S & OP FC and JNJ High Wycombe A kicked off Round 5 of Group B. JNJ High Wycombe A had already secured Cup qualification but another win here would secure the Group B title. A draw would be enough to achieve this if JNJ Zug failed to win their last game and if JNJ Zug lost their last game then JNJ High Wycombe A would be Group B champions regardless of this result.

For S & OP FC there were all sorts of possibilities – Cup qualification, Plate qualification or even elimination. If they won, JNJ Zug lost and JNJ Russia B failed to win then S & OP FC would finish second and qualify for the Cup. If they lost and JNJ Poland won then they would be eliminated (unless JNJ Russia B lost by more than 2). Any other permutation of results would see them in the Plate. All complicated stuff but the simple equation for S & OP FC was to win their game and hope the rest would fall into place for them.

With the match underway it soon became apparent that victory was going to prove beyond S & OP FC as JNJ High Wycombe A were surging into the Cup Semi-Finals as Group B winners. There were 3 goals in each half for the league leaders as they wrapped up a stunning 6-0 win and in the process sent out a message to their rivals for the overall tournament honours.

Alex Woodger added two more goals to his tournament tally plus there were strikes from Thomas Lee, Rob Buckland, Alex Parkinson and Sam Benson. S & OP FC would now have to sit and await their fate.

The final game of Group B was JNJ Russia B versus Gerri Hatricks. For Gerri Hatricks the game was quite academic as they would finish in 6th position regardless. For JNJ Russia B there was much more riding on the game. They needed to win and hope JNJ Zug would lose. They also had to hope that if S & OP FC also won their goal difference would be enough to see them finish second ahead of S & OP FC and JNJ Zug on goal difference as the three teams would be locked on 9 points.

That was the task facing them before kick-off. I am sure they would have heard their subs/supporters scouting the other pitches for score updates and they would have quickly learned that S & OP FC were out of the equation on Pitch A. JNJ Russia B could not focus too much on the other pitches as they still had a job to do themselves. They were doing that at half-time as they lead 1-0 thanks to Maxim Yurevich.

At this stage it would have not been enough as JNJ Zug were winning. Could they see this game out and claim victory? Could JNJ Poland do them a favour?

The answer to the first question was yes as the game finished 1-0. The answer to the second question was no as we'd seen above. JNJ Russia B would miss out on the Cup for the first time in their 3 years participation. For Gerri Hatricks it was time to rest their weary legs, enjoy the bar and cheer on their sister squad, Tekkers Lovakia.