At the start of Round 3, we had Always Short versus Budapest Celtic Hoops. Always Short had a slow start at the 2016 Krakow Trophy with two defeats before turning their form around. They were 1 point better off today after two games but had a daunting task against Budapest Celtic Hoops who had just defeated East Compton Eagles, 3-1.

Budapest Celtic Hoops had 4 points from a possible 6 and currently lead the table courtesy of goal difference. If they could take another three points here then they would be well on their way towards Cup qualification. The game started well for the Hungarian team as Andris Szabo scored for the second game running. The Hoops were firmly in control of the game at half-time when Alberto Segantini made it 2-0.

Always Short were yet to score in the tournament and so salvaging something from this game was likely to be a tall order. Joao Roque in the Hoops goal kept a clean sheet in Round 1 and he added a second clean sheet to his record in Round 3 to help his team to a second win in a row. Always Short managed to keep Budapest Celtic Hoops out at the other end but the damage had already been done in the opening period. Final score, 2-0.

The final two teams to complete Round 3 were Red Light Runners against East Compton Eagles. Kicking off at 11.45 on Pitch A they had the luxury of being able to watch the other two games in the round and knowing exactly what they needed to do here. A win for Red Light Runners would take them back to the top of the table level on points with Budapest Celtic Hoops. A win for East Compton Eagles would see them climb two places to third.

Before today, Red Light Runners had a 100% record in the group stages of our tournaments with 14 wins, 60 goals scored and just 11 conceded. A 1-0 win and a 1-1 draw today meant their 100% record had gone but they were still undefeated and had taken 46 points from a possible 48 on offer. It was a formidable record and one that East Compton Eagles were unable to dent.

Red Light Runners moved through the gears in this game with Declan Doherty opening the scoring and from there they never looked back. They were 4-0 up by half-time and extended their lead to 5-0 by full-time. Cory Gallagher, Ian Ward and Stephen Doherty all added themselves to the score-sheet whilst Declan Doherty doubled his tally for the game.

Red Light Runners were the new leaders in Group A as the margin of victory took them above Budapest Celtic Hoops on goal difference. For East Compton Eagles, they should not be too despondent at losing to such a good team and they still had 2 games to left to get their Budapest Fives challenge back on track.