Tag: Marron

Isle of Sodor Premier – early evening Matchday 37 results are in … and a champion is crowned!

updated 11:50 PM ET, 5/23

The celebration is on at Dryaw FC!     With just Matchday 38 to play (Sun., 5/26), they now lead Peel Godred FC by four.    Here’s a smexy link to the updated table.

Image result for Dryaw FC Dryaw may not have gotten the full three points, but coupled with PGFC‘s loss, it was enough!   The Isle of Sodor has its first ever champion of their new FA era.   Noob’s not crying.  You’re crying.

Dryaw‘s match-tying E.T. goal deprived Ffarquhar of a season-defining win.  Still, the point earned was just enough was to stake FFC a four-point lead over #18 Ulfstead.   The last Relegation slot in the table is now a battle just between Ulfstead and #17 Brendam United, who lead them by two.

**The weekend’s “Feature Match” recap is now below the results.**

Here are all the results from Wednesday’s historic day:

Wednesday, 5/22 – 6:00 PM UTC

#1     Dryaw                          3    vs.    3    #17  Ffarquhar
#6     Junction & Sheds   4    vs.    2    #15  Brendam Harbor
#20  Arlesburgh Utd.      2    vs.    4   #12  Lakeside
#4    Kirk Ronan                4    vs.    2     T9  Glennock
#13  Vicarstown                 4    vs.    3     #2   Peel Godred

Wed., 5/22 – 8:00 PM (UTC) 
#19  Tidmouth City          2    vs.     1     #14  Castle Rolf
#17  Brendam Utd.            4    vs.    2      #3   Knapford Town
#5   Crovan’s Gate             4    vs.    8    #11  Marron
#18  Ulfstead                        5    vs.    2     #7  E.C.D.
T9   Suddery                         6    vs.    6     #8  Wellsworth

Feature Match in Review:      Marron stays red hot with SIXTH straight win!

Image result for MFC crestA double brace (six goals) by Marron striker Finlay Creamer led his club to a resounding 4-8 win at then-#5 Crovan’s Gate Wednesday night.  The win is Marron‘s straight!   They remain in 11th, but are now in position to possibly overtake 10th place on the final Matchday for a top-half finish.   CGFC drops to 6th.

The Scottish national and scoring wizard danced through Crovan Gate‘s defense early and often, beginning in the 9’.   Creamer had two goals and the team four before CGFC finally broke through for one, just before the half.

Image result for CGFC crestCrovan’s Gate improved after the break.   In the first half, they simply couldn’t maintain enough possession to employ their trademark whiplash-quick changes of offensive formation.  For the second 45, Marron relaxed just a little and the hosts were able to put some things together, pulling as close as 3-5.

But Creamer & Co. were able to push through three more in the last several minutes.  CGFC had to bring everyone forward late, which allowed the rout.

Image result for amateur soccer scorerCreamer was in a class of his own, scoring in open space from distance with a rocket leg as well from up close.  He even notched an assist on a well-lofted corner kick.   Marron already knows they need to lock him up.  Home calls, and Scottish League Two club Albion Rovers (Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire) have expressed interest in acquiring him.  (Hey, when you second-to-last in Scotland’s semi-professional fourth tier of football, you look anywhere.)

The 28 year-old’s masterful performance puts him at 51 goals on the season.    (A lot by any stretch, but remember that Sudric football doesn’t focus much in defense.  At all.)

"It was something special. I took the ball and then I tried to move forward. In the box it was hard for the defense, since no one likes to touch each other," Creamer told Noob after the match, in what I can only describe as an awkward turn of phrase on his part.

Image result for Dryaw FCNext up for for Marron is their final match of the season – at #1 Dryaw FC.   It’s hard to say how Dryaw will come out, given that they’ve now wrapped up the league title, leaving this one a coronation match of sorts.  Marron trail Glennock and Suddery by just a point as they aim for a top-half league finish.

Gate travels to #14 Castle Rolf for their last outing on Sunday.  They could retake 5th place from East Coast Diesel, cannot finish lower than 6th where they stand now.

Isle of Sodor Premier League – the marathon becomes a sprint at the end with midweek Matchweek 37

It’s the penultimate Matchday of the inaugural IoS PL season.  For extra challenge here at the end, the FA scheduled the last three matchdays over eight days.    (Matchday 38 is slated for Sunday, 5/26, for all 20 clubs.)

Everyone’s in action!  That said, there aren’t any super-compelling matches, not on paper.  #1 Dryaw should handle Relegation possibility #16 Ffarquhar at home.   The #2 and #3 clubs have road matches, but against bottom half teams.

Here’s the full slate, as well as smexy link to the table:

Wed., 5/22 – 6:00 PM – (UTC)
#1   Dryaw                          vs.     #16  Ffarquhar
#6   Junction & Sheds    vs.    #15  Brendam Harbor
#20  Arlesburgh Utd.     vs.     #12  Lakeside
#4   Kirk Ronan                vs.      T9  Glennock
#13  Vicarstown               vs.       #2   Peel Godred

8:00 PM – (UTC)
#19  Tidmouth City    vs.    #14  Castle Rolf
#17  Brendam Utd.      vs.     #3  Knapford Town
#5   Crovan’s Gate       vs.    #11  Marron
#18  Ulfstead                 vs.     #7   East Coast Diesel
T9   Suddery                   vs.     #8   Wellsworth

Feature Match preview:        #5 Crovan’s Gate vs. #11 Marron

Image result for CGFC crestSo absent an obvious mega-match to highlight today, hello from Crovan’s Gate!  Despite having lost two in a row and three of four, a top-four finish in still within reach.   That doesn’t mean anything in this PL like in England and other big European domestic leagues, but it still has a certain cache.   Marron can still finish in the table’s top half and will not be lying down either.

Image result for sir topham hatt gifLet’s get to know the team and village!   Even if the club has tried to attach itself to dreaded Tottenham Sir Toppem Hatt Hotspur by using their Latin motto slogan.  Longtime Noobites know Noob loathes TH, named for Harry “Hotspur” Percy, an historic traitor of England.  Noob carries no water for such, nor their sycophantic copycats.

Crovan’s Gate’s not one of the biggest villages, but an important one in the east-southeast region of Sodor.   It’s a hub for transportation repairs.  (Yes, the real Isle has a superb public train system.  No, the engines aren’t creepy-faced or capable of speech.)   It’s also where a lot of timber starts making its way around Sodor, cut from the big forest just north.

Image result for Godred CrovanHistory buffs:     It’s possible or even probable that this town is named after some Crovan that was part of the line of the ruling family on the Isle of Man some, oh, 900 years ago.   Given that IoM is west of Sodor, it is unlikely a member of the actual ruling family fled directly here after the coup that unseated them.  It’s a last name that’s found some here and elsewhere on the Isle, but no Crovan’s have ruled Sodor at any point in history.

At 5th in the League, CGFC aren’t in contention for the title.   But this is hardly a shabby position for a team that ten months ago wasn’t even going to be in the Premier.   They were slated for the second-tier Championship, thought to be a team that could perhaps vie for that title, earn Promotion into the PL for 2019-20.

But the FA switched things up and decided that more than mere village or town size would be factored in determining which clubs started in which league.  Last summer’s FA Cup results, it was announced, would be weighted heavily.  Crovan’s Gate benefited perhaps more than anyone, as they made the Semifinals, losing to eventual champion Brendam Harbor 0-2..

Image result for grumpy passengersAnd they have not disappointed.   How have “The Grumpy Passengers” (yes, a nod to the children’s TV show based on and in Sodor) found success?   They’ve had a bigger player base to draw from than would’ve been thought, for one thing.   Crovan’s Gate is only of average size for a village, but they have no competition for players for many miles.   They draw from smaller villages and hamlets scattered most every direction.

Like most clubs on Sodor, they don’t play aggressive defense.  But they’ve separated themselves offensively.  They’ll press six or seven forward like most clubs often enough, but they switch strategies, formations at the drop of a hat.   They’ll suddenly drop eight back and wait for counters, then push everyone up again in a blink.   4-4-2, 4-3-3, 4-2-4 — teams never know what’s coming from one possession to the next.

Noob’s call:    Getting to know Crovan’s Gate today has been fun.  Hope you’ve had a fun read.   But Marron have quietly won FIVE in a row.   No one’s scoring on them (by Sudric standards).   A month ago, there was a chasm in the table between 10th and 11th.  Not now.   Marron are a’comin’.  Marron   1-3.