With
the game underway it was Elcombe Old Boys who
took a fairly early lead in the Cup Final. The
goal came from Andrew Hampshire - his seventh
of the tournament. Elcombe Old Boys had won their
Quarter-Final and their Semi-Final both 1-0 so
this would be a real test of The Spice Boys attacking
pedigree. In fact, Elcombe Old Boys had gone six
games without conceding and with such a record
they would no doubt be confident in seeing this
one out.
The
Spice Boys had scored 20 goals already today but
they would all count for nothing unless they could
find a 21st . The Spice Boys proved they were
up to the job though as Jordan Arthur scored his
fifth of the day and we were all level at 1-1.
The momentum was now with The Spice Boys and they
almost had the lead as Jordan Arthur was almost
on the end of a fine cross – if he had been there
a split second sooner, if he was a couple of inches
taller or wore boots a couple of sizes larger
he could well have been putting The Spice Boys
ahead. Instead, on the stretch, his shot went
narrowly wide as he could not quite get enough
purchase on it.
At
the other end some last ditch defending prevented
Elcombe Old Boys taking the lead. A goal-bound
shot was blocked with the arm just outside the
area and from the resulting free-kick a scramble
ensued from which Elcombe Old Boys claimed a penalty.
The referee waved play on – it was so hectic it
would have been hard to give anything and we certainly
couldn't tell from our vantage point. The sands
of time ran out and we finished level at 1-1.
Penalties would decide the 2016 Barcelona Fives
champions.
It
was Elcombe Old Boys to take the first penalty
which Matthew Hall coolly converted to the goalkeeper's
right. Samuel Oduntan was the first man to step
forward for The Spice Boys to try and level it
up. Oduntan went the same way as Matthew Hall
but so did Andy Gartshore in the Elcombe Old Boys
goal and he pushed the ball away to safety. It
was advantage Elcombe Old Boys.
The
second round of penalties would see Marcus Faure
take on Michael Situ in the Spice Boys goal. Faure
caressed the ball into the right-hand side of
the goal to Situ's left and Elcombe Old Boys had
a 2-0 lead in the shoot-out. It was up to Ryan
Williams with 8 goals today to keep his team alive.
He went high and hard down the middle as Gartshore
dived to his left – it looked like it was 2-1
but somehow Gartshore raised a right paw just
in time to keep the ball out. It was an incredible
save and a worthy moment of brilliance to clinch
the title for his team.
Our
sincere commiserations to The Spice Boys who had
come so close to glory but just missed out by
the narrowest of margins. They had been brilliant
on the day and it was a joy to meet them.
Our
congratulations go to Elcombe Old Boys on their
first eurofootballfives.com victory. It really
did seem like a culmination of four year's hard
work getting further and further in the tournament
until everything clicked in 2016. All the work
paid off!
We'd
like to say a big thank you to all 32 teams who
participated. The success of this great event
really was down to you playing the tournament
in a great spirit, being on time for fixtures
and helping us keep everything running so everyone
could have a superb time. It was a fantastic climax
to our 2016 season which will live long in the
memory. We very much hope to see you all in 2017
in Barcelona and/or one of our other destinations.
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