Results
 

Racing Literki FC (Spa)

4

V

1

East Compton Eagles (Eng)

The Rain Dragons (Eng)

0

V

2

Budapest Celtic Greens (Hun)

 

We were down to our final 4 teams in the Plate competition with 2 teams representing England, 1 representing Spain and 1 for Hungary.

 

The first Semi-Final would see Racing Literki FC take on East Compton Eagles. Racing Literki FC had breezed into this round following some extraordinary goalscoring in the Quarter-Finals – a 5-0 victory. East Compton Eagles had been involved in a tighter affair (2-0) but that can often make a team more hardened for the battle in future tight games.

 

Both teams were on a good unbeaten run. Racing Literki had lost their opening game but had now gone 5 games unbeaten (2 wins, 3 draws) scoring 10 goals and conceding just 1 goal in that time. East Compton Eagles were on a run of 3 games unbeaten (2 wins, 1 draw) with 3 goals scored and 0 conceded. This run included a 0-0 draw between these two teams in the group phase.

 

With two dominant defences we wondered if this would also be a tight affair and a penalty shoot-out may be needed to separate the two teams. Maybe it was tiring legs and lungs towards the business end of the tournament but we got goals and plenty of them in this game. There was two in the first half but nothing could separate the teams as we reached the break at 1-1. Michal Przybylski scoring his 5th of the tournament for Racing Literki, Brendan McLoughlin scoring his 4th of the tournament for East Compton Eagles.

 

In the second half the goals continued to flow but sadly if you were an East Compton Eagle the goals were flowing against you. Dominik Gora, Kamil Bieganski and Lukasz Bozek all on target for Racing Literki FC. Final score, 4-1.

 
 
 

The second Semi-Final was The Rain Dragons versus Budapest Celtic Greens. The Rain Dragons had the best results of the two teams today but only just. There was 3 wins, 2 draws and just 1 defeat for The Rain Dragons. Budapest Celtic Greens had 2 wins, 3 draws and just 1 defeat. In terms of goals scored and against, The Rain Dragons were 8-3 compared to Budapest Celtic Greens 6-6.

This game was going to be a tough call – normally we'd go on the numbers and make Rain Dragons favourites but Budapest Celtic Greens came into the game on the back of a morale boosting penalty shoot-out win that can really galvanise teams.

The Rain Dragons would be hoping to make it a double over Budapest Celtic today having already defeated the Whites team 2-0. The Greens were proving a sterner test and it was the home based team who hit the front when Boris Pavlovski put them ahead in the first half.

Boris Pavlovski ultimately proved to be the difference between the two teams as he added a second goal after the break. His two goals marked him out as the match-winner.

There was no way back for The Rain Dragons who we thought would be heading to a second successive Plate Final after doing so at the 2016 Amsterdam Fives. On this occasion it was not to be though.

 
 
 
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