The
Blackouts made their eurofootballfives.com debut
at the 2014 Mallorca Tournament and it was some
debut. They began well with a 4-0 win over Son
Veri Vets before a 0-0 draw against Palmesanos.
They then finished the group in style with 4-0
and 2-0 wins over Dickie Dogs and Norton Old Boys
to finish as group winners. A 5-1 win over Westfield
Wanderers in the Cup Semi-Finals lead to a debut
Cup Final. Sadly for them they narrowly missed
out on the ultimate glory (1-0) to Palmesanos.
Add
this to their 3 wins this morning and their eurofootballfives.com
record read 7 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat. They
would go into the top of the table clash with
Sergio Cristina with confidence. Sergio Cristina
had a 100% record to boast in today's competition
so this would be an encounter to savour.
Ronan
Gilligan had brought his goal-scoring boots again
and had now found the net in 3 out of the 4 Blackouts
games today. His goal in this game put the Irish
in charge at 1-0 and he was also the first man
to score past Alberto Moreno in the Sergio Cristina
goal in the tournament.
Whilst
The Blackouts had been free-scoring their defence
had also been pretty hot as they completed a third
clean sheet and prevent their opponents finding
an equalizer. The Blackouts completed the 1-0
victory, secured Cup qualification and were red
hot favourites for the Group B title.
Water
Boy were up next against The Warriors. Both teams
were on 3 points (along with Dickie Dogs). Water
Boy had a game in hand over the Dogs and The Warriors
had two games in hand. These two teams were in
pole position for the Plate places. It was hard
to tell what result favoured The Dickie Dogs due
to possible future permutations but they would
probably prefer a positive result one way or the
other to try and pick-off the losing team.
The
fact that Water Boy had struggled this afternoon
had shown the strength of the Veterans tournament
and the Warriors were the latest team to flex
their muscle. A very even contest saw the two
teams reach half-time at 0-0. Let's not forget
that Cup qualification was not out of the question.
A 100% record from here on in and a Sergio Cristina
defeat in their final fixture would open the door
with the requisite swing in goal difference. A
draw then was no good for this purpose.
After
the break we were to get a goal and a decisive
result. The hero of the hour was Alex Finney who's
first goal of the day secured all 3 points for
The Warriors. They moved into 3rd position outright
– 3 points behind 2nd and with a game in hand.
Westfield
Wanderers went into their fourth game looking
for their first win of the day. If they could
get it here and win their final game then a place
in the Plate was still very much on the table.
For Dickie Dogs, this would be their final group
game and their final opportunity to put points
on the board. A win here would put them on 6 points
and a possible place in the Plate subject to the
results of Water Boy and The Warriors.
It
was all going superbly for Dickie Dogs when Ian
Hall put his team ahead in the first half. After
the turnaround they went 2-0 up (Ian Hall again)
and the “live” league table was looking good for
them. Water Boy had a tough final fixture against
Sergio Cristina to come and a win could well see
Dickie Dogs through. Two goals at the right end
of the field could not prevent Ian Hall get a
bollocking from his goalkeeper Steven Banks as
a defensive error allowed Sam Gurner to reduce
the defecit to 2-1.
It
was to get better for Westfield Wanderers and
worse for Dickie Dogs as Gurner's second of the
game made it 2-2. A draw was not overly helpful
to either team – Westfield Wanderers would remain
6 th . Dickie Dogs would go 4th and that might
be enough but an extra two points would go a long
way to advancing their case. In the end a winner
proved elusive and the two teams had to settle
for a point in an entertaining contest.