This week we have two more club profiles to show you :)

Hobgoblin FC

(The Jager boys)

The Manager

Chris Mennell is an optimistic fellow who always believes that his team will make it through. His enthusiasm for management is matched only by his love of Worcester sauce Wheat Crunchies.

Star Player

25 year old dynamic Russian forward Dmitry Sychev provides most of the firepower. Currently locked in a battle with Notvery Athletics Anderson atop the League A goalscoring charts, he has overshadowed his more illustrious team mate Lisandro Lopez who has been hit by injury.

Season Aims

A top 5 finish in the league, or failing that success in one of the cups. With a team that blows hot & cold one match to the next, it could be a bumpy ride.

Youngster to Watch

21 year old Hungarian youngster Adam Hrepka took his chance when several 1st team regulars were injured, helping to carry the goalscoring burden of the team. Such was his impact that former star striker Patrick Helmes has been surplus to requirements at the Hob.

London F.C.

(The Lites)

After a first game loss, London Hibernian F.C. underwent dramatic changes, concerned the teams poor run of over 20 games without a win, the board and players alike agreed they were not capable of the task and resigned en masse (Restarted). A new Chairman quickly stepped up, reforming the club under the new name of London F.C. sacrificing the Hibernian brand due to costly licensing costs demanded by the previous owner.

The Manager

After hearing the news of the reform, Jay Kotak got to work quickly, working through the night to install his new squad, based on the philosophy of good teamwork, high spirits and most importantly, fast flowing attractive football.

Star Player

When asked on the matter Kotak responded with a twinkle in his eyes - "All my players are stars in their own right, and as long as they work well together, I’m sure they can shine bright". However, the media have been quick to pick out the signing of Russian Attacking Midfielder - Marat Izmailov, who boasts an impressive past, with just shy of 100 games under his belt he has regularly set the crowds cheering by bagging 33 goals and creating 39 assists.

Season Aims

While this new squad is relatively unknown and untested, it has started strongly and finds them performing well in the top half of the table. Whilst the bookmakers have said mid table obscurity is all that could be hoped given the recent changes, the fans are hopeful that under Kotak the club have every chance of sneaking a play-off position in the League B.

Youngster to Watch

In his rebuilding, Kotak opted for experience over youth - with only 3 first team players under the age of 24 on the books, he was however quick to point out that they have an impressive youth academy bursting with players, and was quoted using the timeless phrase "If they are good enough, they are old enough."

Match Reports

6th August 2007

League A

League A correspondent: Marc Ackter

The big news in League A this week is Notvery Athletic FC’s capture of Brazil’s pacey right –back Cicinho. His addition to the Notvery squad has seen Ackter’s lads storm up the rankings and after 12 undefeated League A games they lay 4^th in the world. Notvery find them selves 4 points ahead of second place Les Facetieux Dandys Parisiens with 11 games in hand. 3^rd placed team Hobgoblin FC find themselves way off the pace with 25 points separating them and first place. With only three games in hand over Notvery, the Jager Boys will find it tough going to catch up.

Elsewhere in the table Les Facetieux Dandys Parisiens weakened their persuit of the top spot with a 3-3 draw at home to relegation battlers KaisAYR IFC. Dean Ashton opened the scoring after only a minute of play to put KaisAYR IFC in the lead. The Parisians equalized in the 42^nd minute with an Alessandro Noselli wonder-strike into the top right corner of the net. 8 minutes later Diego Tardelli slices open the KaisAYR defense for Belgian Tom Caluwe to put the Parisiens ahead.

Seconds later Dean Ashton gave away possession and allowed the Parisiens to launch a counter attack resulting in Diego Tardelli notching one for himself.

Within five minutes Dean Ashton, clearly fuming at costing his side a goal, fired across the keeper for his second goal of the game and giving KaisAYR a lifeline. With only seconds remaining on the clock a lucky deflection off Parisiens defender Christoph Metzelder allows Brazilian substitute Wilson to equalize in dramatic fashion.

Bottom of the table Franconaute Athletic FC found themselves facing title contenders Hobgoblin on a dry afternoon at the Stade municipal Ar Sparfell in Dijon, France. While Hobgoblin dominated possession their attack just couldn’t take advantage and soon found themselves 1-0 down to a Jaroslav Plasil goal. Despite throwing everything at Franconaute the Jager Boys just couldn’t break through and Franconaute held on for their first win of the season.

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League B

League B correspondent: Jay Kotak

After suffering 2 early league defeats, Woodford Voc were still searching for their first league win, whilst Steagu' Rosu Brasov were looking to keep up their winning ways which had seen them dubbed as early title contenders.

What followed was a surprisingly lackluster first half, with both teams failing to make their mark on the game. The crowd behind the goal making more saves than both goalkeepers put together. But just as we were starting to doze off, with just over half an hour to play a quickfire double saw Neto tuck a header in at the near post and Carsten Janker slot home a nicely organized move.

Steagu' adopted a bold change in tactics and were duly rewarded 10 minutes later when Cizmar tucked in a header after a sloppy clearance from Woodford. Suspicions of offside were swiftly dismissed. Before Woodford had a chance to react, the ball was in the back of the net again with Alavi breaking the offside trap to equalize.

But this game was not over yet, Stegu' were on the warpath, and at 74 minutes Jairo slotted home after a well-timed counter attack. However, Woodford proved they were capable of a comeback themselves, forcing a free kick with which Haznadar promptly set the net rippling to bring the score to 3-3.

At 85 minutes, a draw looked like a fair result with both teams struggling for fitness, the final whistle loomed ever near, but continuing with their never say die attitude, Steagu' pushed forward, and with nearly the very last kick of the game, Cizmar earnt his Man of the Match performance by scoring a 25 yard screamer into the top right hand corner.

With the first weekend of League B action nearing an end, we saw our busiest day of the season so far, with no fewer than 46 games taking place on Sunday, one of which was the exciting clash between Cuba Street Elite and Merseyside FC - both mid-table teams looking to push up the league in hope of a play-off position.

Cuba Street Elite kicked off on their quick-paced, end-to-end pitch dubbed ‘The Cage’ but Merseyside proved they weren’t going to be intimidated by the home crowd and were unlucky not to have the lead after 13 minutes when a quickly taken corner was headed home by Nunes only for the referee to disallow it after a push on Diego Alonso.

It  was Alonso who proved to be a further thorn in the Scousers’ side when 10 minutes later he slotted home into the bottom corner of the net after poor defending left him unmarked in the centre of the area. Full of confidence, Cuba Street Elite kept up the pressure and Nunes cost Merseyside another goal.

Credit to Merseyside FC, they kept it together and made sure they didn’t concede any more, and a few last minute substitutes gave them a breath of freshness allowing them to sneak a last minute equalizer. Emerson Acuña's strike from the edge of the area shooting past the keeper in the 93^rd minute.

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AFA League Cup

Cup correspondent: Cian Fahey

As the AFA season continues to burst into life, the League Cup has entered its infancy and has produced one huge shock already as Karakura Superheroes suffered a smash-and-grab loss at the hands of Newcastle Utd FC.

Newcastle’s Anthony Elding settled matters after an early own goal by Francis, despite the lively Zdenek Senkerik's 75th minute piece of magic to beat Akhiro Sato at his near post.

Karakura will be disappointed with their faith as they dominated the game for large patches, and will now have to focus on their relegation battle in League 'A'.

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Read the first installment here!

Read the third installment here!