For the first time in our Veterans Tournament we had Quarter-Finals. The “norm” was 12 teams with the top 2 going to the Cup, third and fourth going to the Plate with the bottom 2 eliminated. The Cup and Plate would be played on a Semi-Final and Final basis. With an enlarged draw of 14 teams we had Quarter-Finals in the Plate for the teams finishing 3rd to 6th in each group.

We began with 3rd place from Group A taking on 6th place from Group B. This meant WEEDS Colts would play Gosham Rangers. Gosham Rangers had qualified at the expense of WEEDS Youth and thus preventing a WEEDS derby (which we were also denied in Mallorca last year). Could WEEDS Colts get revenge for their fellow tour-mates?

If we looked at the group records WEEDS Colts would start favourites with 4 wins from their 6 group games compared to 1 win and 1 draw for Gosham Rangers. WEEDS Colts had a goal difference of +1 compared to -5 for Gosham Rangers. So, a home win then?

Gosham Rangers hadn't read the script as they came to life at the start of the knock-out phase. Jake Alford in particular was the man to do the damage. With three goals to his name already, he added his fourth of the tournament to make it 1-0 Gosham Rangers. He doubled the advantage to make it 2-0 before going on to complete a hat-trick and make it 3-0 to his side.

After a fine morning's work, WEEDS Colts day came to a sudden end.

Quarter Final 2 would see Dickie Dogs meet Los Ambos (formerly Crabtree Amblers). It was 4th place in Group B hosting 5th place in Group A.

If you look at the history of the two teams then Los Amblos might be favourites with a Cup Semi-Final and a Plate Final over the last two seasons. In comparison, Dickie Dogs were a Plate Final and a Plate Semi-Final over the same period. The two teams met at the 2016 Lisbon Veterans Tournament which resulted in a 1-0 win for Crabtree Amblers.

On today's evidence, the Dickie Dogs were the team in form with 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats securing 8 points with a goal difference of 5-5. Los Amblos weren't too much different with 1 win, 2 draws and 3 defeats and a goal difference of 5-6.

Rather than games of 1 period, we now had slightly longer games of 2 halves in the knock-out phase. In the first half here it was Dickie Dogs who forged ahead. Michael Georgiou scored his second of the tournament to put his team ahead. After the change of ends it was double delight for Dickie Dogs with Ian Hall also scoring his second of the tournament to make it 2-0.

There was no way back for Los Amblos today and we had to say farewell. Dickie Dogs marched on though.

We now knew the teams to compete in the first Semi-Final. In the lower half of the Quarter-Final draw it was The Warriors (4th in Group A) versus Mavericks (5th in Group B)

The Warriors were no strangers to the Plate competition – they were the defending champions having defeated Dickie Dogs in the Plate Final at the 2017 Mallorca Vetererans Tournament. They also reached the Plate Final here in the Algarve in 2015 so were bidding for a 3rd Plate Final in 4 years (with a Cup Semi-Final at the 2016 Lisbon Veterans in between).

On their previous Veterans appearance, Mavericks reached the Plate Semi-Finals. They were one game away from at least matching that here in the Algarve. These two teams met in the group phase of the 2016 Lisbon Veterans Tournament and played out a 1-1 draw. The same result here would require a penalty shoot-out to separate the teams.

It was first blood to Mavericks. Just as he did in 2016, Grant Taylor put the Mavericks ahead. In Lisbon it was Alex Finney of the Warriors who scored the second goal of the game. Here in the Algarve in 2018 it was Manish Madhvani to score the crucial second of the game. It was a goal that put Mavericks 2-0 up and it was enough to see them through to victory and to the next round.

The final Quarter-Final saw Water Boy take on Chorltonian Vets. If we go back to 2013, Water Boy were Algarve Open Plate champions having picked up a 2-1 win over Holland's United Colours of Benetton in the final. 5 years on, in the Veterans Tournament they were bidding to add another Plate trophy.

It was third from Group B versus 6 th from Group A and Water Boy were the favourites. Of all the teams in the Plate, Water Boy had the best record on the pitch with 11 points from 6 games played (WEEDS Colts had 12 but 1 game was a walkover). The two teams had similar goal-scoring records in the morning with Water Boy scoring 4 and Chorltonians Vets scoring 3. It was the two defensive records that suggested the Portuguese would go through. Water Boy had only conceded 3 in 6 games, Chorltonians Vets had conceded 9.

The game went with form. Pedro Lamy scored for the third game in a row to put Water Boy into a 1-0 lead. It was 2-0 before half-time as Pedro Vilhena opened his personal account for the day. In the second half, Water Boy put the result beyond doubt with Pedro Lamy scoring his fourth of the tournament.

It meant, that all 4 Quarter-Final winners came from Group B. This was the first such occasion this had happened in our tournaments with such a format.