Last but not least, we come to Group C where the group began with Meglepetes versus Missing Magpies.

Meglepetes kicked off the 2017 Budapest Fives as the defending champions following victory at the 2016 tournament.

They began their Budapest Fives journey in 2013 and make their fifth consecutive appearance. They started their debut campaign on fire with 2 wins in their first 2 games. A draw stalled their progress before 2 defeats meant they narrowly missed out on the Cup draw. In the Plate competition they won their QF against Budapest Celtic Tigers (2-1), their SF against BBFC2 (3-0) and then claimed the Plate win 3-0 in the final over Bozeat All Stars.

In 2014 they started off with a defeat before recovering with 3 wins and 1 draw to finish on 10 points and in third place in their group. They qualified for the Plate and the defence of their title started well in the Quarter-Finals with a 5-2 win over LITS but went out on penalties in the Semi-Finals after a 3-3 draw with Budapest Celtic Panthers.

2015 saw them with 3 victories (4-2, 4-0 & 5-0) and 1 defeat (1-0 to Csabagyongye) in the group phase to finish in 2 nd place and qualify for the Cup for the first time. Their form continued with a 4-1 win over 2014 Runners-Up Argentina before they met Csabagyongye again in the Semi-Finals. The game finished 1-1 but Meglepetes went out 2-1 on penalties.

2016 was to be their year. They started off of fire with a 4-0 win over Two Balls One Touch and never looked back. 4-1, 3-0 and 2-0 victories followed over Vilag Valogatott, Wandsworth Athletic and FC Broxelona A respectively. A 1-1 draw over Budapest Celtic Greens saw them win Group A on goal difference over their opponents in that fixture. A 3-0 win over fellow Hungarians, Fejlodes, followed in the Semi-Finals before a second meeting with Budapest Celtic Greens in the Cup Final. This time there was to be no draw as they won the game and the tournament, 3-1.

It was a tough opening draw for Missing Magpies (more on them later) but they put in a pretty accomplished performance and held their opponents to a 0-0 draw. A very solid start for the English team.

The final teams to get underway in Group C were Spider Mans & Eagle and Budapest Celtic Greens.

Spider Mans & Eagle (Eng) made an impressive debut at the 2014 Bratislava Fives. They lost their first game, 3-0, to eventual champions CIS Committee but bounced back in style. 2-0 and 3-1 victories followed before a 2-2 draw consolidated their progress. They finished off the group with a 3-0 win to take 2 nd place and qualify for the Cup. In the Quarter-Finals they battled out a 2-2 draw with Shahs of Sunset before a penalty shoot-out saw them exit the competition. Fast forward to May 2015 and they appeared again at the 2015 Budapest Fives finishing 3rd in a group that would also contain the eventual champions. They qualified for the Cup and recorded a thumping 5-0 win in the Quarter-Finals before meeting CIS Committee in the Semi-Finals. They lost to them in Bratislava and were to do so again in Budapest but it was a good performance despite the 3-1 defeat.

Their next appearance was the 2015 Lisbon Tournament where they proved to be the draw specialists of the tournament with 4 draws out of 5 which hindered their league progress and so they finished 5th. The knock-out phase saw yet another draw and so they would go to penalties with “Where's Dave?” – the latter winning an epic shoot-out, 5-4.

Approximately 12 months ago was their most successful appearance at the 2016 Krakow Trophy. They were impressive from the very start recording a 5-1 win and going on to win all 5 of their group games scoring an amazing 23 goals in the process and conceding just 3. They beat Italy's Football Bassano MMIII in the Quarter-Finals and their own sister squad, Spider Mans & Great Hawk, in the Semi-Finals. It set up an epic battle in the Cup Final against Tinniedad & Tobacco which was 5-2 by the Tinnies.

The next stop on the Spider Mans European travels was Amsterdam in July 2016. A break with tradition saw them enter as Spider Mans 1s and they began well – 3 wins out of 4 saw them 2 nd in Group C behind the eventual champions. A narrow 1-0 defeat saw them exit at the hands (feet?) of Paralytic Athletic in the Quarter-Finals.

Like the other games in Round 1 of the 2017 Budapest Fives we were 0-0 at half-time. We were to get goals in the second half of this fixture though – two of them. Nick McIntosh for Spider Mans & Eagle, Joel Meijer for Budapest Celtic Greens.

At the end of Round 1, all 6 teams were level on 1 point.