Competition Update 12/01/2024

Roberto Di Statteo
Jan 12, 2024
6 min read

THE NORTH EAST IS BLACK AND WHITE

... but enough of that... let's move onto things that are actually competitive, like...

Scorecast

A scrollable, full table can be seen here: toontalk.uk/scorecast

Once again, plenty of movement near the top, but not at the top, as Yin Mo does enough to stay 1st for a 5th week in a row (and 8th week overall). Several of the top 10 outscore him -David Threadgill [11], Colin French [10], Julie Roseblade [12], #1 seed John Thompson [11], and Joseph Askew [12] (who enters the top 10 for the first time this season), but Yin's 8 points were enough to maintain a comfortable lead, although it's now down from 7 to 6 points. Sean Rafferty is outright top scorer for the round with an impressive 15 points, only one shy of his personal best. He's also the joint-biggest climber at 18 positions (30th to 12th). Also ran: Martin Soulsby up 16 places to 17th, scoring 12 points.

I'm hopefully showing signs of getting into the top 20 now, my 9 points putting some distance between me and John Waters, who only manages 7. Lyn Allman is the other top climber and second-top scorer with 14 points, up 18 places. Karl Hull [12], Darren Wilkinson [11] and Kay Waters [10] also hit double figures.

Good scores for Jim Mullen [11] and Rory Shoemaker [11] who climb 10 places each. In fact, good scores on the whole as we've had to go all the way down to 50th, Graham Thompson [5], to find anyone below a 6.

John Strafford [11] climbs 12 places but remains the lowest-placing player to score double figures for the round. Other than the zeroes there's nothing lower than a 5 here, either, and some of you look like you might even make a bit of a surge over the second half of the season. Ross Macdonald is the biggest faller this week, down 20 places to 64th.

From now on, if there's no movement or points from 81 downwards, I won't print that part of the table, but here it is.

Tablecast

A scrollable, full table can be found here: toontalk.uk/tablecast

As we pass the half-way point, here's the table of number of Gameweeks spent in the top 10. I say Gameweeks... I've only done 18 and there's been 20 games as sometimes it just made more sense to merge one or two together if there were a bunch of games being played across 2 weeks or something. Anyway, I digress.

WEEKS SPENT IN THE TOP 10 1. Brian Waite (13 total incl. 4 consecutive until now, currently 6th) 2. Robert Pentland (12 total, 5 consecutive until now, currently 3rd) 3= Angie Stanger-Leathes (11 total, 9 consecutive until now, currently 10th) 3= Julie Roseblade (11 total, 4 consecutive until now, currently 4th)

5= John Christian (6 total, 4 consecutive until now, currently 7th) 5= Freddie Rouse (6 total, longest run 4, currently 13th) 5= David Waters (6 total, longest run 4, currently 16th) 5= Stephen Wallace (6 total, longest run 3, currently 25th)

9= Joseph Askew (5 total, 2 consecutive until now, currently 2nd) 9= Roy Parkinson (5 total, longest run 3, currently 23rd) 9= John Waters (5 total, longest run 3, currently 27th)

Joseph Askew has flirted with the top 10 this season and has barely been out of the top half, but this is only the second time this season he's stayed in the top 10 for consecutive Gameweeks. Glenn Harrison holds onto top spot for the second week in a row... in fact it's only Stevie Spowart and Roy Parkinson who drop out of the top 10, replaced by Stephen Renforth who's back for the first time since September, and Jack Burke who reaches the top 10 for the first time this season. Freddie Rouse is our biggest climber, up 45 places to 13th.

Trevor Milburn is the farthest faller this Gameweek, and now props up the top half of the table. Stevie Spowart is the furthest faller from the top 10. June Payne and Ron Patterson are our second- and third-biggest climbers, respectively.

Admin Tony Slater back into the bottom half for the first time since early November, but only just. Christopher Coe and Martin Soulsby are our second- and third-biggest fallers, dropping 27 and 23 places respectively. Simon Coles, now 71st, was in 2nd place as recently as late November.

Rick Pike's drop of 22 places mightn't seem that drastic compared to some others this week, but he was 10th the week before that! My missus back to the bottom of the league :(

Fantasy League

Jonathan Adamson - if you're reading this, I can no longer see your team on Fantasy Premier League for some reason. As such, I'm going to have to put zeroes in for your score. Please let us know if you're having issues - we'll be able to correct things retrospectively.

Mobile version of the Fantasy League interface is taking a while to put together. For now, please use a desktop PC or Mac, or a tablet, or "desktop mode" on your phone. If you have a phone (or other device) with Google Sheets, you can access the full record of all of the Fantasy League results by clicking this button:

Toontalk Fantasy League Spreadsheet

League Divisions

It's a regular league GW this time around - all of the info about the leagues can be found here:

Toontalk Fantasy League Division Tables

I'll start with the fixtures, as the deadline to change your teams for Gameweek 21 is tomorrow (13/01/2024) at 11:00.

The Premier Division is getting interesting with Chris Parvin, Stephen Towers and Susan Kinghorn all sitting on 33 points. What makes it more interesting is that Stephen and Susan are playing each other, while Chris has the on-paper simpler task of beating Lee Petty, who sits 11th with a paltry 18 points.

I've won 5 on the bounce but now I'm up against Craig Purvis who's 3rd, though he has lost 2 of his last 3 so I'm in with a shout. Enda McGuane has also won 5 in a row in the league; he takes on 2nd-placed Liam Frost. Could to with either James Crunkhorn or Rob Hutchinson upsetting one of the guys above us!

The top of League One looks a bit like the top of the Prem, with Bob Douglass, Simon Morton and Stephen Wallace separated by only a point. Bob takes on 4th-placed Graham Clark this week, while Simon and Stephen take on 11th-placed Scott Bucktrout and 12th-placed Jonny Hedley, respectively.

It's 1st v 4th in League Two as well, with Ashley Birchall, top and undefeated in 5, taking on Reid Huntington. Daryl Coombs started at the very top with Steve Beggs taking longer than anyone in the competition to get his first point... now they face each other after their fortunes have changed over recent weeks, and Steve could leapfrog Daryl with a win.

In NL1, John Thomas looks a shoe-in for the title having won 10 in a row (11 unbeaten). Ross Percy has fallen away a bit, still in 2nd, but now 15 points adrift after losing 3 in a row. Greg Surtees and David Munroe in 3rd and 4th have always been there or thereabouts... could any of them shake things up? Well, it's John v Greg and David v Ross, so we'll soon find out.

Ben Harper and Sam Benton look to increase the gap to 3rd as they take on NL2 relegation candidates David Bell and Callum Wink, respectively. Graham Testo and Ali Roberts (3rd v 4th) face each other.

NL3 leader Joshua Lian has lost 2 of his last 3 - he takes on 6th-placed David Martin while 2nd-placed Ryan Jensen takes on 3rd-placed Stuart Latimer. In NL4, leader Ilkka Pentilla has won 7 in a row and looks to increase an 8-point lead against 10th-placed Frankie Durham.

Manager of the Month

The Manager of the Month and Manager of the Week tables can be found here:

Toontalk Fantasy League Manager Awards

For December, though, the results are:

PREMIER LEAGUE 1. Andrew Young - 146 2. Susan Kinghorn - 130 3. Kim Fong - 124

CHAMPIONSHIP 1. Robert Hutchinson - 143 2. Craig Purvis - 136 3. Rob Waters - 131 LEAGUE ONE 1. Graham Clark - 145 2. David Morton - 140 3. Simon Morton - 139 LEAGUE TWO 1. Steve Beggs - 153 2. Ashley Birchall - 147 3. Lee Riley - 141 NATIONAL LEAGUE ONE 1. Greg Surtees - 128 2. Mark Tolson - 124 3. Dan Potter - 123 NATIONAL LEAGUE TWO 1. Ben Harper - 141 2. Mike Waters - 140 3. David Miller - 139 NATIONAL LEAGUE THREE 1. Ryan Jensen - 142 2. Stuart Latimer - 132 3. Peter Christie - 127 NATIONAL LEAGUE FOUR 1. Ilkka Pentilla - 146 2. Ian Garrett - 130 3. PK Currie - 124

Toontalk Fantasy League Tournament

As for the tournament, we're underway with the Round of 16. Lee Riley certainly favourite to get past Ibrahim Halawi leading by 16 points. Greg Surtees, Peter Thompson and John Davidson have narrower advantages.

Joshua Lian and John Thomas are neck and neck in their fixture and the Battle of the Davids is also very close. Ben Harper has the largest lead going into the second leg after beating Reid Huntington by 24 points.

The second leg of the Last 16 matches will take place in GW 22, commencing 30th January. You can find all the Tournament information here:

Toontalk Fantasy League Tournament