Friday, 1 June 2018

Last Update of the Season

The final whistle has been blown on our historic 35th  Season of Golden Goals and what a great season it was for goals. But it was the season that we managed to beat our highest ever recorded number of entries with 149. The success of this season was all down to you. The good news is that we do not have to wait long for the next season to start. Although we once again lost a few friends this season, we have also gained a lot of new ones. Lets hope that we can continue with this nice run as we have had a lot of success over our full 35 year history of Golden Goals.

This season we have had a few  records that have been broken this season, but more on this later. I hope that you have had a lot of fun watching your name go up and down the table and as shown above is where your combination of teams have left you standing in the final position of the season. But before we go all into that, lets take a look at what happened to the last few games of the season.

FA Cup Final
Congratulations to CHELSEA on winning the FA Cup for a record eight time as they beat MANCHESTER UNITED 1-0 in a very disappointed final at Wembley. Chelsea’s goal came from a penalty scored by Hazard in the first 22nd minute of the game. Chelsea dominated the first half but United came out fighting in the second half with end to end football. Chelsea have finished this season in fifth place in the Premiership on a total of 85 goals while United finished in second place some 19 points behind their rivals Manchester City on a total of 87, but they had scored just one goal in their last four games of the season.

Scottish WILLIAM HILL Cup Final
Champions CELTIC won the Scottish Cup final for the 38th time after they beat Motherwell 2-0 at Hampden Park to become the first Scottish team to win successive domestic Trebles. Both of Celtic’s goals came in the first 25 minutes of the first half which now gives them a final goals total of 105 for the season. They now have a record run of scoring 100 or more goals in eight consecutive seasons. They finished the season 9 points clear of second place Aberdeen., They had a total of 13 votes this season which is the highest that any of our Golden Goals teams have had in our 35 year history.

Championship Play-Offs
In the Championship Play-Offs, FULHAM went a goal down against Derby away in the first leg. But in the second leg, Fulham came back and won 2-0 at home to win 2-1 on aggregate. ASTON VILLA drew 0-0 against MIDDLESBROUGH in the first leg and then won 1-0 at home in the second leg to win 1-0 on aggregate. It was Villas thirteenth blank of the season. Middlesbrough picked up their fourteenth blank and had failed to score in their last two games. Brough finished on a total of 75 goals which is their best score in their last eight appearances.

In the final we ended up with both teams playing for a place in the premiership. ASTON VILLA and FULHAM. It was Fulham that took the early lead after 23 minutes of play and it remained that score after the full 90 minutes even when Fulham’s Odoi was sent off after a second booking in the 70th minute. Fulham who finished in third place in the league are now going to play in the premiership. They finished on a total of 84 goals and it is their best score in their last five appearances.
Aston Villa who finished in fourth place, picked up their fourteenth blank of the season and just one goal in their last four games of the season. They end on a total of 80 goals which is their highest score equaling their best score of 2009/10.

League One Play-Offs
In the League One Play-Off Semi-Final Second Leg, SCUNTHORPE drew their first leg game 2-2 at home to Rotherham, but it was a different story in the second leg as Rotherham won 2-0 at home to win 4-2 on aggregate. Scunthorpe after a goal run of eleven games picked up their eleventh blank of the season and finished on a total of 71 goals.

League Two Play-Offs
We had three of the four teams in the Play-Off Semi-Finals. EXETER CITY had drawn against LINCOLN CITY in the first leg 0-0. But it all changed in the second leg as Exeter won 3-1 at home. Lincoln’s season finished with 66 goals. COVENTRY CITY went through to the finals as they beat Notts County 4-1 away in the second leg, after they drew 1-1 in the first leg, to win 5-2 on aggregate.

In the Final of the League Two Play-Offs COVENTRY CITY became the winners after they beat EXETER CITY 3-1 with all the goals coming in the second half. Coventry who will now play in league one next season, finished on a total; of 82 goals while Exeter finished on a total of 77 goals.

So it’s Congratulations to CHRIS BOLBERY as he now becomes our 35th Champion with Golden Goals staying at the top for the last six weeks, he took the winning prize money of  a total of £110 and also picked up two weekends wins taking his final lump sum to £126 in cash. We can now add  Chris’s name in our history book and in the Champions League where he finished in 5th  place on 334 goals. Chris had the winning combination of  CELTIC (105) MANCHESTER CITY (123) and WIGAN (106). Just two of his teams finished in our top best three teams and they were Manchester City and Wigan. Chris picked up five blank score sheets throughout the season and his highest score was 14 goals in week 21. In the end he finished just one goal clear of  Chris Boom who finally finished in second place with a total of 333 goals. 

ROAD TO CHAMPION 
So our new Champion’s name, CHRIS BOLBERY is now in our history book, but what about the other people who managed to get to that magic number one spot. We had a total of just seven players that made it to that number one slot. We already know that Chris had the very last six week at the top but who stayed there the longest. That person was CHRIS BOOM who was their for a total of 17 weeks. He had a little run from weeks 11 to 15 and then another run from weeks 24 to 28 and then weeks 30 to 36.  We then had PAUL DAVEY our 2013/14 Champion with 9 weeks. He started from weeks 16 to 23 then week 29.  Next with four weeks each came  GARY BOLBERY from weeks 2 to 5, while GUY DOWSETT (2) was from weeks 5 and 6 and then again in weeks 9 and 10. We then had two players that picked up a single week each. They were AMANDA MORRISON in our very first week of the season and  ALEX DAVEY in week 8. Below is the list of our top five champions of  Golden Goals.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

                                        NAME                      M/W    W/E    TOTAL

                                    1. L. KING                   116       239      355      2001/02
                                    2. P. DAVEY                 132       216      348      2013/14
                                   3. J. WOOD                     92       252      344      2016/17     
                                   4. M. PEPPERRELL       91       247      338      2002/03
                                    5. C. BOLBERY           95       239      334      2009/10

So what happened to our past Champions. Well we had a total of fourteen that played in this seasons competition with just two finishing in the top thirty and they were PAUL DAVEY our 2013/14 Champion in 3rd place followed by our two times Champion PHIL REEVE 1987/88 & 2011/12 Seasons in 4th place. Our next Champion finished in 60th place who was our 1994/95 Champion GEOFF DOCKERILL. Last seasons Champion JOHN WOOD finished in 115th place.
                                   
At the other end of the table, we had just four players that landed on that rotten number of 149. GRAEME BRITTON holds the record for the best of our losers league with 214 goals from our 2004/05 season. The person who finished rock bottom this season was COLIN PINDER. Colin was there for a total of thirty weeks with his first in weeks 2 and 3. He then came back in week 14 for the rest of the season. Over the season Colin picked up just five blank score sheets over the season. He had the combination of COLCHESTER (54) CRYSTAL PALACE (50) and SOUTHEND (58) total of 162 goals. Colin’s combination finished in 31st place in our losers league and we can now add’s his name in the history book.
Next with eight weeks was JOHN DOVE and he stayed there from weeks 6 to week 12. John was then followed by KAREN SMITH with three weeks. She was there in our very first week and then again in weeks 4 and 5. John Woods LUCIFER was there for one week which was in week 29.

100 MIDWEEK GOALS JACKPOT 
The Prize Money for the 100 Midweek Goals Jackpot of £40 went to me, STEVE REEVE in week thirty-three by reaching 100 midweek goals first. We had a total of nine players to hit 100 this season. But I did not end up with the highest midweek score. I had to share the honour with James Blyth as we both end the season with 110 goals. Daryl Nicholls holds the highest midweek record with 136 goals from our 2016/17 Season.

BEAT THE SCORE 
The fantastic sum of  £65 cash prize money for BEAT THE SCORE has not been picked up once again this season. The prize money will go to the first person who scores 19 goals or more at the weekend. So I hope that we can add more cash to the pot next season. The holder of this record is Mark Rymer with 18 goals scored way back in our 1998/99 season, so it’s about time that some-one beat that score?

THE BEST THREE TEAMS FINISHED AS

MANCHESTER CITY (123) WIGAN (106) PETERHEAD (105) Total of  334 goals.

We had a total of five teams this season that picked up 100 or more goals. They were our best team MANCHESTER CITY who ended the season with a total of 123 goals in 47 games gave them an average score of 2.6 goals per game. They were our top English team with 39 votes.  This is their best season since they scored that record number of goals with 137 in the 2012/14 Season. Last season they finished on 98 goals.  This is their 24th season with Golden Goals and this is their 4th season with 100 or more goals scored by the end of the season. Over the 24 seasons, they have scored a total of 1953 goals which now gives them an average score of 81 goals per season. In second place was WIGAN picked up their best score with 106, beating their previous score of 84 in the 1998/99 Season.  They had a total of just three votes this season and the goals gives them a total of 822 in twelve seasons they have been with us. That now gives them an average score of 68 goals per season. The third best team came from the Scottish League Two where PETERHEAD finished on a total of 105 goals which is their very best. They have beaten their previous score of 63 goals back in the 2005/06 Season. .Peterhead have been with us for three seasons now and over that time they have netted a total of 226 goals. That now gives them an average score of 75 goals per season. They had just one vote this season. Our fourth best team who was just outside of our best team frame was CELTIC. They have had another great season ending with a total of 105 goals and they became Champions for a seventh straight seasons. Not only are they the first Scottish team to win the treble twice in a row, they have also scored 100 or more goals in their last eight consecutive seasons. They picked up our highest number of votes in 35 years with 113. Next came LUTON TOWN with a total of 101 goals. They have beaten their previous best score of 98 from the 2001/02 Season. They had five votes this season.

So lets see what happened to our other teams to see if they have broken any records this time round.  MANCHESTER UNITED did a bit better than last season’s total of 78 goals with 77. This is their best score since the 2011/12 Season with 103 goals. They had a total of 22 votes this season. MANSFIELD finished on a total of 74 goals which is their very best beating their best score of 59 goals in the 1995/96 Season. Mansfield had five votes this time round. COVENTRY also picked up their best score yet by beating their highest score of 76 goals in the 2012/13 Season. This season they finished on a total of 82 goals and they had just one vote. EXETER with two votes finished on a total of 77 goals which beats their highest score in 2015/16 Season of 77 goals. RAITH ROVERS from Scotland finished on a total of 78 goals which is now their best score by beating their highest score of 72 goals in the 2012/13 Season. They had just one vote. STENHOUSEMUIR finished with a total of  67 goals which is the best they have done for the last three seasons. They also had a single vote. LEEDS UNITED finished on a total of 72 goals which is their best score in their last four seasons while CHARLTON finished on 65 goals and that is their best in their last five seasons. QUEENS PARK RANGERS finished on a total of 60 goals which is the best that they have done for the last four seasons. CARDIFF finished on 76 goals which is their best in the last four seasons. WOLVES finished on a total of 87goals which is their best in their last four seasons.
The newest team to join Golden Goals was ELGIN CITY from the Scottish League Two. They finished their first season on 59 goals.

THE WORST THREE TEAMS FINISHED AS

WEST BROM (41) BURTON ALBION (43) NEWCASTLE (44) Total of 128 goals.

Well the worst team for this season finished with just 41 goals in their 11th appearance with Golden Goals and they were WEST BROMWICH ALBION. This is their worst score by beating their lowest score of 43 goals scored in the season of 2008/09. They had just one vote this season and they picked up a total of thirteen blank score sheets. Next we had BURTON ALBION finishing on 43 goals which is their lowest score in their second appearance with us. They had just one vote this season and their previous score of 59 goals from the 2015/16 season will now be their best. NEWCASTLE finished in third place with their high score of 100 goals last season. They scored just 44 goals this season which is about average for them. They also had just one vote.
Our fourth worst team was BOLTON  with 45 goals. They picked up their lowest score just beating their lowest goals total of 46 goals back in the 2015/16 Season. They also had just one vote this season. BIRMINGHAM finished on a total of 47 goals which just about beats their worst score of 46 goals back in the 2004/05 Season. They had two votes this time round. READING finished on a total of 57 goals which is their worst season in the last seven appearances. SUNDERLAND finished on a total of 55 goals which is their second worst score since  1984/85 Season when they finished on a total of  52 goals.

Our highest goal scoring team in our 35th Season was PETERHEAD from the Scottish League Two. They picked up our highest score in week eleven as they won 9-0 at home to non-league team Colville Park in the WILLIAM HILL CUP Second Round. 

BURTON ALBION have picked up the most number of  blank score sheets this season with a total of twenty-two out of a total of fifty games played.

Well that’s it, another season of GOLDEN GOALS has finished. I still can not believe that I have been doing this competition for 35 year’s and after a hell of a lot of work this season with 149 players taking part, I will still be looking forward to the next one.

Our Golden Goals blog has picked up a lot of interest again this season as we have now had over 26,900 hits to date. I was hoping that we would attract some interest out in the big wide world to join in but still no luck just yet, so lets hope that we can for our 36th Season.

Hear is how our top thirty winners finished their season.

           FINAL                                                   M/WEEK    W/END    TOTAL        
                WEEK          NAME                                GOALS      GOALS   GOALS     
           
                     1              C. BOLBERY                        95               239          334        
                     2              C. BOOM                               87               246           333            
                     3              P. DAVEY (2013/14)              89              240           329            
                    4               P. REEVE (87/88 & 11/12)    88              235            323            
                    5              G. WARMAN                         99               221           320            
                    6              D. GOODSON                        78              238            316            
                    7              C. DICKER                             90              225            315            
                    8              T. BAXTER                            101            214            315            
                    9              B. CLARK                              90              223            313            
                  10              B. HAYES                               98              214            312                            
                  11              D. HARRINGTON                 87              223            310            
                  12              STEPTOE & SON                  97              213            310            
                  13              N. TREADWELL                  94              214            308            
                  14              T. JENKINS                           76              230            306            
                  15              B. BARNES (1)                     99              207            306            
                  16              D. BARRETT                        83              222            305            
                  17              B. BARNES (2)                     88              217            305            
                  18              D. CORMACK                      93              211            304            
                  19              TIM WOOD                          88              215            303           
                  20              B. SOPER                              96              107            303            
                  21              C. WEBB                               78              224            302            
                  22              G. BROWN                           87              214            301            
                 23               K. SMITH                             85              215            300            
                 24               A. DAVEY                            86              214            300           
                 25                I. SMITH                             77              222            299                            
                 26               S. KEMP                              78              220            298               
                 27               C. NUNN                             84              210            294               
                 28              -P. COLLINS                        85              209            294               
                 29               J. WISE                               82              211            293               
                 30               J. WEARDEN                     89              204            293            

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