At
the start of Round 4 we had the top two teams
meet in direct competition. It was Budapest
Celtic Heroes versus World Pinteur Veterans.
Both teams had 2 wins and 1 draw. The French
team currently topped the table on goal difference.
World
Pinteur had a remarkable record in the group
phase of our tournaments. In their previous
two tournaments they were unbeaten in 8 group
games. They were fighting on two fronts here
in Budapest – 1 team in the Open Age event,
1 team in the Veterans event. As things stood
the Open Age team had 1 win, 3 draws today and
the Veterans team were now on 3 games unbeaten.
That was 15 games in total without a loss.
Could
Budapest Celtic Heroes put a dent in that record?
If they were then they would need to do it by
coming from behind. Eric Lemoisson had been
the match winner in Round 1 and he was back
in the goals here in Round 4. His goal gave
World Pinteur Veterans a 1-0 lead at half-time.
There was to be no addition to the score in
the second half as the French claimed another
3 points.
Game
11 of Group A was Bure Park Old Boys versus Legends
of the Vale. This was a repeat of the 2018 Mallorca
Tournament Plate Final which Legends of the Vale
won 2-1.
Bure
Park mix their squads up each year but this Old
Boys team featured 3 players who appeared in that
Plate Final last year and they'd added the firepower
of Ian Mansley who'd appeared in the Cup Final
for Bure Park Seniors in Mallorca.
Legends
of the Vale's team today contained five members
of that Plate winning squad. Curiously though,
the two men who scored the goals – Mark Eldridge
(x2) for Legends of the Vale and Dave Tyrell for
Bure Park (was in the Seniors squad) were absent
in this game.
With
those players missing in this game, so were the
goals. Goals were conspicuous by their absence
as the teams played out two goal-less halves.
Final score, 0-0.
At
this stage of the tournament Peebles All Stars
and Peebles Nae Stars were struggling to put out
two full line-ups due to injuries. Having checked
with all the teams in the Veterans tournament,
special dispensation was given for them to merge
the two squads so they could fulfill their fixtures
in both Groups A and Groups B. We thank everyone
for their co-operation with this.
Peebles
Nae Stars were up against FC Dads Club in each
team's fourth fixture of the day. Both teams were
looking for their first win of the day. FC Dads
Club had their first point, but no goals. Peebles
Nae Stars had their first goal, but no points.
It
was Peebles Nae Stars who set about changing that
record for the better. A first half Ronnie McEwen
goal put the Scottish team in the ascendency.
They retained the lead to half-time. In the second
period they saw the game out and collected not
just their first point, but three points. The
table looked healthier for them as they leapfrogged
their opponents into fifth.
