We arrived at the Plate Quarter-Final stage and we would shortly see the eight qualifying teams reduced to four. The teams had put a great effort into their group campaigns but now we were at the business end of the tournament.

To begin it was Rain Dragons versus RAF Boulmer A. Rain Dragons have come alive in the knock-out phase of the tournaments in recent years. At the 2016 Amsterdam Fives they reached the Plate Final, at the 2017 Budapest Fives they reached the Plate Semi-Finals and at the 2018 Barcelona Fives they reached the Trophy Final and won it.

RAF Boulmer A were on debut so breaking new ground with every game. They were underdogs for this game with their haul of 4 points in the group phase compared to the 11 points achieved by Rain Dragons. In their final group game, Rain Dragons drew 2-2 with RAF Boulmer B.

It was Rain Dragons who took the lead in this one thanks to Will Watkins. He's a regular scorer in these tournaments so it was a surprise this was his first today. Ben Care hit the post shortly after but it was only a temporary reprieve for RAF Boulmer A. Yulong Meng grabbed the second goal of the game before Will Watkins added another for 3-0.

RAF Boulmer A were out but they still had interest in the tournament with the B team to appear shortly in the Cup competition.

In the lower half of the Quarter-Final draw it was Clandestinos versus Pink Lloyd A. Clandestinos were hot favourites for this one with their 3rd placed finish compared to the 6 th placed finish for Pink Lloyd A.

Clandestinos had taken 10 points from a possible 18 this morning and were one of just 2 teams in the Plate who recorded a positive goal difference from the group phase. Pink Lloyd A took 5 points from their group games and all of those points came from their final 3 group games. On the field they had drawn their last two games, 2-2.

Both Pink Lloyd teams had seen their form improve over the course of the day as they grew into the tournament. The B team lost 4-3 to Clandestinos in their penultimate fixture. Could the A team gain revenge?

It started off well enough with Phil Sherwood putting Pink Lloyd A ahead. Sineus Guillaume's third strike of the day drew Clandestinos level. It was only a brief respite as Pink Lloyd regained the lead thanks to an Alun Lloyd goal. 2-1 became 3-1 as Gunson gave them some breathing space.

It was all over for Clandestons and a sensational result for the Pink Lloyd party.

The final Quarter-Final saw Dragon Balls take on The Post Office. We expected a close game in this match as Dragon Balls had the best defensive record of all teams in the group phase – even better than the 4 teams who had qualified for the Cup. The Post Office had one of the best goalkeepers in the tournament in the form of Anthony Wilcox based on his exploits so far today.

The Post Office were down to the bare bones in terms of personnel. Their 7-strong touring party was down to 6 ready to kick-off at the start and, due to an injury, were now down to 5. With no subs it was a hard slog for the 5 remaining players. In terms of the form book it looked like this:

Dragon Balls: W-W-L-L-D-W

The Post Office: D-L-W-W-L-L

The form booked suggested a home win but to be fair to The Post Office they finished off their group campaign against the top two teams. With the action underway, the game went with the form book. Despite the overwhelming support of the partisan English teams supporting them, The Post Office fell behind to a Kuba Dabrowski goal.

Kuba Waszkiewicz doubled the lead to 2-0 before Pawel Zabielski put the finishing touches on a 3-0 win. Dragon Balls were through to the next round.