Results
 

The Rain Dragons (Eng)

0

V

3

DDCH (Eng)

Dragon Balls (Pol)

1*

V

1

Pink Lloyd A (Eng)

* Dragon Balls won 3-1 on penalties.
 

We were down to our final 4 teams in the Plate competition. The first Semi-Final would see Rain Dragons versus DDCH. This promised to be a high quality encounter – DDCH were unbeaten in 4 games whilst Rain Dragons had only lost 1 of their last 11 in eurofootballfives.com competition.

Rain Dragons had been involved in 3 previous eurofootbalfives.com Semi-Finals with a 67% success rate to date. They were bidding to reach their second Plate Final. If they were to go on and win the Plate they would be only the third team in eurofootballfives.com history to boast a Trophy and a Plate win on their CV.

Rain Dragons had been relatively comfortable in their Quarter-Final winning 3-0. DDCH came through a tighter game requiring penalties to get this far. Rain Dragons had the higher group finish and it looked like they would be favourites for this one. DDCH had other ideas though.

They turned in quite a performance that was memorable for their ability on the pitch and their sportsmanship off it. In terms of the performance they bagged three goals – Alex Kearney, Donavan De Jong and Emmanuel Olobio from the penalty spot. Defensively there was a clean sheet for Max Braithwaite and his defence. In terms of sportsmanship, Rain Dragons were handed a red card for a professional foul, deliberate handball. DDCH sportingly waved this dismissed player back on to keep it as a 5 v 5 contest. Great work.

It meant Rain Dragons were out but they played superbly today. DDCH had a final to prepare for.

 
 
 

Who would join DDCH in the Plate Final? The two teams set to do battle were Dragon Balls and Pink Lloyd A.

These two teams had met earlier in the day in what was the very first game of the day in Group A. On that occasion it was the Polish team who ran out victors, 3-0. A repeat of that would do them just fine!

It started off pretty well for Dragon Balls as Kuba Dabrowski converted his third goal of the tournament. Dragon Balls continued to boast the best defence in the entire tournament with just 4 conceded in 7 games before this one. Therefore, Pink Lloyd A would need their shooting boots on and take full advantage of chances when they presented themselves. Cometh the hour, cometh the man and that man was Ed Hunter. His goal for Pink Lloyd A levelled the tie up at 1-1 which is how we finished. A penalty shoot-out was required to decide this one.

Pink Lloyd A would take the first penalty and Andy Flett strolled forward. 1-0 as he placed it to the right of the goalkeeper. Kuba Dabrowski was the first man up for Dragon Balls – he went to the left of the goalkeeper but with the same result, 1-1. It was then advantage Dragon Balls as Steve Allen (his team's top scorer on the day) dragged it wide. Michal Stachowski put Dragon Balls 2-1 up but it was close. Ned Lloyd in the Pink Lloyd goal got a hand to it but was unable to keep it out – a valiant effort.

Alun Lloyd had to score to keep his team in it. He struck it to the bottom left but Marcin Baldyga made an excellent save diving to his right and sticking out an arm to make the save. The referee blew his whistle to conclude the contest and Dragon Balls were through to the final.

 
 
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