2018 Gdansk Tournament 5-a-side Football Tour Report Plate Final

Results

FC Shark (Eng)

Freshers FC (Eng)

The second final of the day would see FC Shark versus Freshers FC. With seven games of football already under their belt the two teams would need to summon one last burst of energy to ensure they would be picking up winners and not runners-up medals in the presentation.

As we did with the Trophy Final, let's have a look at the form guide:

FC Shark

Played 7, Won 4, Drawn 2, Lost 1

Goal difference: +5 (13-8)

Top Scorer: Joe Cridland, 6

Unbeaten run: 4 games

Previous honours: 2017 Mallorca Fives Plate

Freshers FC

Played 7, Won 4, Drawn 2, Lost 1

Goal difference: +10 (19-9)

Top Scorer: Joe Trigg, 8

Unbeaten run: 4 games

The stage was set, let's get the action underway. FC Shark were in a good run of form in our tournaments. If you take it back to the start of the knock-out phase of the 2017 Mallorca Fives then they had lost just 1 of their previous 10 European games. It was first blood to them as Chris Breen scored his third of the tournament.

FC Shark had won the 2017 Mallorca Fives Plate after coming from behind and winning on penalties. This was a different test to see if they could win it as front-runners. Things were looking good for them when Andy Stockbridge extended their lead to 2-0. If things looked good at 2-0 they looked even better at 3-0 – Joe Cridland with his seventh of the day.

It looked like the goose was cooked for Freshers FC but they reduced that lead to 3-1 with Joe Trigg capping a fine day personally to record his ninth goal. In the context of this Plate Final though it was only to be a consolation.

For Freshers FC it proved to be just the one game too far. We offer our consolations to them on a fine campaign though. It was great to see them back on our tour and we hope to see them again in the future.

We offer our huge congratulations to our 2018 Gdansk Tournament Plate champions though – FC Shark. They go down in the history books as the 12th team to win multiple Plate tournaments. The honours board reads:

4 - CSF (2008 Krakow Trophy, 2009 Algarve Open as CSF Porto, 2009 Amsterdam Fives, 2009 Valenica Fives as CSF)

3 - New Milton Eagles (Eagles OB 2010 Krakow Trophy, Eagles UnAthletic 2011 Algarve Open, Eagles 3:36 2014 Mallorca Veterans Tournament)

3 - GBS Reds (2010 Prague Trophy, 2012 Berlin Fives, 2016 JNJ Euro Soccer Tournament)

2 - Rigford Seahawks (2009 Prague Trophy, 2011 Amsterdam Fives)

2 – Slavoj Consumer – (2012 & 2013 JNJ Euro Soccer Tournament)

2 – St Paul's College OB (2014 Amsterdam Fives, 2015 Bratislava Fives)

2 – Naranjitos – (2014 Barcelona Fives, 2015 Budapest Fives)

2 – Frank Hirth – (2015 Lisbon Tournament, 2016 Prague Tournament)

2 – Seleccion Balear/Inter Balear – (2015 & 2017 Mallorca Tournament)

2 – Son Gual/Algaiga Golf – (2013 & 2018 Mallorca Fives).

2 – LMH FC (2017 Vilnius Tournament, 2018 Amsterdam Fives)

2 – FC Shark (2017 Mallorca Fives, 2018 Gdansk Tournament)