Group C began with Goldsmith Williams versus Eagles Athletic. Goldsmith Williams have a great eurofootballfives.com record - winning the 2008 Prague Masters and 2010 Amsterdam Fives plus finishing runners-up in the 2009 Prague Masters and 2009 Barca Fives when they lost to Bulgaria's Lozenetz City and France's Luminy Wolves respectively . They were bidding for a fifth successive final in the Algarve.

A tough opening game for the first of the two New Milton Eagles squads - Eagles Athletic. It is the second appearance for the Eagles who celebrated Plate glory when they made their debut with us at the 2010 Krakow Trophy. The Eagles Old Boys beat 5-times Plate Finalists DHL Prague Red of the Czech Republic 2-0 on penalties in the final on that occasion.

Let's put the history aside and look at today's game – it was a fast start for Goldsmith Williams and Liam Currie in particular as he scored twice in the first half to put his side in control of this game. In the second period he went on to claim his hat-trick and the current Amsterdam champions had started with a superb 3-0 win to get their Algarve challenge off and running in style. For Eagles Athletic it was a tough opening game but they had plenty of time left to turn their fortunes around.

Next up on Pitch C was 9 Nana Budds against Maritimo FC – except it wasn't. The local Portuguese team had got lost en route to the ground. Maybe we should have sent the coach for our travelling teams to pick them up? Maritimo FC arrived after the scheduled completion time of this game and handed 9 Nana Budds a 3-0 walkover win. Given a couple of hangovers this may well have been welcomed!

All that meant the next game on the pitch was Hebden Bridge versus Goldsmith Williams. Hebden Bridge were making their 3rd eurofootballfives appearance and second in Portugal. Following a trip to Barcelona last year, where they lost via Golden Goal in the Plate Semi-Final to eventual winners Warranty Direct, they return to the scene of their debut in the 2009 Algarve Open. Two years ago they topped Group C remaining unbeaten before a Cup Quarter-Final exit.

After their opening game in Group C in 2011 they were unbeaten again having secured a great 0-0 draw against Goldsmith Williams. Goal-less draws may not always be considered a great result but when your opponents have reached 4 finals in 4 appearences I think that qualifies for a great result. For Goldsmith Williams, they moved on to 4 points and led Group C. They may well consider this two points dropped by their own high standards but they came up against a strong Hebden Bridge defence whilst keeping things tight at the back themselves.

Eagles Athletic would take to the field for the second time against 9 Nana Budds. 9 Nana Budds were making their second appearance after a successful debut winning the 2009 Valencia Fives.

Eagles Athletic were looking to avenge their first game defeat whilst 9 Nana Budds were looking to build on the headstart of a 3-0 walkover win. The game proved closed and whilst not short of action and efforts on goal no-one could quite manage to hit the back of the net. When the referee blew his whistle to draw the game to a conclusion we were all square at 0-0 for the second successive game in Group C.

It was a point that was more valuable to 9 Nana Budds than Eagles Athletic but both teams could be proud of their efforts.

Hebden Bridge were in action again against Maritimo FC who had now arrived and were able to fulfill the fixture. Maritimo FC featured in the 2009 and 2010 Algarve Opens. In 2009, they finished 2nd in Group B, beat 2007 Krakow Trophy Winners Northern Monkeys in the Quarter-Finals before a Semi-Final exit. In 2010 they struggled and having won their first game lost 3 in a row to finish 5th in their group. A Wooden Spoon semi-final exit befell them. They will be hoping for more of their 2009 form this year.

The two teams played out a competitive contest but Group C was suffering a goal drought – doesn't make report writing easy! The defences have to be commended though for their solid displays. The point for Hebden Bridge put them in 3rd place in the group and just two points behind the leaders. Maritimo FC's point put them in joint 4th with Eagles Athletic.