So, for the third time in 32 tournaments we would have a Cup and a Plate group to decide the winners and runners-up medals. It had proved a popular format in the 2009 Valencia Fives and 2010 Prague Trophy and we were much looking forward to how the 2011 Krakow Trophy would pan out in this format.

We kicked off with the Plate group and simultaneous games on Pitches A and B. On Pitch A it was Alphasights versus Irish Mbassy and on Pitch B, Atlantic Star versus Wokingham FC.

Let's start with Pitch A. When you looked at the two sides group records in the morning you would have to make Poland's Irish Mbassy favourites against Alphasights especially as Irish Mbassy only narrowly missed out on the Cup. The form book is often proven wrong but on this occasion it was proven correct. We were treated to a goal-fest and the first-half had 6 goals alone – unfortunately for Alphasights five went against them as James Reynolds, Ian Corkhill, Jonathon Aguilar (2) and Andy Keogh all found the path to goal. Carsten Brinkmann was the Alphasights goalscorer.

The second-half was more even and the teams shared the goals as Tyrone Carrol opened his account for the day for Alphasights and Nathan Arnold scored his second in as many games to round off a 6-2 victory. It was a great result for the Irish Mbassy which gave them a great start in the hunt for the Plate win.

On Pitch B, Atlantic Star had the greatest pedigree of all the teams as they had a Plate win already in their trophy cabinet (2010 Manchester Fives). Wokingham FC are the footballers formerly known as Reading Royals. As the Reading Royals they made their debut in the 2008 Premiership In…Portugal where they finished 6th . They returned in the 2009 Prague Masters where they reached the Plate Semi-Finals before going out to eventual Plate winners AON Top Guns.

With the game underway there was first half stalemate as the teams turned round level at 0-0. There was not much between the teams in the second period either and in the end it would be just one goal that decided the game. That goal came from Aaron Conneran and gave all three points to Atlantic Star. They joined Irish Mbassy on 3 points in pursuit of their second Plate title.