Group C began with Return of the Dancing Horses III versus Irish Mbassy. Return of the Dancing Horses III made their debut in the 2011 Barca Fives and had quite a baptism of fire when they went down 4-0 to the silky skills of Japanese team, Samurai Japan. Thereafter they were pretty unlucky with four consecutive 1-0 defeats against some strong opponents such as HMS Sultan (Plate Winners) and El A Dees (Runners-Up in the 2012 Amsterdam Fives Cup competition). We hope they have a change of fortune and lady luck is smiling on them in Krakow this year.

Irish Mbassy are our illustrious hosts for the Post Tournament Social on Saturday night and participated in our tournament last year….with success. They collected the Plate Trophy for their efforts. Could they claim further glory this year?

It did not start well for them as Return of the Dancing Horses III struck first in the opening period captain Liam Apicella. They doubled their advantage after the break with Craig Harrison making it 2-0. These were their first goals in eurofootballfives competition, their first win and a much better start than 12 months ago. It was a disappointing opening for the Irish Mbassy though.

Next up on Pitch C were two teams taking to the field in eurofootballfives.com action for the first team in an all-Poland contest. Lox met Krakow Team and it was the team resplendent in black (Lox) that made the early breakthrough as Filip Betzak scored the only goal of the first half.

If the first half was quiet the second half exploded into life with goals at each end. It was a real game of ebb and flow with a basketball feel to it with one team scoring and then the other going straight down the other end to match them. We saw six goals in the second period which were shared evenly resulting in Lox coming out on top 4-3. We hoped we would get this much entertainment from these teams in every game!

The scorers incidentally were Betzak again for Loz with further goals from Jarostow Bedlewicz and Roufout Bedlewicz for the victors. For Krakow team there was a double strike from Sebastian Bigaj and a goal also for Mohamed Dadouch.

The last team to get underway on Pitch D in Group C was Atlantic Star. Well….they would have been if they hadn't been delayed en route to the venue. They therefore had to forefeit the game 3-0 with Return of the Dancing Horses III the beneficiaries of the walkover – the easiest 3 points they'll ever get!

The next game in Group C was Irish Mbassy versus Lox. For the Irish-Polish team it was a chance to bounce back from opening game defeat. In the 2011 tournament they lost their first game 2-0 (v Apsley House) and hit back with a 2-0 win (v Wokingham FC). A repeat of that would do them nicely. Lox would have other ideas though as they sought to make it two wins out of two.

Kevin Hayes scored the Irish Mbassy's first goal of the day but history would not be repeating itself as they conceded three at the other end. It was a real family affair for Lox as the Bedlewicz's scored all three. First it was Cezony, second was Jarostow and finally Roufout.

That was how it stood at half-time. By the final whistle 3-1 became 4-1 with Filip Betzak's third of the tournament putting the icing on the cake. Lox joined the Dancing Horses on the top of Group C with Irish Mbassy struggling at the foot of the table.

The game that took us to the halfway stage of Group C was Krakow Team versus Atlantic Star. The latter had now arrived at the Hutnik Krakow stadium complex and were able to take to the field for the first time. Both teams needed their first points and a positive result here would see the winners go third.

Atlantic Star are our most capped team in this year's tournament making Krakow their 7th appearance following trips to the 2008 and 2009 Prague Trophy, 2009 and 2011 Krakow Trophy, 2010 Manchester Fives and 2010 Valencia Fives. Their best performances to date have been two Cup semi-finals in 2009 and, most recently, winning the Plate competition in Manchester back in July 2010. Could it be third time lucky at a Krakow tournament for them this year?

Missing the first game would not have helped their cause. In this fixture, half-time came and went with honours even, 1-1. Goals for Atlantic Star's Clarke Woollam and Krakow Team's Sebastian Bigaj cancelled each other out. In the second half Mark Brereton put Atlantic Star 2-1 up and victory was in sight. Krakow Team finished with a flourish though and a late Piotr Wojceiszak double snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

Krakow Team moved 3rd whilst Atlantic Star would be deflated in 4th.