2016 Mallorca Tournament 5-a-side Football Tournament Report Plate Quarter Finals

Results

Bede FC (Eng)	0	V	4	St Paul's College OB 1st Team (Eng)
Old Sedcopian Legends (Eng)	3	v	2	Charlie Let Us Down Again (Eng)
Lads on Toure (Eng)	1	V	3	The Average Joes (Eng)
We've Got Wood (Eng)	2	V	0	St Paul's College OB 3rd Team (Eng)

We arrived at the Plate Quarter-Final stage and we would shortly see eight teams reduced to four teams. To begin it was Bede FC versus St Paul's College Old Boys 1st Team. It was 3rd placed in Group A versus 5th Placed in Group B and as such you would imagine Bede FC would be favourites given their higher league placing. St Paul's College Old Boys 1st Team were due to play in the Trophy but due to Little Wille's withdrawal they rose to 4th place to qualify for the Plate.

These two sides had travelled similar paths across Europe with eurofootballfives.com over recent years with both teams attending the 2014 Amsterdam Fives and also the 2015 Bratislava Fives. They didn't meet in Bratislava but did play each other in Amsterdam where St Paul's College Old Boys emerged victorious, 3-1, in Group C.

St Paul's College Old Boys 1st Team were on course for another victory when they took a first half lead in this game. Bede FC were enjoying their most successful eurofootballfives.com tour and we wondered if they'd be able to hit back but St Paul's College Old Boys 1st Team snuffed out any hopes of a comeback as they scored three in the second half to secure a fine 4-0 win.

Sadly, it was the end of the day for Bede FC but we'd like to thank them for joining us for the sixth successive season. As always, it was a pleasure.

The second Quarter-Final saw Old Sedcopians Legends take on Charlie Let Us Down Again. Old Sedcopians Legends were due to play in the Trophy competition this afternoon but due to some withdrawals the Trophy competition was abandoned in favour of all teams outside of the Cup progressing to the Plate competition. Due to the uneven nature of the withdrawals across the draw it meant Old Sedcopians Legends filled a vacancy in the Quarter-Final draw that would see them meet Charlie Let Us Down Again for the second time today.

The two teams met in the group phase in what was to be one of the games of the tournament. Old Sedcopians Legends had lead 3-0 at the break before Charlie Let Us Down Again came back to win 5-4. Could the teams produce another thrilling match?

The answer was yes they could. The teams proved evenly matched and traded blows in the opening period with four goals shared equally. Alasdair Anderson bagged a brace for Old Sedcopians Legends whilst Charlie Let Us Down Again showed us that two Ed's are better than one with Ed Brown and Ed Hill-Smith both finding the target.

At 2-2, the game was set-up for someone to be a hero. That man was Alasdair Anderson who bagged his hat-trick as he struck the decisive blow in this tie. Old Sedcopians Legends would progress to the Semi-Finals, 3-2.

It was farewell to a Charlie Let Us Down Again side that performed well on debut and especially with just 5 players and no subs on a sweltering Mallorca day.

In the lower half of the Quarter-Final draw it was Lads on Toure versus The Average Joes. Lads on Toure finished 4th in Group B (before their promotion to 3rd after Little Wille's withdrawal) and had started the day well with a 2-1 win before seeing their form slip away a little admittedly against some high quality opposition. The Average Joes had finished 5th in Group A (before their own promotion to 4th after Big Wille's withdrawal) and were looking to secure their first win on the field of play.

In terms of goal-scoring the teams were fairly similar with 6 goals (Lads on Toure) and 5 goals (The Average Joes) but defensively Lads on Toure had been more porous with 21 conceded to The Average Joes 14. It's often difficult to compare across groups as the standard of opposition can vary but could it be the better defensive record of The Average Joes that proved the difference.

In the first half The Average Joes retained a clean sheet and at the other end Paul Olds found the net to put his side ahead. It's always a tricky task coming from behind in these games as when throwing men forward to equalize you leave yourself vulnerable to the break and falling further behind. Chris Barry scored his second of the tournament to breach The Average Joes defence but the Lads on Toure defence was also breached (twice) and so it was The Average Joes who advanced to the Semi-Finals, 3-1. Paul Olds went on to complete a fine hat-trick.

It was the end of the road for Lads on Toure – on the pitch at least. There was still plenty of mileage in Mallorca for them though and we thank them for joining us on tour, at the Post-Tournament social and treating us to some delightful karaoke.

The final Quarter-Final saw We've Got Wood take on St Paul's College Old Boys 3rd Team. We've Got Wood came into the game as the 3rd placed team in Group D with a haul of 9 points. St Paul's College Old Boys 3rd Team came into the game as the 6th placed team in Group D with a haul of 0 points which pointed to We've Got Wood as clear favourites. The Plate Quarter-Final draw had a funny look after some withdrawals at the end of the group phase which is why we had the unusual occurrence of a 6th placed team in the Plate and two teams from the same group meeting in the first stage of the knock-out phase.

We had two teams familiar with the Plate Quarter-Finals as We've Got Wood reached this stage 12 months and progressed 3-2 versus Contejus Hurricanes. St Paul's College Old Boys had won the Plate at the 2014 Amsterdam Fives and 2015 Bratislava Fives so were bidding for a hat-trick of titles.

We mentioned the two teams had met in the group stage and that had been a fairly one-side affair as We've Got Wood won it 7-1. This was to be a closer affair as St Paul's College Old Boys 3 rd Team were much more focused. The teams reached the break level at 0-0.

We've Got Wood struck the vital blows after the break with Richard Jones scoring twice to be the match-winner. He was the team's top goalscorer in 2015 with 4 goals and was leading the way again in 2016 and had taken his tally to 7 on the day.

St Paul's College Old Boys 3rd Team were out but there 1st Team still had a chance of keeping the dream of 3 successive Plate titles alive.

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