Results
 

Jackson's Five (Eng)

1

v

4

Bar Maruru (Spa)

Bluewater Training (Spa)

4

v

0

Urban Sport (Spa)

Ben (Eng)

1

v

3

Inter Hoddesdon (Eng)

 

We began Round 5 with a lot to decide. There were 3 teams in the hunt for the top 2 Cup qualification places. One of those would miss out and take a place in the Plate. The final Plate place was up for grabs with a straight shoot-out between 2 teams.

Jackson's Five were one of those teams fighting for a place in the Plate. Their fate was in their own hands – win or draw and they would secure fourth spot in the table. This would not be as easy as it sounded as their opponents were the high-flying Bar Maruru.

Bar Maruru were guaranteed of Cup qualification (as their 2 nearest rivals would play each other) but still needed a point to secure the Group A title. They could progress to the knock-out phase in style with a win which would maintain their 100% record.

At half-time it was going to plan for the Spanish with Farid Echanghoufi's fourth goal of the tournament affording them a 1-0 lead. In the second half Bar Maruru eased away from their opponents as Manuel Galcain Sastre, Fran Medina Garcia and Echanghoufi again found the net. Jackson's Five would have the final say though with Massi Ghiani scoring a consolation for 4-1.

Congratulations for Bar Maruru for winning Group A with 5 wins out of 5. Jackson's Five would need to wait and see if they had done enough to reach the Plate.

 
 
 

Jackson's Five would learn their fate soon enough as the next match on Pitch A was Bluewater Training versus Urban Sport. Jackson's Five would be championing the Bluewater Training cause here as this would help them secure fourth. So, what was at stake?

Bluewater Training victory: Would see them rise to fifth, Urban Sport drop to sixth. Both teams eliminated. Jackson's Five would take fourth and qualify for the Plate.

Draw: Would see Urban Sport take fifth, Bluewater Training finish sixth. Both teams eliminated. Jackson's Five would take fourth and qualify for the Plate.

Urban Sport victory: If Urban Sport won by 5 then they would climb above Jackson's Five into fourth and qualify for the Plate. Jackson's Five and Bluewater Training would be eliminated in 5th and 6th. A lesser victory would see Jackson's Five qualify for the Plate on goal difference.

Jackson's Five watching on would therefore have been delighted to see Bluewater Training score early through Pep Noguira. It now meant Urban Sport had to score 6 but their hunt for goals was fruitless in the first half. It would take a massive second half performance from Urban Sport to qualify but instead of reducing their target they saw it increase. Pep Noguira scored twice more to complete his hat-trick and Urban Sport's hopes were dead in the water – dead in the Bluewater for that matter. There was still time for former Olympic Swimmer Matthew O'Connor to make it 4-0 for his team. Despite them going out, Bluewater Training ended the day on a high.

Urban Sport's day was over as they suffered 3 of the 5 biggest defeats of the day. Jackson's Five were no doubt delighted!

 
 
 

The final thing to wrap up Group A was Ben versus Inter Hoddesdon. With all the other games completed these two teams knew what they needed to do.

For Ben, the equation was simple – win and qualify for the Cup. Anything less would mean Plate football this afternoon. For Inter Hoddesdon it was ‘simply' a case of avoiding defeat to secure that Cup qualification place for themselves.

The two teams had both secured three wins out of four today but the momentum was with Inter Hoddesdon – they had just won 3-0, 3-0 and 4-0. Ben had just tasted defeat for the first time against Bar Maruru so how would they respond?

On the field of play it was Inter Hoddesdon who continued on their merry way. Sam Hoxhaj struck twice in the opening period for the men in burgundy as they had now scored 12 goals without reply. Ben were to reply in the second half with Clement Verven scoring his fourth of the tournament so far.

With time running out Ben needed to score twice. As the minutes and seconds ticked away it looked more and more forlorn for the team in Dortmund shirts. If they could get one goal back it might create some panic for Inter Hoddesdon but instead Toby Cleaver removed any doubt as he made it 3-1 with what proved to be the final kick of the game.

Well done to Inter Hoddesdon for securing their place in the Plate. Commiserations to Ben who just missed out but would surely be one of the fancied teams for the Plate.

 
 
Table
 
Team
Pld
Won
Drawn
Lost
For
Agst
Pts

Bar Maruru (Spa)

5

5

0

0

14

2

15

Inter Hoddesdon (Eng)

5

4

0

1

13

3

12

Ben (Eng)

5

3

0

2

7

5

9

Jackson's Five (Eng)

5

1

1

3

4

10

4

Bluewater Training (Spa)

5

1

0

4

4

7

3

Urban Sport (Spa)

5

0

1

4

1

16

1

 
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