With a couple of acca-busters, the two underdogs prevailed through the Semi-Finals and set up an all-Championship final-gameweek Cup Final.
Beedles Boys #1 57½ – 59 Sporting Wicker Park #12
It was a narrow victory for the returning finalists over the newly-crowned League Two champions.
Both teams finished the first day level on 34½-all; and Beedle’s Boys managed to reach that mark with two less players. New signing Harry Maguire impressed with an 8½, and he was slightly bettered by Petrovic who collected 9 FPts in Bournemouth’s 1-0 win over euro-hopefuls Fulham. For the Championship side, Mac Allister and Mitoma scored +½ & -½ respectively, cancelling each other out in the SWP ranks. Things looked promising for the Boys after Day One.
Day Two brought 20½ for both teams, and they ended the day all square on 55-55. McGinn and Watkins picked up 7 & 7½ matchpoints for SWP, and Jordan Pickford added another 6 from his six saves against Palace. Beedle’s Boys had four players who produced a combined six shots-on-target, but unfortunately all six failed to produce a goal. At the close of play on Sunday, with the match tied, BB had employed one less player. That player (retrospectively speaking) was Leeds defender Jaka Bijol, who was the only player to appear on Monday evening. In a rather boring 1-1 draw, Leeds conceded first (in the 50th minute) and Bijol could return no more than 2½ FPts, however, that gave Beedle’s Boys a slender lead to take the final match.
The last match was the rearranged fixture between Man City and Crystal Palace on Wednesday night. Both sides had elected Nico O’Reilly to represent them, and when he didn’t appear on Pep’s teamsheet, Beedle’s Boys were without any remaining players. Only one star remained – SWP’s GW1 (& GW27) signing Bernardo Silva, needing to score 3 FPts to win. Silva had scored 4 FPts earlier in the gameweek (1 KP, 1 Int, 4Tk’s Won, 1 Yellow, 1 Mid Clean Sheet), and had scored a lowly 3½ last time City faced the FA Cup Final victors. Everything pointed to a narrow win for Wicker Park, and that’s exactly how it played out – nothing spectacular, no fireworks, just a single interception and another midfielder clean sheet for another 4 FPts.
So a valiant first BFFA Cup campaign for the rookies was ended at the penultimate round. SWP return to the BFFA Cup Final after 10 years away, and they’ll be hoping to the energy of their 2024 Champions League Final victory. Meanwhile Beedle’s Boys, who are already celebrating a title and a promotion to the third tier, will take their campaign into the final week with hopes of becoming the first rookies to win the Best-ish title since Mighty Fine in Season 3.
Beyer Neverleusen #4 52 – 67 Preliminary Version #18
After facing a dominant performance from Premier League-bound Prelim, the last of the returning Cup Winners wave goodbye to their dreams claiming it for a record third time, for this year at least. And so we will be crowning a new BFFA Cup champion in Gameweek 38!
The Man of the Match was Prelim’s Marc Guehi with 15 matchpoints from two clean sheets, including a shutout against his former teammates Crystal Palace. (It’s worth pointing out here that Guehi scored -2 whilst wearing the red & blue last time Palace played City). Martinez had the highest score for Neverleusen, 13 FPts from a single game which included four saves and an assist in their 2-2 draw against relegated Burnley.
Prelim utilised all four of their double gameweek stars – Guehi (15), Mitchell (6) and Strand Larsen (2.5) played in both games, while Khushanov (8) only appeared for the Palace rematch. Khushanov appeared for both Beyer and Prelim, as did Ndiaye (3).
Only Cherki (3+5) played twice for 12-man Neverleusen and didn’t score as well as hoped, despite making two key passes in both games. Neverleusen were further hampered by Hincapie’s injury preventing what could have been a clean sheet from Arsenal’s 1-0 win over struggling West Ham, and he was replaced by Tyrone Mings who, unlike his teammate Martinez, returned a negative score (-1.5). Conversely, Preliminary Version did receive Arsenal clean sheet points from Gabriel dos Santos Magalhaes (9), who also contributed one of Prelim’s nine shots-on-target. Although neither team scored a goal in the Semi-Final, there were plenty of chances, but not enough for Neverleusen to threaten Preliminary Version.
The Final
Gameweek 38
We have another All-Championship BFFA Cup Final this season. After their four League meetings this season, it looks like a very one-sided affair; Preliminary Version, 2nd in the league, whitewashed their rivals in 4th, claiming all twelve points and a promotion to the Premier League. Sporting Wicker Park are now ten points adrift of third place with only two games left. Their last game is against the league leaders, Barons, and (if Barons lose in GW37) tjat last.league match could prove crucial for Prelim’s title chase.
GW5: Preliminary Version 59 – 39 Sporting Wicker Park
GW14: Preliminary Version 61 – 44 Sporting Wicker Park
GW23: Preliminary Version 67½ – 55 Sporting Wicker Park
GW32: Preliminary Version 77 – 55 Sporting Wicker Park
A Cup Final Preview will be published very soon.
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