A GARETH BALE goal was not enough to keep Bala Rinas from being dumped out of the Canesten Combi Cup.
Four hapless group game defeats left the side without a point, and with his team also struggling in the league the manager, yet to win a trophy in six years in Kenna, is under increasing pressure.
“People are saying that I’ve got no silverware, I can’t bring success to the club and I’ll never know the difference between riding the normal team coach and riding an open-top bus, but of course I knows the difference – one’s got a fcuking roof and one fcuking ‘asn’t,” sing songed the Welshman.
Bala Rinas weren’t the only ones not celebrating this week. Footballers are fashionable creatures, and a new craze has swept through the Kenna: not celebrating goals.
In Group D, Daniel Sturridge found the net to help Just Put Carles to their first cup win and a chance at the next round, but ‘out of respect’ the England striker did not cheer after scoring against his former club Lokomotiv Leeds.
Emmanuel Adebayor scored against Pikey Scum to give Newington Reds a vital lifeline in Group C, but the Togolese had moved to Reds from Scum in the October transfer window and refused to acknowledge the notch, even though he continues to don leisurewear from another former club.
In the other Group C match there were remarkable scenes at FC Testiculadew’s ground, the Death Star, where no players celebrated any of the eight goals in Sporting Lesbian’s 7-1 destruction of the hosts.
Hairy Fadjeetas, on the end of five-goal thrashing by Headless Chickens, were the only side to have the decency to avoid any awkward embarrassment by not scoring any goals at all.
The final cup game will be played on 29 January, where the top four from each group will go through to the last 16 knockout draw.
Teams below in yellow have already qualified, teams in red are out.
League table
Weekly scores
| Manager | Points | Goals | ||
| 1 | Sporting Lesbian | Ben M | 66 | 7 |
| 2 | Just put Carles | Carles | 54 | 4 |
| 3 | Lokomotiv Leeds | Ben S | 54 | 1 |
| 4 | Dynamo Charlton | Alex | 51 | 4 |
| 5 | Headless Chickens | John N | 50 | 5 |
| 6 | Northern Monkeys | Hugo | 49 | 3 |
| 7 | Piedmonte | Phil | 48 | 2 |
| 8 | Spartak Mogadishu | Abdi | 46 | 1 |
| 9 | PSV Mornington | El Pons | 45 | 3 |
| 10 | Greendale Rockets | Stu | 42 | 1 |
| 11 | Woking | Mike | 40 | 3 |
| 12 | FC Testicluadew | James N | 40 | 1 |
| 13 | Bala Rinas | Lewis | 38 | 1 |
| 14 | Hairy Fadjeetas | Aiden | 38 | 0 |
| 15 | Still Don’t Know Yet | Pete | 37 | 3 |
| 16 | Vasco De Beauvoir | Stix | 36 | 1 |
| 17 | Newington Reds | Dudley | 35 | 1 |
| 18 | Judean Peoples’ Front | Sholto | 33 | 1 |
| 19 | Pikey Scum | Jack | 33 | 1 |
| 20 | Wandsworth Window Lickers | Will | 29 | 1 |
| Points | Player | |||
| Player of the week | 21 | Suarez, L – LIV – STR | ||
| Club | Sporting Lesbian |
