So, onto Round 7 we go and the last attempts for the teams to stake their claim for the title, Cup or Plate qualification. The first teams to lay down their markers were Real De Groot and L'Albiceleste.

Real De Groot were currently in fourth place on 8 points. They were level with Pique Blinders (1 goal ahead on goal difference) and a point ahead of 9 Nana Budds. A defeat or draw here would open the door for those two teams. A win would be enough as long as Pique Blinders didn't win by more than them.

For L'Albiceleste, this was their penultimate game. They were 1 point behind the leaders and this was their game in hand. They needed a win to go top as Cruz Del Surely had a better goal difference so a draw would not be enough. Many of L'Albiceleste's results had been by the odd goal – they were doing enough to get the points and may be conserving energy for another title onslaught.

Real De Groot were on a poor run of form as they had only secured 1 point from the last 9 on offer. It was to be 1 from 12 as L'Albiceleste produced another narrow win – Raviengvong Panegnama, on debut for his team, scored his first eurofootballfives.com goal.

L'Albiceleste moved to the top of the table. Real De Groot would be at the mercy of the result between Pique Blinders and 9 Nana Budds.

Game 26 of 28 saw RSC Andylecht collect a 3-0 win over Huddingpool. It was significant as it secured third position and a place in the Cup. It was a good debut group performance from the English team.

Group A was reaching a thrilling finale. The final game would be the title decider but this would be a cracking hor d'oeuvre to settle the Cup qualification places. Let's look at what was at stake as Pique Blinders hosted 9 Nana Budds:

Pique Blinders win: They would secure 4th place and a place in the Cup. Real De Groot would finish 5th and 9 Nana Budds would finish 6th.

Draw: Pique Blinders would finish in 4th place on 9 points. 9 Nana Budds would go level with Real De Groot on 8 points but still finish in 6th on goal difference.

9 Nana Budds win: This would see 9 Nana Budds climb from 6th to 4th leaving Real De Groot and Pique Blinders down in 5th and 6th – the order would depend on goal difference but either way they would both be in the Plate.

The permutations were fascinating but all that mattered now was what happened on the pitch. Pique Blinders hopes faded when they found themselves a goal down to a Will Crowther strike. The 9 Nana Budds defence played their part in victory by aiding Tim Moore to keep a clean sheet and with it take all 3 points and the final place in the Cup competition.

It was tough on Pique Blinders to slip up at the final hurdle having had at least a share of fourth place since Round 3. The Plate awaited them.

The 28th and final game was the climax of Group A. We could not have planned it any better if we had tried – a title decider in the final game.

The two teams set to do battle were Cruz Del Surely versus L'Albiceleste. Both teams had already qualified for the Cup so there was nothing riding on the game in that sense but there was still a lot to play for. In pragmatic terms, a 1st placed finish would provide an easier route to the Cup Final (in theory at least). There was also pride and honour of the win itself and the pride and joy of winning the group. For L'Albiceleste there was also a 100% record to protect.

Between them, these two teams had racked up 11 wins out of 12 games. They had scored 21 goals and conceded just 1. The team's had identical goal difference (+10) so there was little to choose between them. L'Albiceleste had a 2 point advantage at the top so only needed a draw to secure the Group A win.

Cruz Del Surely simply had to win to take the Group A title. As Bobby Robson once said “If you don't score you are not going to win a match” which was precisely the problem facing the French. How were they going to score against a team who had not yet conceded in the tournament? David Jamieson was still to concede today – a phenomenal feat. It would take a top player to break down the Cruz Del Surely defence and luckily for L'Albiceleste they had one. As we mentioned earlier in the report, Cedric Castarede had won two top goalscorer awards before. He rescued his team from a goal down against Pique Blinders (he scored twice) and had another important goal here.

At the other end L'Albiceleste were equally as stubborn in defence. Up until this point Mickael Martin had only conceded once. It was to be a 6th clean sheet out of 7 for the French goalkeeper and the Group A title win was safe for the French. Huge congratulations to them. Final score, 0-1.