Gareth Phoenix had earmarked the cup as a realistic chance of a trophy and a back door into next year's XCL. This came after being knocked out of the XCL in the knock out stages and a poor start to the league meaning they are now scrapping to stay out of the relegation zone. However, matchday against rivals Beards United ended in disaster as Phoenix failed to save his tactics and ended up crashing out 3-1.

The cup exit meant Gentlemen's Practice could end up with just relegation to show for a season which started with so much promise after topping their XCL group in their first season in the competition.

Monday morning and they sat just a single point ahead of the relegation zone and that evening's opponents Os Xiripitius. However, Phoenix's men showed some real character after such a let down from their manager in their previous match and to be fair Phoenix also got it right. An assured performance saw a 2-0 win away in a very partizan stadium and now find themselves with a little breathing space going into the remaining 3 games...

Phoenix: I'm delighted with the team performance and we showed why we're currently champions. However, we have 3 incredibly tough games to finish the season and save our top-flight status. We need to perform at that same level again for each remaining game.