisses after the match, practically shaking with rage. "What did they have to fight for?"
Matchday 41: Incredibly, Greygate scrounge up their fifth win of the season. It's Klaus Petriak who gets the goal, trapping a cross deftly before slamming it past Mantlegrove stopper Archer, continuing to prove an at least mediocre 1Div pedigree with his eleventh goal of the season. They're now on a hot winning streak of two. A lot of derbies this year have been terrible, and the Stahlburg derby is no exception, a dire scoreless draw. Cranequin Wanderers have been slowing down at the top, too - they can only take a point after they host Hackett, who equalise in the 92nd minute through lumbering 35-year old striker Fred Dawson, who smacks it home off the inside of his thigh. West Brinemouth, the league's least prolific non-Greygate side, score three goals for the second straight match, their third straight win; a hapless Ritter Town is on the receiving end, and their inconsistency could yet be their doom.
Matchday 42: Coret grab a lifeline, but it could've been so much better. Cranequin Wanderers aren't exactly cantering to victory, making Brinemouth's late-season dropoff look like a sprint to the finish by comparison, and on top of that they have Robin Seizter sent off for two yellow cards within 34 minutes. Then Jantzer clatters Janik for a penalty that she nervelessly slots away. But they can't add to it, the Wanderers unhurried, not willing to force the equaliser - it comes naturally, Kudelka pouncing on an errant pass from Muller and centring for Goodyouth to curl past Kewell. Ritter Town are entertainingly flaky, but at least the odd strong performance is helping keep them up; even without Tzorvas on the scoresheet, she still finds two assists in a 3-0 win over high-flying Cranequin City. The Strongest and Iron City both really need to win; facing each other, neither manage to.
Matchday 43: The Strongest have not had a new manager bounce. They haven't actually had a win since Houghton took over, and even a valiant 2-1 defeat away against Cranequin Wanderers isn't as good as it sounds, since the Wanderers were winless in four going into it. Somehow, Iron against Ritter ends goalless, despite Elsa Durant twice having to slide in and hook Ritter strikes off the line, and at the other end, Anwhistle having a penalty beaten away by St. Preux. Coret are cruising for defeat at Brookford, 2-0 down with fifteen minutes to go... and then Janik gets a tap-in, rouses the Rovers into thinking a comeback might just be possible. Another penalt, again converted by Janik, means it's happening, before Kurtis Siegrist is sent off for slamming an elbow into Spendthrift and Jozan Moreland thumps home given space from outside the box in injury time, a winner that might just restore their fading hopes of survival. This has mostly been focused at the bottom, but in truth, there's just not much changing at the top.
Matchday 44: All eyes are in Crisisbless, and it's not for Goodfeather's toothless 1-0 defeat to Parrhesia. It's for a six-pointer between Athletic and troubled Extreme Hills. Victory for Athletic would all but mathematically ensure their safety. The Hounds go out looking to, uh, run a lot, mostly. Athletic have structure, and after the first ten minutes, look comfortable. It's only a matter of time until the goals rain in. Suttner threatens it a couple of times, dominant against a nervy Hills defence; but in the second half, he finally gets one past Tournay, and Kite and Heidelberg join in to make it 3-0. A huge win for Athletic; hugely damaging for Hills. Hackett also pick up a massive win, a wicked deflection off a strike from Lucan taking it past Vermillion Wanderers goalkeeper Beyer. The Wanderers don't really give a fuck, and they drop two more goals in the second half. For good measure, Iron City beat Leichhardt 1-0 away, and Ritter Town get the odd goal in five courtesy of the silky Naga to take out the demob-happy Cranequin Wanderers and ensure their own safety.
Matchday 45: Cranequin Wanderers have had a staggering late-season slump. They were set to snap records not so long ago; now, after failing to beat Leichhardt at home, they might not even make it to 100 points. The title's long sewn up, at least, while despite defeat Stahlburg City remain safely promoted. Stahlburg Rovers' flashy 4-3 win over Goodfeather, enabled by journeyman Thorodel Nagdalene's entry off the bench to outwrestle Bierofka and stick out a foot to tap in Moxey's drilled cross in injury time, keeps their two-point lead over Chatswood intact. A win for Chatswood, Cranequin City's failure to beat lowly Greygate at home and Brookford's defeat to Arista Tzorvas + 10 mean there's no threat from outside the top four. Prominently not in the conversation: Parrhesia United and Leichhardt. And for the first time in what feels like a while, no relegated side is going straight back up.
The relegation battle all but mathematically whittles down to two teams over one slot; Iron City slump to defeat against South Laithland, while the Hounds at least give themselves a chance by beating Mantlegrove. Special mention must go to the Strongest. They won six from their first nine (nice), nine of their first eighteen. They've won precisely once since, and a hard-fought 2-1 defeat to Chatswood confirms their relegation. It is a cataclysmically bad collapse, the likes of which have never before been seen in this league. Felix Gallan's header sinks Coret Rovers, too, while Greygate are long gone.
PREMIERSHIP
Pos Team P W D L For Ag +/- Pts
1 Brinemouth 45 31 7 7 134 45 +89 100
2 Sabrefell Moths 45 30 6 9 93 39 +54 96
3 Sabrefell Athletic 45 29 7 9 79 43 +36 94
4 AFC Treason 45 25 8 12 70 33 +37 83
5 Newrook City 45 23 10 12 86 53 +33 79
6 Coret Hawks 45 24 7 14 74 51 +23 79
7 Starling 45 23 5 17 69 53 +16 74
8 Aries Chariots 45 21 8 16 69 57 +12 71
9 Crisisbless 45 20 10 15 65 51 +14 70
10 North Sabrefell 45 18 16 11 63 59 +4 70
11 Chenoworth Harriers 45 19 9 17 67 61 +6 66
12 AFC Corvistone 45 19 9 17 72 72 +0 66
13 Chenoworth Rovers 45 20 6 19 65 69 -4 66
14 Raven River 45 16 12 17 66 71 -5 60
15 Vermillion Rage 45 17 8 20 96 88 +8 59
16 Southfell United 45 16 9 20 60 78 -18 57
17 North Laithland 45 15 6 24 49 77 -28 51
18 Crisisbless United 45 14 6 25 57 83 -26 48
19 Corvette Maulers 45 13 9 23 57 102 -45 48
20 Cypher Town 45 12 9 24 39 60 -21 45
21 Diamondqueen 45 11 8 26 46 84 -38 41
22 Creed United 45 11 7 27 44 86 -42 40
23 Bishop 45 5 13 27 33 77 -44 28
24 Morningstar 45 6 9 30 41 102 -61 27
FIRST DIVISION
Pos Team P W D L For Ag +/- Pts
1 Cranequin Wanderers 45 28 14 3 85 32 +53 98
2 Stahlburg City 45 26 14 5 76 30 +46 92
3 Stahlburg Rovers 45 26 11 8 63 39 +24 89
4 Chatswood 45 25 12 8 66 38 +28 87
5 Cranequin City 45 24 10 11 67 47 +20 82
6 Brookford Otters 45 24 9 12 80 47 +33 81
7 South Laithland 45 20 13 12 70 47 +23 73
8 Parrhesia United 45 21 9 15 87 62 +25 72
9 Vermillion Wanderers 45 20 11 14 58 52 +6 71
10 Belgrave 45 18 11 16 64 62 +2 65
11 Goodfeather FC 45 19 7 19 63 54 +9 64
12 Leichhardt 45 18 8 19 40 44 -4 62
13 West Brinemouth 45 15 15 15 38 44 -6 60
14 Armstrong 45 14 14 17 41 50 -9 56
15 Mantlegrove 45 15 7 23 49 68 -19 52
16 Ritter Town 45 12 14 19 52 57 -5 50
17 Hackett 45 14 6 25 42 63 -21 48
18 AFC Serpentine 45 11 13 21 50 71 -21 46
19 Crisisbless Athletic 45 11 13 21 55 78 -23 46
20 Iron City 45 11 12 22 47 69 -22 45
21 Extreme Hills 45 10 13 22 52 93 -41 43
22 Coret Rovers 45 10 9 26 53 75 -22 39
23 The Strongest 45 10 9 26 52 81 -29 39
24 Greygate 45 5 12 28 33 80 -47 27