We arrived at the Plate Quarter-Final stage and we would shortly see eight teams reduced to four teams. We had a really high quality line-up in the Plate and any of the 8 teams could quite conceivably walk off with the trophy in 7 games time.

To begin it was ZVC Indoor Gent versus Show Me Da Mane. Both teams had come really close to reaching the Cup but just missed out in the final round of group games. ZVC Indoor Gent had previously played in the Cup competition of our tournaments and reaching the Cup Final at the 2015 Mallorca Tournament. With such pedigree they would be one of the fancied teams to win the Plate.

Show Me Da Mane were on debut so breaking new ground with every step today. They were in a really close group where, with the exception of Hellgarve Kraken's, all the teams were capable of beating each other. Hellgarve Kraken's won Group B with a 100% record but Show Me Da Mane ran them close with just a 2-1 defeat – they remained the only team to score against Hellgarve today.

They were up against another strong defence with ZVC conceding just 2 goals from their group games. Neither team was able to score in the first half and we ended the first half level at 0-0. Draws were one of the reasons ZVC did not make the Cup, they had 3 draws. Another draw would see a penalty shoot-out but the Belgians ensured that would not come to pass. Jens Schollier and Josse Vekeman goals won I after the break.

We'd like to say thank you to Show Me Da Mane for participating at the 2019 Algarve Open. They were a great addition to our tournaments.

In the lower half of the Quarter-Final draw it was Lindfield FC versus Southgate County 1s. The former was a team on debut about to play their first knock-out game in our tournaments. The second was an experienced team who knew how to win at Plate level.

At the 2016 Lisbon Tournament t hey qualified for the Plate and went all the way to glory thanks to a 2-1 win over Shrewsbury Townsend in the Semi-Finals and another win against Your Mum (2-0) in the Plate Final. They also reached the Plate at the 2017 Mallorca Tournament which saw a 3-0 win over Whiteley FC in the Quarter-Finals before a 6-2 defeat to Inter Balear.

This was the closest Quarter-Final on paper with both teams securing 6 points from the group with very similar goal differences (0 for Southgate County 1s, -1 for Lindfield FC).

It was Lindfield FC who struck first with Andrew Brown continuing his good personal tournament. He scored his fourth of the day. Southgate County 1s managed to recover the situation though as Bradley Doherty and then Simon Hicks turned the game around.

Thank you to Lindfield FC for making their debut at the tournament. We hope the first appearance of many. Southgate County 1s marched on.

The final Quarter-Final saw Trilution take on Speldhurst Rangers.

Trilution have had success at this level before as they won the Plate at the 2016 Algarve Open. At the 2018 Algarve Veterans Tournament they reached the Cup competition and almost did so again but The Funky Shepherds win in the final game of Group D knocked them down into the Plate. They were the second ranked team in the Plate from the group phase with 7 points despite playing one game less than most of the other teams.

Speldhurst Rangers had performed well today themselves. They had 6 points from the group phase. They had gone loss-win-loss-win-loss. So, they were due a win right?

Wrong. As much as we'd have loved Speldhurst to continue that record and their participation in the tournament it was not to be. Nuno Pines scored his sixth goal of the tournament to put Trilution ahead in the first half. The win was safe when Paulo Marta scored his third of the tournament in the second period.

It was a good debut for Speldhurst and the lads appeared to have a great time. We hope to see you back on tour again soon.