Toontalk Competition Report - 30/10/2023

SCORECAST

Click here to go to the Scorecast page:

Scorecast

There's a change at the top, and three people tie the top score for the round, 14 points. One of those is David Threadgill who unseats Yin Mo, the latter having been consistently either 1st or 2nd in the table since the beginning of the competition. Threadgill himself started 18th, but since week 2 hasn't left the top 5, so it looks like those two might be involved in the title race this season, no matter whom else it involves. Julie Roseblade, Mal Peary, Jordan McKeown (who also top-scored with 14) and Colin French all solidify their positions in the top 10 with a climb, and Kjetil Rykkje joins the top 10 again for the first time since Round 3. Stephen Hill climbs 22 places to 9th, and is the third 14-point player for the round. Our biggest climber is David Smith, up from 58th to 21st; conversely, Mark Turnbull is our biggest faller plummeting from 24th to 72nd. I've fallen from 3rd to 10th, but have been consistently in the top 10 since Round 2 - that'll do me!

Here's the table:

Deadline for Scorecast is 3pm on Saturday - visit toontalk.uk/scorecast to enter your scores, if you've not done it already.

TABLECAST

Click here to go to the Tablecast page:

Tablecast

First of all, I'm very pleased to say that my better half Sarah Waters is finally off the bottom of the table; commiserations to Richard Rigg, who takes her place. Nobody has "correct champion" points with Spurs being top of the league (sorry, Spurs fans among you) but Julie Roseblade, recent addition to the Scorecast top 10, has retaken the lead for the first time since the beginning of the month. Angie Stanger-Leathes climbs 19 places to register her best position of the season so far (3rd) and John Waters climbs 8 places to register his own PB of 5th. Derek Schofield is back up to 7th, also his best position, and another PB setter is David Smith, who is back in the top 10 for the first time since opening week. Leaving the top 10 are Stuart Latimer who plummets to 37th, David Waters (or biggest faller) from 7th to 59th, Les Anderson from 6th to 12th, Karl Hull from 9th to 30th and, perhaps most notably, Mark Habbishaw's time in the top 10 has come to an end as he loses his top spot and falls to 22nd place. Meanwhile, Henk Postma is soaring as he climbs from 62nd to 14th.

FANTASY LEAGUE

The Fantasy League pages are still under development - apologies for the delay. For the time being, to check out what's going on in the Fantasy League competitions, just visit the read-only spreadsheet:

Fantasy League Spreadsheet

GW9 featured the 8th game of each league division, and the third and final game of the tournament group stages.

In the new-look spreadsheet, I've assigned everyone a code based on their initials, to make it easier to automate all of the league tables. Your code will remain the same this season, but will likely change for many of you next season.

LEAGUE TABLES

PREMIER LEAGUE

Kay recorded a second Manager of the Week award in a row to beat John 80-57 in the Waters derby but John is still ahead of her in the league, though now only on points difference. Stephen Towers remains top of the league after a very close match with Andrew Young, a similarly narrow victory sees Kim Fong hold onto 3rd place, and Daniel Bishop's dismal form continues at the other end of the table.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Very little separates Ian and Liam at the top of the second flight - Liam's 6th win in a row makes him the joint-longest winning streak holder in the whole league system; Ian's victory over 3rd-placed Ibrahim Halawi has widened the gap at the top a bit. Dean Hadfield's second win of the season was, unfortunately, at my own expense. This sees him off the bottom of the table and at my heels, at the expense of Robert Hutchinson. Ian Thirkeld is manager of the week for the second time on the bounce.

LEAGUE ONE

Stephen Wallace climbs to 2nd place after a second Manager of the Week performance in three weeks. David Morton's second win in a row wasn't enough to get him off the bottom of the table but he's now only there on points difference (by 12, which is probably the equivalent of about half a goal difference). Yin Mo's unbeaten run comes to an end with a defeat to Bob Douglass, who's back up to 3rd.

LEAGUE TWO

Reid Huntington is Manager of the Week after a 98-78 win over Roy Parkinson. He (RH02) switches places wit Richard Harrison (RH03) whose 4-game winning streak comes to an end against Ashley Birchall, who is absolutely smashing it at the top with another win; Steve Beggs still remains the only player in the league system not to have won a match, yet. 4th-placed John Davidson was the only home player to win, vs Beggs, to stay in his position in the league. Lee Riley very unlucky to lose with a 90+ score.

NATIONAL LEAGUE ONE

John Thomas and Ross Percy both make it 4-in-a-row and climb to 1st and 2nd respectively, knocking David Munroe down to 3rd. Ciaran O'Toole finally gets his first win since GW2, to rocket him to 8th position, clear of relegation playoffs. His score of 104 against Dan Potter gets him Manager of the Week as well, and is the highest score in the whole Toontalk Fantasy League system.

NATIONAL LEAGUE TWO

David Miller climbs out of the relegation playoff zone with a Manager of the Week performance; Dubai Micky narrowly beats 5th-placed Alex Banks. Ben Harper and Sam Benton both with relatively comfortable wins, the former beating Raju Daju who falls to 3rd place. Sam's win is his 4th in a row, and Mike Waters is now 5 points into the automatic relegation area.

NATIONAL LEAGUE THREE

Joshua Lian looks like he'll eventually become the first player to secure promotion this season; Les Anderson very unlucky to not make it 3 wins in a row having scored only 2 points less than Joshua, but ultimately facing the Manager of the Week, Callum Henderson, who hit 97. Colin Wesbroom's second defeat in a row still not causing him to cede second place, after David Martin has a shocker against Barry Winter.

NATIONAL LEAGUE FOUR

PK Currie is Manager of the Week for the first time this season but Matthew Pike is the one with the headlines, his 6th win in a row the equal longest current streak in the Toontalk Fantasy League system and he, like Joshua in the league above, looks certain to go up a division if he continues the form shown at this relatively early stage. Gokula Maanickam's early dominance looks to be frittering away with a third defeat in a row.

TOURNAMENT UPDATE

All the results for all of the Tournament games so far can be viewed on the Spreadsheet, which can be accessed via the button at the top of this page, but I'll put them here as well. You might need to view on a device where you can zoom in.

Those of you who are in the top 2 of your group have qualified for Round 2. The best 16 3rd-placed finishers also go through, and here's their table:

This means that out of the competition go:

Barry Winter, Alex Banks, Andrew Barcs, Mike Waters, Kim Fong, David Miller, John Waters, Adam Close, Stuart Latimer, Ali Roberts, Archie Walker, Jonathan Ireland, Yiu Keung Tsang, Michael Hannard, Mark Tolson, Jonathan McGrath, Neil Wilson, Callum Wink, Peter Christie, Steve Beggs, Scott Bucktrout, Graham Testo, Rory Shoemaker, Raju Daju, Joe Bullimore, David Martin, Tony Slater, Daniel Bishop, Laura Martin, Simon Baxter, Robert Pentland and Lee Girdlestone.

If your name isn't on that list, you've made it to Round 2 - group winners into Pot 1, group runners up into Pot 2, and 3rd-placed players into Pot 3. Here's the list:

COMING UP

I've had a bit of a delay with doing the draw - it'll be no later than this Wednesday and will take place in the following order:

All Pot 3 teams will be drawn against Pot 1 opposition The remaining Pot 1 teams will be drawn against Pot 2 opposition

The remaining Pot 2 teams will be drawn against each other

I will try to live-stream it but it might be tricky to do a screen share on Facebook Live. It will not be possible for players to be drawn against teams from their own group, in Round 2, but will be possible from Round 3 onwards. Round 2 is also the first round in which players from the same division could potentially face each other.

Round 2 of the tournament is due to take place in GW12, alongside Round 3 of the cup. GW10 is being processed now and GW11 deadline is this Saturday, 4th November. GWs 10 and 11 will feature league games only.

That's all for the report, everyone. Good luck in all the competitions!

- Rob