The BFFA Cup Second Round is known around the world for being a great leveller of teams and managers. It’s where the giants must prove themselves against the point-poor and win-shy teams below them. Normal strategies go out the window and often teams go into their matches blind to who their opponents are fielding. All forty teams have now been entered into the Cup, more than half are already out. Here’s how the Second Round played out.
It could be the shock of the season – League Two strugglers Mourinho-lo have just knocked out Cup Holders Tralfamadore Zoo, 50-47 in the closest game of the Round. The team bottom of the Best-ish table put up a half-century to get their first win over the League One leaders and progress to the Third Round for the first time.
The Sowinski Derby was settled by a full fourteen points and it was the League One team that overcame their Championship rivals. A goal from Rashford, a pair of clean sheets from the goalless draw between Brighton and Watford and nine saves for Leno weren’t enough to save the blushes of GoFYS.
Number 2 side, the powerful Cabezazo Increible, have also been dumped out of the Cup, depsite scoring 57. The reinvigorated Cornballers FC have now survived a replay and a match against one of the best teams of the season to prove their staying power. They will no doubt be praying for an easier draw in the next round.
If you thought scoring 57 and losing would be bad, spare a thought for 2017 Cup Winners Bigger Than Brolin who scored 58 this week only to be knocked out by the team ranked 38th, Banana Swans. They are one of four Premier League teams to be eliminated in the Second Round this year.
The highest losing score ever in the BFFA Cup was 62 – scored by K.H. Granitza Sting when they lost to Sporting Wicker Park in the Second Round of the 2017 Cup (it finished 81-62). That record was matched this week by the new Champions League Champions All Star Gunners as they went out to…K.H. Granitza Sting, 66-62!
The fifth-placed team in the Best-ish rankings, Hung Like A Bony, were also knocked out unexpectedly this week by Wijnaldum Leviosa, who always seem to turn up on Cup weekends. They were one of five teams to be taken out by a score above 70, in this case – 73-51.
Only one of the teams ranked in the top five going into this Cup weekend survived to see the Third Round! Mighty Fine Feeling have ended whatever hoodoo was hanging over them and won both their League and Cup games with the highest Cup score of the week. League Two runaways, Route 57, see their Cup campaign come to an end at the Second Round for the second year running.
The other three teams to pass the 70-point mark were Smash & Grab (#11), Glentoran FC (#23) and RelicFC (#35). They comfortably knocked out the teams ranked #14, #15 & #16 by 27, 28 & 29 points. The all-Premier League fixture between Smash & Grab and Bigo1 ended in a rout for the higher-ranked S&G. Glentoran knocked out Branwellington FC, a team thirteen places above them overall and RelicFC surprised everyone by racking up 70 to pass League Two promotion-chasers Tiger Tail Reta.
The lowest-scoring winners of the Round were FC Santa Barbara with a normally-average score of 44. They knocked out their League rivals in a week that saw The Money Team beat Bigger Than Brolin in the Premier League, moving Money above Vanishing Spray into first place and allowing FCSB to pull three points closer to BtB.
Another League rivalry was played out between Sugar Daddies and Harambe Hotspur FC of League Two ended with the underdogs taking a 19-point lead and booking themselves a place in the next round. It will be their first time there. Also making their first appearance in the Third Round will be PSV Wide Open. They knocked out the Premier League’s East Loop United FC 51-44.
Two Premier League teams who have twice made it to the final eight, Chucky Pad Warriors and The Money Team, are into the Third Round again thanks to over-60 scores against Championship teams Boss’ Blues and Sporting Wicker Park. Chucky Pad, ranked #32 in the Best-ish table, were extremely unlucky not to win their League match this week with the second-best score in the League. The Money Team, with the third best score, are now top of the greatest League in the world by a single League point.
Yer Man have also been to the Third Round once before, last year, and will put in another game there again after a five-point win over Gloopy Yarbles. Yer Man get closer the Cup Final every season. In 2016 they were knocked out in the First Round, then the Second in 2017, then the Third in 2018. With that sort of progression they’ll make it to the Quarters this year, a bad omen for whoever is drawn aainst them! The Third Round Draw is on Saturday February 16th. Watch it live on Facebook at 11am CST.
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