Black
Sheep (Spa) were the longest serving team at
the Barcelona Fives in today's tournament. They
first appeared in June 2009 at the Barcelona
Fives where they finished second in their group
to qualify for the Cup Quarter-Finals. At this
stage they said farewell losing a penalty shoot-out
to the eventual winners, Anglo Knights. Their
second appearance was at the 2011 Barcelona
Fives where they won Group C with 4 wins out
of 4. They progressed through the Cup QF this
time but went out again on penalties – this
time to Rapid Bosco Navas.
1
year later in 2012 they were winning Group D
with 3 wins and 1 draw from their 4 games. They
successfully negotiated the QF (v Banter Bus,
Eng), the SF (v Budapest Celtic Pumas, Hun)
and then won the final 1-0 versus Ireland's
Saipan FC. Since then they had not been able
to join us due to fixture clashes with their
domestic league until 2018 where they could
only make the Plate QF.
Today
though they looked like they were back to their
historically good form with 2 wins out of 2.
That was shortly to become 3 wins out of 3 when
they defeated Fk Aliance 2-0. A first half goal
from Latvian Artjom Jesaibegjans against his
countryman and a second half goal from Patrick
Robinson sealed another victory.
Up
next in Group C was Patagonia versus RAF Fylingdales.
At the end of Round 2, Patagonia were joint third
on goal difference with 3 points. They were just
one point off second position and so a win here
would put them in the Cup qualification places.
From
an RAF Fylingdales perspective, they were currently
at the foot of the table looking for their first
points of the day.
Patagonia
came into the game on the back of a defeat but
they were back to winning ways in style. They
quite literally hit their opponents for six as
they swept to a stunning 6-0 win. There was 3
goals in each half with Matias, Milo Huelpa and
Mariano on target before the break.
After
the break, Martin (x2) and Juan (going by first
names in true South American style) not only helped
boost their team's points total but did their
goal difference a whole lot of good too.
To
complete Round 3 we had Paralytic Athletic U23s
versus PVDC Eindhoven. Paralytic Athletic U23s
may have come into this game with a spring in
their step having just collected their first victory
of the day. PVDC Eindhoven picked up a good point
in Round 1 but had just tasted a 4-0 defeat to
the current league leaders. However, a win here
could lift them into fourth spot and potentially
even third with a big win.
Both
teams were making their second eurofootballfives.com
appearance. PVDC Eindhoven were below par compared
to their debut in Mallorca. They were 2 points
better off at the same stage although they did
grow into that tournament with 7 points from a
possible 9 from Round 3 onwards. The same here
could see another Cup challenge in the knock-out
phase. Paralytic Athletic U23s were on par as
they had the same points tally at this stage of
their Riga 2018 debut. They then finished with
2 draws so would hope to finish off with a couple
of wins here in Barca.
At
the end of the first half we were locked together
at 0-0 but, as is so often the case, this game
was decided in the second period. It was PVDC
Eindhoven who forged ahead with a double from
Matty Armstrong. Although Bruce Helsey pulled
one back for Paralytic Athletic U23s, the two
goal salvo from Armstrong was enough to claim
all 3 points from the men in camouflage shirts.