We were down to our final 4 teams in the Plate competition with all 4 teams representing England.

The first Semi-Final would see Lacey Green FC take on AFC Shooters A in a repeat of their opening fixture in Group A which finished 1-1. These two teams were pretty well matched as they boasted virtually identical group records with 1 win, 3 draws and 1 defeat to finish on 6 points. Lacey Green had a goal difference of +1 and AFC Shooters was 0. They had both had convincing Quarter-Final wins (4-0 and 3-0 respectively) – it would be a brave man to pick the winner of this tie.

It was therefore perhaps no surprise to see the two teams locked together at 0-0 as we reached half-time. There was little in it second half either as the two teams strived to find the vital breakthrough. Speaking to the teams at the Post Tournament Social that evening there was a feeling that AFC Shooters A had edged the group game and Lacey Green were happy to take a point on that occasion. Conversely, Lacey Green were probably the better team here and AFC Shooters A were probably more grateful of a draw in the Semi-Final as the game ended 0-0. A penalty shoot-out would ensue.

AFC Shooters A had recently seen their B team exit on penalties and would hope to avoid the same fate befalling them. The penalty takers got off to a successful start and it was 1-1 after the first round. The crucial penalties came next with AFC Shooters A scoring theirs whilst Lacey Green failed to convert. Although Lacey Green did score their final penalty to make it 2-2 there was no slip-ups from AFC Shooters who fired themselves into the Plate Final with a 3-2 shoot-out win.

The second Semi-Final was Mavericks versus Skidmarks. Mavericks came into the game on the back of a tough Quarter-Final that had seen them edge through on penalties. Skidmarks had put down a marker with a big 5-0 win.

Mavericks were reaching this stage for the first time but Skidmarks had been in our Semi-Finals before. They had a hugely impressive record of reaching a Final on all 4 previous Semi-Final appearances. Skidmarks would have to work hard to make that 5 out of 5 as Mavericks matched them blow for blow in the first period which ended goal-less.

We were to have goals in the second half, two of them in fact as the honours were shared. Sam Russell scored for Mavericks and Luke Hatfield's fourth in 3 games for Skidmarks. The final score of 1-1 meant that both Semi-Finals would be decided by a penalty shoot-out.

Penalties should hold no fears for these teams as Mavericks had already won a shoot-out in the Quarter-Finals. Skidmarks previous eurofootballfives.com appearance at the 2014 Bratislava Fives had seen them win their Quarter-Final and Semi-Final on penalties. On this occasion though it was not to fare quite so well as it was Mavericks who were proving to be penalty specialists as they won the shoot-out 3-2.