RGS Athletic 1-0 Monksville United
Nile Bridge 4-0 Seniors FC
UR Town 0-2 VLC FC
Walston Brook Albion 0-1 Polkation FC
Xilon OC 0-2 Olympia FC
FM Town 2-1 Half Boy FC
Tuntingone FC 4-0 Norrion Rovers
Seaton Town 1-0 Royal Jam FC
And how did that happen? 7th placed Tuntigone played host to Norrion in the first of the reverse fixtures, having lost 3-1 to the league leaders at the start of the season. It seems the teams were swapped, as Norrion were simply blown off the pitch by a dominant Tuntigone side. RGS’ win over Monksville sees them leapfrog Norrion into top spot, with wins for Olympia and VLC now meaning the top four is again covered by just three points. A big blow for 5th place Royal Jam however, as they desperately needed a win to keep pace with the top four – however, Seaton Town didn’t oblige, and Royal Jam fell to 6th as Tuntigone overtook them. UR Town also suffered in 6th, losing at home to VLC with a limp performance, and as such fell to 7th. At the other end of the table, Nile Bridge’s win moved them up to 11th as the 6 teams covered by 3 points were split up a little – losses for the bottom three however means Xilon in 14th are now 7 points adrift, and it looks increasingly unlikely that any of those three will survive.
Monksville United 3-1 Nile Bridge
RGS Athletic 6-1 UR Town
Seniors FC 0-2 Walston Brook Albion
VLC FC 2-0 Xilon OC
Polkation FC 1-0 FM Town
Olympia FC 0-1 Tuntingone FC
Half Boy FC 1-1 Seaton Town
Norrion Rovers 0-1 Royal Jam FC
Tuntigone must be beaming as they navigate through this tricky run of fixtures – having disposed of the ex-league leaders last week, they follow that up with a shock away win over Olympia. VLC are up next, followed by a trip to RGS and then hosting UR – all three will now be very wary of slipping up against, on paper, beatable opposition. Speaking of slipping up, Norrion doubled their loss tally for the season in just two matches, as they score a second loss on the trot, this time at home to Royal Jam. At the top, RGS played host to UR, and frankly put the visitors to the sword to win 6-1 – that result puts UR Town down to 8th after Polkation’s win. VLC leapfrog both Norrion and Olympia to move into 2nd, but RGS’ win opens up a three point gap at the top – at the other end, Nile Bridge move back into 13th, but the gap to relegation is now 8 points.
UR Town 2-2 Monksville United
Walston Brook Albion 1-0 Nile Bridge
Xilon OC 0-3 RGS Athletic
FM Town 1-0 Seniors FC
Tuntingone FC 0-1 VLC FC
Seaton Town 0-1 Polkation FC
Royal Jam FC 2-2 Olympia FC
Norrion Rovers 1-0 Half Boy FC
Maybe it was too much to ask of Tuntigone, but credit to the way they contained VLC and outplayed them for most of the match, and were very deserving of a draw. RGS continue their goalscoring form, putting three past relegation candidates (or relegation near-certainties at this point) Xilon OC, whilst Norrion arrest their slide with a hard fought 1-0 win over cellar-dwellers Half Boy. However, Olympia can’t keep pace, as they’re held to a 2-2 draw by Royal Jam, a draw that narrows the gap between the two to 6 points, and sees Olympia 3 points off third and 7 points off the lead.
Empire End FC 0-1 Polkation FC
Norrion Rovers 2-3 Indionion Athletic
Newt Cape Wanderers 1-3 RGS Athletic
Xilon OC 1-0 Fracitz AC
The last 8, just four more matches until the final, the end is in sight. 4 Premier League sides survived the onslaught from the lower league sides, and indeed each other, to reach this stage. Outside the top flight, Indionion Athletic are the strongest side left standing, as the Second Division’s sole representatives. The third tier is represented by Imperial First Division side Empire End FC, whilst the Imperial Second Division (Tier 4) has Newt Cape Wanderers. And, amazingly, Fracitz AC from the fifth tier – the Central League First Division, conquerors of Seaton Town in the last round, round up the 8 teams. Unfortunately, the randomizer has picked a Premier League side in each tie, much to the chagrin of neutrals and much to the delight of fans.
The first tie saw Empire End host mid-table Polkation, and the close match ended up 1-0 to the visitors, with just a bit too much class on show. There is hope in the return leg, because one goal isn’t too big a gap to overcome. The only big shock of the day was Norrion Rovers, whose recent slump has taken everybody by surprise, losing at home to second division side Indionion Athletic – in fact, Norrion started so badly that Indionion scored 2 goals before the half hour mark, before restoring the 2 goal gap with a third 70 minutes in; only Norrion’s last minute goal gives them real hope of a return in the second leg, but 3 away goals is a tall order to overcome. Elsewhere, Premier League leaders RGS Athletic did not relent with their goal-scoring, notching up another three goals as they swept aside Newt Cape with ease, and Premier League relegation fodder Xilon OC could barely manage a shot on target against Fracitz, but in the end they squeaked a goal through – New Cape look like they have no chance, but Fracitz will be looking forward to an eminently winnable second leg.
Monksville United 1-1 Walston Brook Albion
UR Town 3-1 Xilon OC
Nile Bridge 0-1 FM Town
RGS Athletic 6-0 Tuntingone FC
Seniors FC 0-1 Seaton Town
VLC FC 1-0 Royal Jam FC
Polkation FC 1-1 Norrion Rovers
Olympia FC 6-1 Half Boy FC
Two 6 goal whoppers this weekend, as Olympia set the initial headlines alight with a 6-1 demolition of Half Boy, all 7 goals coming from Olympia players – the team at the bottom of the table were completely hapless at both attack and defence. But the next day saw Tuntigone travel to New Lodger City confident of a point, and then sent home in pieces, as RGS surgically dissected the Tuntigone defence time and time again to rack up 6 goals without reply. Norrion are still faltering, now dropping points on the road to Polkation – they’ve already dropped as many points in the past four games as they had in the first half of the season (8 pts – 1 draw and two losses), leaving them 6 points off the lead, and a point ahead of Olympia. Meanwhile, VLC’s win over Royal Jam gave UR Town a chance to make up ground, which they gladly took against Xilon OC – whilst they stay 8th, the gap to Royal Jam in 5th is reduced to 3 points.
Xilon OC 0-2 Monksville United
FM Town 1-0 Walston Brook Albion
Tuntingone FC 1-2 UR Town
Seaton Town 2-0 Nile Bridge
Royal Jam FC 0-0 RGS Athletic
Norrion Rovers 1-1 Seniors FC
Half Boy FC 0-1 VLC FC
Olympia FC 1-1 Polkation FC
And the slump continues for Norrion, who now have just 1 win in 5 league games (1 in 6 when you include the cup) after being held to a 1-1 draw against 15th placed Seniors FC, which takes the latter team above Xilon OC into 14th, but only by goal difference. The faltering was more widespread however, as RGS’ run of goal fests came to an abrupt end against Royal Jam, with the visitors unable to break through the well-marshalled defence; Olympia were also held at home by Polkation. The crucial midtable match between Tuntigone and UR Town went the way of the visitors, allowing UR to overtake the hosts and Polkation to move into 6th place. At the top, VLC move within a point of RGS, 5 points clear of Norrion in third with Olympia a further point behind – Royal Jam are 9 points behind them in 5th. At the bottom, the situation is getting bleaker by the day for Seniors, Xilon and Half Boy, as Nile Bridge in 13th are 8 points clear of the relegation zone with 10 games to go – oddly enough, Nile Bridge are also 6 points behind 12th place Walston Brook.
Polkation FC 0-1 Empire End FC (0-1 AET, 1-1 agg, 3-4 PKs)
Indionion Athletic 2-2 Norrion Rovers (5-4 agg)
RGS Athletic 3-1 Newt Cape Wanderers (6-2 agg)
Fracitz AC 0-2 Xilon OC (0-3 agg)
The tensest of matches in Pointilism Park saw Empire End of the third tier overturn the 1-0 loss they suffered in the first leg, forcing the tie to go into extra time, and with no more goals, into a penalty shootout. And it was the underdogs that held their nerve the best, winning the match on the last penalty of 10. A second shock almost never happened, as Norrion Rovers somehow rallied themselves to go 2-0 up in the tie, and 4-3 ahead on aggregate, but the hosts regrouped and pushed hard, scoring with 8 minutes of normal time left to tie the tie on aggregate. If that wasn’t enough to deflate Norrion’s resolve, the equalizer at the 90th minute was, bringing the match to 2-2 and the tie 5-4 to Indionion. That collapse of morale more or less sums up the last few matches Norrion have been having. On the other end of the scale, the other two matches went according to plan, firstly with RGS roundly dispatching Newt Cape in the same manner they did in the first leg, with exactly the same scoreline – RGS comfortably through to the semi-final 6-2 on aggregate. Meanwhile, fifth tier Fracitz AC were unable to spring another upset, as they couldn’t overcome the goal deficit they brought in from the first leg against Xilon OC.
Monksville United 1-1 FM Town
Xilon OC 0-1 Tuntingone FC
Walston Brook Albion 0-0 Seaton Town
UR Town 0-2 Royal Jam FC
Nile Bridge 0-1 Norrion Rovers
RGS Athletic 7-4 Half Boy FC
Seniors FC 1-1 Olympia FC
VLC FC 1-0 Polkation FC
A first win in 5 matches (in all competition) sees Norrion come away from Bridgetown with a much needed win, keeping them ahead of Olympia who could only muster a draw away to 14th place Seniors. VLC’s win against Polkation put the pressure on RGS, who hosted Half Boy in an 11 goal thriller. It wasn’t much of a contest, despite the scoreline, as RGS went three goals up in twenty minutes, and kept the gap to at least three goals for the entire match – the fourth was on the half hour mark, Half Boy pulled one back shortly before half time, 5-1 two minutes into the second half, 5-2 came on the hour mark, 6-2 five minutes from time, 6-3 on the 90th minute mark, 7-3 almost straight from the restart, and in the fourth minute of stoppage time, 7-4. All-in-all a very concerning day for the RGS defenders. Meanwhile, Royal Jam stamp their claim in the race for fifth with a clinical 2-0 away win over UR Town.
Tuntingone FC 0-1 Monksville United
Seaton Town 0-1 FM Town
Royal Jam FC 1-0 Xilon OC
Norrion Rovers 1-0 Walston Brook Albion
Half Boy FC 5-5 UR Town
Olympia FC 4-2 Nile Bridge
Polkation FC 0-2 RGS Athletic
VLC FC 1-0 Seniors FC
Norrion seem to have stopped the rot, registering a second win on the trot with a close 1-0 victory at home over Walston Brook, but there’s no movement in the top 4 as the other three teams also win – Olympia did have to come from behind to beat Nile Bridge though. But the story of the day would have to be the 5-5 draw between Half Boy and UR – the nine goals scored in their past two matches the amount they scored in the first half of the season, and this time it was UR playing catch-up, with Half Boy at one point 4-1 ahead and then 5-2 up. But they have the worst defence in the league by a mile for a reason, and they were torn apart several times in the last 20 minutes, and it was down to the heroics of Safouane Burke in the Half Boy net that gave them a point. Royal Jam now have some breathing space in 5th, 5 points clear on Tuntigone and FM Town but 7 behind Olympia, who themselves are a whole 9 points off top spot – Norrion are three ahead, and VLC still only a point behind RGS. UR have fallen back down and are still languishing in 8th, ahead of Polkation and Monksville. At the bottom, Seniors are still 7 points adrift of Nile Bridge and safety, with Xilon and Half Boy one and two points behind respectively.
Monksville United 0-1 Seaton Town
Tuntingone FC 0-0 Royal Jam FC
FM Town 0-5 Norrion Rovers
Xilon OC 0-1 Half Boy FC
Walston Brook Albion 0-2 Olympia FC
UR Town 2-0 Polkation FC
Nile Bridge 0-5 VLC FC
RGS Athletic 2-1 Seniors FC
Norrion have found their winning form again, but it looks like it’ll be too late, as neither RGS nor VLC look like they’re going to falter. Norrion’s emphatic 5-0 win over FM Town more or less dispelled any doubts about their recovery over the past couple of matches, but VLC matched that blow-for-blow as they also came home with a 5-0 away to Nile Bridge. RGS Athletic had a narrower win over Seniors, but a win nonetheless, which keeps them at the top of the tree with 7 games to go. At the bottom of the table, Half Boy register their third win of the season, beating Xilon on the road and lifting them off the foot of the table and into 14th for the first time in a while, and also now just 6 points from safety.
ICEL Premier League Standings
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 RGS Athletic 23 18 3 2 59 21 +38 57 Champions/CdC/TQCC
2 VLC FC 23 18 2 3 39 11 +28 56 Globe Cup
3 Norrion Rovers 23 16 3 4 42 18 +24 51 Globe Cup
4 Olympia FC 23 15 3 5 50 28 +22 48
5 Royal Jam FC 23 11 6 6 24 13 +11 39
6 UR Town 23 11 2 10 39 37 +2 35
7 Tuntingone FC 23 10 4 9 26 25 +1 34
8 FM Town 23 10 3 10 24 37 −13 33
9 Seaton Town 23 8 7 8 21 24 −3 31
10 Monksville United 23 7 8 8 25 24 +1 29
11 Polkation FC 23 8 5 10 20 24 −4 29
12 Walston Brook Albion 23 6 7 10 12 18 −6 25
13 Nile Bridge 23 5 3 15 29 47 −18 18
14 Half Boy FC 23 3 3 17 22 60 −38 12 Relegated
15 Seniors FC 23 2 5 16 16 37 −21 11 Relegated
16 Xilon OC 23 2 4 17 9 33 −24 10 Relegated
ICEL Second Division Standings
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Copper Communists SC 23 15 5 3 55 22 +33 50 Champions/SBCC
2 YLW FC 23 15 4 4 44 23 +21 49 Promoted/SBCC
3 Toclofania FC 23 13 3 7 30 18 +12 42 Promoted/SBCC
4 Yillog City 23 12 5 6 32 24 +8 41
5 Pontifucia United 23 12 4 7 49 38 +11 40
6 Indionion Athletic 23 11 3 9 37 30 +7 36
7 Micronopia United 23 9 6 8 37 29 +8 33
8 Revisionists 23 9 5 9 16 19 −3 32
9 Macaronia FC 23 9 4 10 31 25 +6 31
10 NT United 23 8 6 9 29 28 +1 30
11 Jam Athletic 23 8 5 10 25 38 −13 29
12 Honsadin FC 23 7 5 11 24 31 −7 26
13 Benopia AC 23 5 9 9 18 31 −13 24
14 Oldbridge FC 23 6 5 12 18 32 −14 23 Relegated (I)
15 Approciation FC 23 5 4 14 18 41 −23 19 Relegated (C)
16 Jam Mountain Island 23 0 7 16 11 45 −34 7 Relegated (C)