Round 4 of Group A began with Leek High Boys entertaining Giggs Boson FC. This looked to be a great game as we had two of the three teams in joint second position meeting face-to-face. Giggs Boson held the advantage in the league table via goal difference as they sat 2nd to their opponents 4th. A win here would put them level at the top with Naranjitos (at least until Naranjitos result came through).

You felt this was one of those games that could well set the tone for the rest of the group phase for these two teams. Win it and they were upwardly mobile, lose it and that Cup qualification place would be so much harder to achieve. What about a draw? Whilst clearly better than a defeat it would not be too much good for either as it would allow Naranjitos to extend their lead at the top and leave these two teams vulnerable to Club Esportiu Llefia moving ahead of them.

The game would be decided by the odd goal and it was Leek High Boys who finished on top. A lot of credit has to go to Jamie Mason in the Leek High Boys goal who kept his third clean sheet in four matches. At the other end, Tommy Coates scored the goal that earned the three points. Leek High Boys had scored three goals in three 1-0 wins – they were getting full value for their goals.

For Giggs Boson FC it was two successive defeats and they were the big losers of Round 4 slipping from 2nd position to 5th in the table.

Mavericks were up next and were up against Naranjitos. A full rundown of Mavericks previous eurofootballfives.com start was a 3-0 win over Ireland's Depo Legends and 4-1 over compatriots, Whiteley FC. Their form then tailed off in the group phase finishing 4th out of the 6 teams. They qualified for the Plate and after a 1-1 draw with AFC Shooters B they progressed 2-1 on penalties. Another 1-1 draw followed in the Semi-Finals against Skidmarks and another shoot-out victory (3-2) meant they reached a debut final. It was a step too far as they lost 3-0 to AFC Shooters A but picked up runners-up medals in the presentation.

So, Plate Runners-Up Mavericks (2015 Algarve Open) were playing 2 times Plate Winners Naranjitos (2014 Budapest Fives, 2014 Barcelona Fives). With 8-team groups this would arguably be the toughest task to reach a Plate Final in eurofootballfives.com history.

With 3 wins out of 3, Naranjitos would surely be aiming higher than the Plate on this occasion. They were playing Mavericks at probably the worst time as they had just picked up a 4-0 win. That didn't seem to matter to Naranjitos who kept their winning run going in style.

A double from David Moya Aparicio set them on their way before Javier Sanchez Flores and Adrian Rodriguez Ortega put the icing on the cake. Final score, 4-0.

Smithfields OAPs were now on a roll. Two wins out of two including a prized scalp of Club Esportiu Llefia and just a narrow defeat to Naranjitos who were absolutely flying at the summit of Group A. Ealing Expendables can feel themselves a little hard done by – they secured a very good opening point before two narrow defeats by the odd goal. Could they get their first win on the board here?

Smithfields OAPs were certainly not going to let their momentum subside and instead it appeared to be snowballing. They were ruthless as they swept aside their English opponents in this one. Darren Harrington was emerging as one of the contenders for the golden boot award and a hat-trick here did his chances no harm at all.

Harrington scored the first three before Jesper Frisch made it 4-0. Ealing Expendables had something to cheer when James Oldham scored his third in four games to make it 4-1. Smithfields OAPs had the final word though as Dave O'Donohoe sealed a 5-1 win that saw his team finish Round 4 in second place.

The final thing to wrap up in Round 4 was Club Esportiu Llefia versus Real Sosobad. The champions title defence was hanging in the balance with 1 win, 1 draw and 1 defeat so far. With Naranjitos, Leek High Boys and Smithfields OAPs all winning on pitches A, B and C nothing less than a win would be good enough for the Spanish team to keep their title defence alive.

Real Sosobad had found it hard going at the Barcelona Fives so far with three defeats in three games so this was hardly the fixture they needed – against the defending champions and just after Club Esportiu Llefia had suffered their first defeat in two seasons. Beware the wounded animal.

Club Esportiu Llefia came out fighting and recorded their record Barcelona Fives victory. Their 8-0 win here eclipsed their 5-0 win in the Cup Final last year – also against Irish opposition (the Alabama Hotpockets). The win kept them just 2 points off the second Cup qualification place.

The goals incidentally went to Alfred Jimenez de Andres (5), Sergi Garcia Anguile, Alberto Martin Montes and Sergio Rodriguez Viejo.