GW 10 – Review

GW 10 brought another action-packed week full of goals and the potential for big scores! It was also good to see that, despite a return to the fold for the top English and Scottish leagues, this did not hamper the high pick-rate for the lower-league sides who are raking in the selections at the moment! Here are the highlights from the weekend’s action….

While there was a dip in the number of entrants to Club 100 from 23 last week to just two here, Julie Roome and Mike McNab won’t mind one bit as they dine in the prestigious establishment. Julie’s super score of 112 edged out Mike by just 3 points, claiming top spot with excellent picks of 5 goal Liverpool (56 selections) and Grimsby Town (36), those pair being the real standout selections. On x6 and x7 respectively, The Reds and The Mariners bagged 65 points between them as 3 goal Altrincham Town (only 3 picks!) secured another 24 points on x8. 1 and 2 goal sides made up x2 through to x5, which got Julie’s score going and helped her over that 100 point line. Mike may be frustrated for getting so close to the top, but a seat at the table in Club 100 is nothing to be sniffed at!

Goals have been in abundance for the last few gameweeks as the Perfect 7 score reached the 160s for the third week running! Top scorer Julie did well to select two of the three named sides in the P7 this week, with Montrose (just one selection!) joining Liverpool and Grimsby Town at the sharp end of the matrix by thumping Clyde 5-0. Any 4 goal side on x2 to x5 with these three teams as your spearhead would have seen you reach 161 points and a juicy jackpot prize of £7,777!  Those 4 goal teams were aplenty too; Leicester City stunned Manchester Utd with a 4-2 victory in a ding-dong end to a goal-laden game that drew just seven selections in total. Fulham (8 picks), Wigan Athletic (2), Rotherham Utd (6), Harrow Borough (0) and Southend Utd (7) each bagged four too, the latter two in the crazy world of FA Cup Qualifying, while Peterhead (1) and East Fife (0) were the only Scottish sides to score a fantastic four goals. 

The lack of selections among the top-scoring sides at the weekend explains why the average score for GW 10 reached just 30 points – not a bad average necessarily, but a significant dip from the averages of 45 and 59 from the last two weeks. The 14 minus scores recorded also had a bearing on this average, although we’ve seen far worse this season! The return of Premier League sides did not deter many players from maintaining trust in the lower-league outfits. However, Burnley’s visit to the Etihad Stadium seemed too good an opportunity to miss and so Manchester City were the weekend’s most popular choice with 93 picks. The Cityzens were the most popular ‘banker’ pick at x2 and dominated the score-building selections as well on x6, x7 and x8! Liverpool were the most popular x3 and x4 choice, while Grimsby Town were the most selected x5 side.

Overall it was a productive, if unexceptional, week of TUG action for many of you. Those of you who missed out did so mainly because of those rogue results in the FA Cup; strong favourites Halifax Town, Wrexham, Notts County and Woking all failed miserably against part-time opposition, costing hundreds and hundreds of points across the board. More proof that there are no ‘gimmes’ in this game.

GW11’s early kick-offs see Norwich City visit Chelsea and Middlesborough take a long trip to Cardiff City – select them at your own risk! Good Luck!

-Sam Brooke-Wilkinson