As the dust settled on the penultimate round of fixtures in Division 3A, it became clear that the results had done nothing to settle the final positions of many of the leagues' teams. At both ends of the table, there are still fierce battles.
At the lower end of 3A a relegation battle, which could have been dead and buried some weeks ago, looms large over the final day. Out of luck and rock bottom after week 8, Te Fac Asa Cum Esti rose from the ashes to pull off a stunning 2-1 victory against high flyers IvanFaca. A few mixed results followed until they met Bucks Revolution in round 12 - a team who just a week before had thought themselves safe. A convincing 2-0 victory followed up by an identical result against already relegated Redding Rovers has put Te Fac back in the race for survival. They sit 2 points below the Revolution, and whilst their opponents face an enormous challenge in the fearsome Skärgårdsstigens ff, they play bottom of the table Sol de Carnide. Can Revolution afford a draw? If this were to happen, and Te Fac were to win as is predicted this would put them level on points, but they would go through were they to win by more than 1 goal. Bucks will take confidence from good recent record against the superior Skärgårdsstigens, having won, drawn and lost against them in the last 3 games, but there are no doubts about the visiting sides powerful reputation and dominating style of play. The Revolution will need to be up for the fight, and Te Fac will need to be up for scoring some goals to see themselves to safety.
The battle at the top of the table seems to be more clear cut, but it's still possible for one of 3 teams to clinch the title.
Favorites for this are the imperious FC YHC, who have handled the step from Division 4 to 3 much better than their rivals Bucks Revolution and Redding Rovers. An uncharacteristically poor season 48 saw them sitting mid-table in division 4, but a resurgent season 49 saw them win the title, and they look set to win back to back championships (with an unbeaten record) barring an upset by Leyendas del Ajedrez. Anything short of a win would gift an opportunity to IvanFaca to swipe aside Redding Rovers by 4 goals or more and claim the title for themselves, and were both teams to miraculously fail to gain any points, a victory for Skärgårdsstigens ff would not only see them claim the trophy but would likely condemn Bucks Revolution to relegation.
A wildly competitive campaign comes to a close - with so much still up for grabs, good luck to all teams!