As the 2017 Amsterdam Fives Cup Quarter-Finals were about to get underway we were down to the elite 8 teams in the tournament with Belgium, England, the Netherlands and Scotland still in contention.

We started on Pitch A with Vieze Vu versus ZVC Indoor Gent. Usually this top Quarter-Final is the most straight-forward as it is a group winner versus a team who finished third in their group. Usually the home team wins through without too much trouble. However, the build-up looked completely different. Look at the two teams group records:

Vieze Vu: Won 3, Drawn 2, Lost 0. Points 11. For 21, Against 11.

ZVC Indoor Gent: Won 4, Drawn 0, Lost 1. Points 12. For 15. Against 10.

As you can see the team who finished in third had a higher points tally than the Group A winners. This is the first time this has ever happened in our 18 team tournaments. This is also a joint equal high points tally for a team finishing third in our tournaments. Cudny Jozef (Pol) also finished with 12 at the 2016 Krakow Trophy.

What this all pointed to was a Quarter-Final of epic proportions and it didn't disappoint. The two teams played out a thrilling contest with the teams level at the break at half-time, 2-2. The second half was equally close with Vieze Vu just edging it 5-4 at the full-time whistle.

Vieze Vu were still involved both the Fives and the Sixes (as Toros) so they were showing superb feats of endurance. Tim Van Gelder scored a hat-trick for them in this game and we was ably assisted by a goal each from Jon van Hoften and Gijs Kok.

There was also a hat-trick for Michael Ingels of ZVC Indoor Gent who ended the tournament on 9 goals. Robin Bogaert was also on the mark for the Belgians. It was tournament over for ZVC Indoor Gent who had put in a very strong performance and we hope they'll be back for another crack at a title.

Quarter-Final three was BSP FC versus Ian Todd FC. This promised to be the closest Quarter-Final tie yet as it was the winners of Group C versus the 2 nd team in Group B.

BSP FC had qualified for the Cup in sensational style – they were one of three teams to finish on 12 points in Group C but they topped the table courtesy of goal difference. A last game win against the previous league leaders saw them climb from third to first. Defences watch out – they were the top scoring team in the group phase with 24 goals. They also had the third best defence at the end of the group phase and second best goal difference. Weaknesses were hard to spot.

That was the size of the task facing Ian Todd FC who began the day well with a 100% record after the first couple of rounds. They then lost their last couple of group games. In fact, their group phase was similar to FC Tiote in the game above and we've just seen how they held Hamid Hammers to a draw and then win on penalties. This may well be Ian Todd FC's most likely route to the Semi-Final.

With the match underway though, Ian Todd FC were unable to stem the flow of goals. BSP FC hit Ian Todd FC with wave after wave of attack. BSP FC raced to a 5-0 lead by half-time and they had one foot in the next round. After the break Ian Todd FC had the better of it, edging the half 3-2 but the damage had already been done in that opening period. Final score, 7-3 to BSP FC.

Alexander Richardson and Kyle McLellan were the chief architects of the win in terms of putting the ball in the onion bag. Richardson scored 3 and McLellan 4 as they took their tournament tallies to 15 and 10 respectively.

Alex Howes of Ian Todd FC was also riding high in the goal-scoring stakes – he scored his third hat-trick of the tournament to take him to 12 for the day. Unfortunately for him, and he was team, he would not get the chance to add to his tally.

The final Quarter-Final was JK Silvertown versus Club Atlantico Nationale. Both teams were on debut in our tournaments and could be rightly proud of their efforts to date. They were both breaking new ground as they qualified for the Cup.

It was a battle between the Runners-Up from Group A and Group C respectively so the two teams should have been well matched and they proved to be so. We reached half-time with both defences on top. In the context of a high-scoring tournament this game was relatively short on goals but high on quality. JK Silvertown managed to forge ahead and through Adem Hassan. It was his first goal of the tournament and what a time to get it!

So, we kicked off the second half with JK Silvertown in the ascendency. Could Club Atlantico Nationale respond? If they were to comeback it would have to be a stunning comeback. 1-0 became 2-0 when Shane Batterbee doubled the lead and effectively sealed his team's participation in the Semi-Finals. Those two goals combined with Darren Butler's second clean sheet in 3 games meant JK Silvertown would progress.

There was no way back for Club Atlantico Nationale – thank you to them for participating but for now we had to bid them farewell.