The 2013 Krakow Trophy elite Cup competition was about to get underway and we had 8 good teams who had qualified each vying to life the title. There was a strong local challenge with 5 Polish teams reaching this stage, 2 teams from France and 1 from Hungary.

The first teams to do battle were Budapest Celtic Lions and Red Army. The Hungarian team was experienced at this level with their various Tiger/Lion/Puma squads reaching the Cup Quarter-Finals on 11 previous occasions. From here they had made two Cup Finals, many Semi-Finals but were yet to life the ultimate prize. Could this be their year?

Red Army was on debut and in new territory. They reached this point courtesy of goal difference and qualified as one of the two best third placed teams. They had a tough task against the Group A winners.

It was a bright start for the Budapest Celtic Lions and they opened up a 2-0 first-half lead. After the break Red Army pulled one back through Doug Cooke – it was his tenth goal of the day but it would be his last as his team would exit at this stage. The Lions were in firm control as they ran out 6-1 winners. The goals were spread around for Neil Evans, Heike Bult (2), Laszlo Banka, Peter Hegedus and Leo Kronberger.

Budapest Celtic Lions were through but it was the end of the day for the Red Army – it was a fine debut for them.

The third Quarter-Final saw Group C winners Vamos take on the Runners-Up of Group B, Paris Expats. Vamos were no strangers to this part of the tournament having racked up a quality 2-1 Golden Goal win over Half Parisian Saint Germain in last year's Cup Quarter-Finals. Could Paris Expats produce a better Parisian result this year?

Vamos went all the way to the Cup Final last year so would be a tough team to beat but their prospects did not look good in the early stages. Paris Expats raced into a 2-0 lead thanks to strikes from Monivann Lor and Maciej Pojda.

If it looked like it was going to be Paris Expats in the Semi-Finals then Vamos had other ideas though as they showed real class and spirit to fight back. Androj Lipczynski reduced the deficit to 2-1 and you could sense that Vamos believed they had a sniff at this. When Miron Mierzynski made it 2-2 they had more than just a sniff and were in the ascendency. They looked favourites to go on and win it.

Vamos dug deep and established the lead, 3-2 through Wojcech Poptewski. It would take a huge change of momentum for Paris Expats to wrestle this game back but Vamos were now high on confidence and managed to see the game through. For Paris Expats it was a great debut and they have declared a strong interest in returning to our tournaments. We very much hope they do and they have shown us a glimpse of what they can produce in the future.

The final Quarter-Final was The A Team versus Krakow Team. The A Team had looked good in the group phase and caught the eye of many. Even though they didn't win their group they were the favourites of many to win the tournament. They had dropped points so proved they were fallible. Could Krakow Team take advantage? Krakow Team was in the Cup for the first time. Last year they finished Runners-Up in the Plate Final so had shown an improvement already from 2012. They were a danger to French hopes.

The first half was fairly close but the A Team always had an edge and it was no surprise when Dydynho gave his team the lead. If Krakow Team's task was tough before the start it was even tougher now. In the second half they fell further behind to another Dydynho goal. A further strike from Fateh Bekhouche made it 3-0 and The A Team were easing into the Cup Semi-Finals.

It was the end of the road for Krakow Team - for this year. They were great value on debut last year and proved so again today. We hope to see them next season.