16:30 on Saturday 18 th October, Barcelona – where were you for the last eurofootballfives.com Plate Final of the 2014 season as Red Cow Belgrade met The Naranjitos. It was England versus Ireland and with Deportivo Dooradoyle winning the Trophy it could be a second success for Ireland today.

Red Cow Belgrade

Red Cow Belgrade were appearing in their first eurofootballfives.com Final at the third time of asking. They were in excellent form having won 4 games, drawn 1 (converted to a win via a penalty shoot-out) and lost just the once today. They had scored 13 goals along the way, conceded 6 (5 of which were in the same game) and were on a run of four games without conceding a goal.

Naranjitos

Naranjitos were appearing in their first eurofootballfives.com Final at the second time of asking. They had 3 wins to date, 1 draw and 2 defeats to their name with 13 goals scored and conceding 7 along the way. In terms of goals scored/conceded there was very little to choose between the two teams.

The two teams records today were virtually identical. There was nothing between the two teams and you'd be a brave man to pick a winner! Perhaps it was no surprise then that we reached half-time all level at 0-0. As the game went on it looked increasingly like the first goal would be crucial. When the stalemate was broken it was Javier Sanchez Flores who dealt a major blow to Red Cow Belgrade's hopes of success. He had become the first man to score past Dom Leonard in almost five games.

The goal was relatively early in the second half so did give Red Cow Belgrade some time to draw level at the very least. It was always going to be difficult as they would need to throw men forward leaving them vulnerable at the back. The English team were putting in a great effort to get back into it but it looked as if they were running out of steam and Naranjitos were able to protect their lead. With time running out, Jorge Bayer Saez's fifth strike of the tournament made it 2-0 to Naranjitos and killed off the Red Cow Belgrade challenge.

For Red Cow Belgrade it was a great day's play and certainly their best performance to date at a eurofootballfives.com tournament - they had come so close to picking up their first win. If it was any consolation, there was some personal glory for Dom Leonard who recorded the most clean sheets in the tournament (4) so well done to him and his defenders.

Both teams had played their part in a great final which was watched by a good crowd on Pitch D. Our congratulations go to Red Cow Belgrade for a fine tournament as they collected their runners-up medals – they showed us they can certainly compete on the European stage. Bigger congratulations go to Naranjitos who made the journey from Valencia totally worthwhile as they claimed their first eurofootballfives.com honours, the winning trophy, winners medals and the crown of…

….. 2014 Barcelona Fives Plate Champions.