In recent years, as our tournaments have grown, the Wooden Spoon has become an increasingly regular feature. It gives a second opportunity of glory for those teams who have missed out in the group phase.

The 1st Wooden Spoon Semi-Final at the 2011 Barcelona Fives would see Shallow Hals take on Idealhouseshare Allstars. The latter would probably be considered favourites due to a superior group record but that was in the past and that record meant nothing now. Shallow Hals put group records behind them and took the lead through Thomas Munson. They doubled their advantage through Munson again (taking his personal tally to 3 for the day) to have a good cushion at half-time.

Could this be their first win of the tournament? It was up to Idealhouseshare Allstars to stop them but their strikers could not break down the Shallow Hals defence and Ashley Green in the Shallow Hals goal. In fact, the second half was goalless ensuring the men in pink completed their first win and would compete in the Wooden Spoon Final. Idealhouseshare Allstars tournament was over for this year – we look forward to seeing them again in eurofootballfives competition in the future.

Who would meet Shallow Hals in the final? The two teams in contention were Stamford AC and Bede FC. Both teams would lay serious claim to being unfortunate at not making the Plate. Stamford AC competed well in all games in a tough group and Bede FC, with a win under their belt, only dropped into the Wooden Spoon places after Game 10 of Group D.

The second semi-final would prove to be a real goalfest as those privileged to watch the game would witness 6 goals in the first half alone. Stamford AC claimed the majority to lead 4-2. A 2 goal deficit was always going to be hard to overturn but not impossible in a high scoring game. The next goal was going to prove crucial and when it came it was from Stamford AC to virtually kill the game. The 5-2 lead was unassailable as two more goals were added for good measure to complete a 7-2 victory. James Raynes was a hat-trick hero with two goals from Tom Cocks and one each from Danny Brogan and James Ashworth. In reply, Dave Gatt scored twice. He could be happy with his personal return of 5 goals in the tournament but his team were out.