notable acheivements during the week were notts county scoring their first goal of the season in a 1-1 draw at barnsley.

sunderland continuing their revival with 2 wins during the week, culminating in a 4-0 away win at bradford (10 fantasy points in the week). they are now the joint highest scoring fantasy team, along with man city, with a total of 14 points for the season to date.

a full weeks action ended today (sunday) with man united losing their first match of the season, away at one of their traditional bogey teams southampton.

the previous highest scoring team mansfield town blotted their copy book big-style having 2 men sent off, during their 4-1 defeat at the hands of swansea

the weeks activities have seen a couple of changes in the fantasy league standings with utd we stand, (competition winners a couple of seasons ago) hitting top position after the midweek games, but slipping back to 12th position due to mansfields misdemeanours.

the position at the top is now occupied by shelly baines, (warley boys) with 66 pts , also shelly could extend her lead with her group 9 choices , sheffield wednesday not playing until tomorrow (monday) night.

the multi million pound signings of chelsea began paying off some of their extorTiOnate price tags with an impressive 2-1 victory at liverpool. whilst man city earned the most fantasy points of any of the premiership teams this weekend scoring 3 goals away at charlton, who had 'fish' sent for an early bath after receiving a red card for a 2nd bookable offence

MAN CITYS SPARKLING PERFORMANCE LEAVES KEV BROOKS AND HIS WUZZLES 1 PT CLEAR AT THE TOP OF THE TABLE. LAST YEARS LEAGUE WINNER CHEESEY PIPE ENDS HAVENT GOT OFF TO THE GREATEST OF STARTS IN THEIR TITLE DEFENCE, TRAILING IN 51ST POSITION, HAVING HAD 3 MEN SENT OFF ALREADY THIS SEASON

 

the season starts in earnest with the premiership kicking off today.
performances of the day include blackburns 5-1 thrashing of pickled onion king 'jack haywards' newly promoted wolves.

another good performance was given by last years division 1 champs portsmouth beating david o'learys aston villa 2-1. A match in which england international centre BACK gareth barry scored villas consolation with 6 minutes left to play. then, after enquiring whether the linesman wanted to take advantage of specsavers latest offers, got himself sent off for foul and abusive language.
it was a bad day all round for england centre halves as sol campbell also saw red in arsenals 2-1 victory over everton

the individual performance of the day came from david beckhams replacement at man united - 'ronaldo', who turned the game against bolton when he came on with 15 minutes of the match remaining, turning an undeserved 1-0 lead into a 4 goal victory.
elsewhere in the lower leagues mick mCcarthy's sunderland are finding division 1 no easier than the premiership, slumping to defeat at home to millwall. a loss next saturday will mean an all-time league record equalling 18 defeats on the trot.
in the first exchanges for the fantasy teams a former league winner (2000-2001 season) mike hollis finds himself in an early lead with 22 points, closely followed by the glamourous goods-in team of sweet cheeks (joanne smith& rachel shaw) a point behind in 2nd.

at the other end, another fantasy veteran (paula bargh) seems to be providing a team living up to its name - 'norfolk and chance' -with her choices amassing a total of 3 sendings off this week.

 

Aaah the sands of time wait for no man.... who said that ?
..... nevermind..... what it means is the closing date for entries arrived, and with a flurry of activity, not seen since alastair macmillan announced the last 10 minutes of the free bar at the udg 2002 christmas bash, we closed with a record 57 entries.

that means prize money of

league winner	£60
league runner-up	£15
league 3rd	£5
cup winner	£25
cup runner up	£9

many thanks to all who've entered and i hope you enjoy watching the competition unfold over the coming months. a special mention must also go to the goods in department for supporting the competition so well, with 15 of the 57 entries.

 

-the season kicks off-
The nationwide divisions start a week before the premiership kicks off - the major surprise with our nationwide fantasy choices is the fact that only west ham in 'going up' section actually played like that's were they are going. with west brom disappointing more than any going down to one of last seasons strugglers walsall, by 4 goals to 1

derby county continued were they left off last year with a dismal 3-0 home defeat by stoke

the highest fantasy scorers were sheffield wednesday earning their managers 6pts with 3 away goals at swindon

the worst fantasy scorers were reading, who although impressive in their 1-1 away draw at title fancies ipswich had nicky shorey sent off for a professional foul, leaving reading with a net -8 points for their fantasy followers.

with the closing date for entries still a week away, i'll not make any reference to early leaders or trailers, just to say that the highest possible score this week was 12pts and the worst possible -8pts