Happy New Year one and all. The BFFA website is live once again and we return with a big announcement – the result of the Winter Cup Final.
>> Saturday
>> Sunday
>> Final Score
Pre-match
stilluvQPR made two transfers before the Boxing Day deadline. Robert Sanchez (not the international superstar DJ) was brought in to replace Mat Ryan between the sticks for the Seagulls and Cesar Azpilicueta was signed for the Leeds defender Luke Ayling. Fossvogur made no squad changes in the lead up to the Final.
Fossvogur will be hoping to finish the first day with a comfortable lead; they have three players more than their opponents set to play on Saturday, including four who are in the opening match at the King Power and five players in the game at The Etihad. Subsequentially stilluvQPR have more players playing on Sunday including the top two high-scoring strikers Salah and Son.
Boxing Day – 26th December 2020
Matchday 1 of 2
The match started promisingly for Fossvogur with Rashford opening the scoring in the first game of the weekend, shortly after heading over the bar himself moments before. Maguire, de Gea and Justin all conceded a couple of goals and collected two points each for their teams and Pogba also made a second half appearance for one.
Nothing much happened in the two following matches, other than Ward-Prowse picking up a useful midfield clean sheet point away at Fulham. Over at the Emirates in the afternoon, Chelsea began well with two players starting for stilluvQPR, but faded out quite quickly. Mason Mount hit the outside of the post from his free kick early in the first half, but then Chelsea didn’t have another shot on target until Tammy Abraham chested the ball past Leno, and endured a VAR decision, to equalise for stilluvQPR. Gabriel Magalhães was a late omission from the game due to CoVid protocols after he discovered that he had been in contact with some who had tested positive for the disease. He will miss the next two games as well.
In the evening games, Manchester City beat Newcastle United 2-0 at home and Everton won 1-0 away at Sheffield United. The City win saw Raheem Sterling taking the ball into the six-yard box before teeing up Gundogan to open the scoring. Sterling won five points for Fossvogur who unfortunately had four other players absent from that match – Mendy and Mahrez remained unused on the bench; Walker and Saint-Maximin weren’t featured at all. With Trezeguet injured too, Fossvogur would only have a maximum of eight players active this weekend.
Finally, in the other evening match, the only goal of the game was put away by Gylfi Sigurdsson from just inside the 18-yard box in the 80th minute, scoring eight points for both teams tonight. Everton’s clean sheet was worth one point for Gylfi and four more for stilluvQPR’s Yerry Mina in defence. Alex Iwobi sits on three points on QPR’s bench.
With all of that, there was only three points between the teams at the end of the day.
stilluvQPR 27 – 24 Fossvogur
stilluvQPR
Goals: Sigurdsson (80′), Abraham (85′)
G: 2 AT: 0 YC: 0 RC: 0
Players Remaining: 5 (+1 sub)
Fossvogur FC
Goals: Rashford (23′), Sigurdsson (80′)
G: 2 AT: 1 YC: 0 RC: 0
Players Remaining: 2 (+1 sub)
Sunday – 27th December 2020
Matchday 2 of 2
In the second half of the Final there were nine players available, but none of them scored more than three points. Kalvin Phillips was the first to appear for Fossvogur, lining up in the centre of the Leeds defence against Burnley and successfully kept a clean sheet at home, although only earning a single extra point as a midfielder. Following that, Sanchez kept goal away at the Olympic Stadium and was able to keep West Ham from scoring for 59 minutes, but then Ben Johnson shot through a crowd from ten yards and denied stilluvQPR a second defensive clean sheet.
The penultimate game of the weekend featured Sam Johnstone on both squads, but both had already seen their starting GK appear elsewhere so he wasn’t needed. That meant that stilluvQPR had a great opportunity to extend their lead with Wijnaldum and Salah starting for Liverpool. Both men came close to scoring in the first half. Robertson crossed the ball across the six-yard line in the sixth minute, tantalisingly close to the outstretched leg of Salah approaching the back post, and in the twenty-second minute Wijnaldum headed over from a corner. Salah had a couple more shots in the second half but in the end neither player added to their appearance points and Liverpool took away a disappointing point for a 1-1 draw.
Finally, with the score at 33-25 to stilluvQPR, both players put out Spurs players hoping to secure the win. Fossvogur had Reguilon start for Spurs as a left wingback; stilluvQPR played Son up front and had Alderweireld ready to replace Azpilicueta from the Spurs bench. It was Son who had the first effort of the game within the first minute as he took the ball to the bye line, but Patricio covered the shot and the ball went out for a corner. From that corner Davies laid the ball off for Ndombele who put it away from outside the area.
Less than fifteen minutes later Reguilon found himself in the centre of the box with Ndombele crossing in the ball towards himself and Kane. The cross reached Reguilon who headed the ball wide of the left post. Six minutes later, he had another chance at goal; unmarked in the area with the ball at his feet, but his shot was caught comfortably by the Wolves keeper. The second half, neither player had any more chances to speak of, and Alderweireld wasn’t brought on. Reguilon was substituted for Bergwijn in the 63rd minute and Spurs conceded a late goal, wiping away his clean sheet in his absence. The Final ended there; stilluvQPR collecting four fantasy points at the end and Fossvogur only two more.
Final Totals:
stilluvQPR
Goals: Sigurdsson (80′), Abraham (85′)
Min: 894 G: 2 AT: 0 YC: 0 RC: 0 CS: 1 Sv: 2
Fossvogur FC
Goals: Rashford (23′), Sigurdsson (80′)
Min: 639 G: 2 AT: 1 YC: 0 RC: 0 CS: 0 Sv: 1
Final Score
stilluvQPR 35 – 27 Fossvogur
Congratulations to stilluvQPR on their first BFFA Cup win!
They will be in the Super Cup Final in Gameweek 35 to face the Spring Cup Champions for a chance to win another title and a further $50.
The second edition of the BFFA Cup in this season, the 2021 Spring Cup, begins in Gameweek 21 on Saturday 30th January.
All 40 teams will be back in the hat and the 1st & 2nd Round draws will take place on the weekend of the 23rd-25th January, after the big January double gameweek, GW19. The top twenty-four teams after GW19 will get a First-Round bye and will go straight into the Second Round Draw.
Hope you all have fantastic year! Here’s to better times, better football, better prospects. Cheers!
Great write up Jon! You do a fantastic job detailing all the action. Big thanks for all the work you put in, it is greatly appreciated!