The 2017 Veterans Tournament Plate Final would be contested by Compact Records and Jims40yearoldveg. This was our fifth Veterans Plate competition so who could follow in the foot-steps of €agles 3:36 (Mallorca 2014), Norton Old Boys (Algarve 2015), Futsal Peoes (Lisbon 2016) and Inter Balear (Mallorca 2017) in order to take the cherished trophy.

Let's have a look at the two teams' road to the final;

Compact Records: Played 6, won 5, drawn 0, lost 1. They had scored 18 goals along the way and conceded just five. They were perhaps unlucky to miss out on the Cup but put that disappointment behind them as they swept Where's Dave aside, 3-0, in the Semi-Final.

Jims40yearoldveg: Played 6, won 3, drawn 1, lost 2. They had scored 7 goals and conceded 8 so far so they definitely looked the underdogs based on the stats today. They were also yet to beat Portuguese opposition today. They also reached the Plate Final via a 3-0 Semi-Final win.

With the game underway it was Jims40yearoldveg who drew first blood. Mitch Pryke scored to make it 1-0 to put the English team ahead and things got even better for the travelling team when Pryke made it 2-0 before the break. Compact Records needed to respond and they did before the change of the ends when Fernando Palmcil pulled it back to 2-1.

In the second half Palmcil was on hand again to level it up at 2-2. Compact Records moved ahead through Jose Coria's third strike of the tournament. It looked like it could be the strike that won the Plate. You could be forgiven for thinking that might be the end of it with such a swing in momentum but Jims40yearoldveg came right back into with Rick Hennessy equalizing scoring a heroic third to make it 3-3.

The final whistle went and a penalty shoot-out would decide the Plate Final for the first time in our Veterans tournaments.

It would be Compact Records to shoot first. Ricardo Marols was the man to step forward. He had 4 goals to his name today and he duly converted to make it 1-0. Pressure swung to John Willmott for Jims40yearoldveg but he was up to the task to make it 1-1. Tiago Lampiao, with 2 vital goals in the Semi-Final, was the next man up for Compact Records. Jim ‘The Beard' Harbridge was the man in goal for Jims40yearoldveg and he made an unconventional save courtesy of his ‘abnormally sized head' deflecting the ball onto the bar to give his team the advantage. Rob Nash rammed home that advantage to make it 2-1.

Hilario Aivis had to score to keep Compact Records in the hunt – and he did, 2-2. It meant Rick Hennessy had the penalty to win the trophy and the winners medals for Jims40yearoldveg. His penalty struck the back of the net and Jims40yearoldveg had done that most un-English of things. They'd won a penalty shoot-out against Portgual.

For Compact Records it was disappointment to fall just short but it had been a great performance from them today. For this season they had to be content with Runners-Up medals but maybe it will be winners medals and trophies waiting for them next time. We thank them for joining us from Porto.

We leave the Plate competition for today though by celebrating our winners – huge congratulations to Jims40yearoldveg!