We arrived at the Plate Quarter-Final stage and we would shortly see eight teams reduced to four teams. We had a really high quality line-up in the Plate with many of the teams having played Cup football before and previous Plate winners featuring. We had teams from CIS, England, Poland, Scotland and Wales vying for the Plate trophy.

To begin it was FC Tpaktop (CIS) versus Peebles All Stars (Sco) as third from Group A met fourth from Group B. Peebles All Stars best performance in the knock-out phase of our tournaments was here at the 2018 Mallorca Veterans Tournament where a four game unbeaten run was ended by Bure Park Old Boys at the Semi-Final stage. A win here would see them match that performance at the very least and have a chance to reach a first final.

Peebles All Stars didn't help their chances though with an own goal in the first half. It was a real shame as they were fully in this game and competed well throughout. Ultimately that own goal proved to be the difference between the two teams. Admittedly FC Tpaktop didn't have to make much of the running as they were a goal to the good but they did what they needed to for Leonid Sislo to keep a clean sheet in goal for the CIS team and see out the game.

In the lower half of the Quarter-Final draw it was Ruta Uno FC (Fra) versus ACE & The Swagmen (Eng). Unfortunately this British encounter had brought the British weather as the otherwise sunny Mallorca brought storms for the start of the knock-out phase.

This game was going to be a tough one to call in the sense that Ruta Uno FC had some curious results – they drew 2-2 against the bottom side before drawing 1-1 against the defending champions. They'd competed well throughout with just the one defeat in four games and that was against AFC Blue Boys who had a 100% record. ACE & The Swagmen came into this game on the back of a final group game win just as they did at the 2022 Lisbon Veterans….where they went on to reach the final.

The man leading the charge for ACE & The Swagmen in terms of scoring the goals was Daniel Burkwood. He scored 6 in the group phase and was not finished just yet. He opened the scoring in this tie and added a second to put his team in control of the game at the break. It took his tally for the day to 8 which meant, as things stood, he was in second place for the golden boot – just 1 behind Hibernon of Duktil Balear.

In the second half the Welsh side pulled a goal back thanks to Jonathan Caulfield but alas for them they were unable to get back on level terms as time ran out. Our commiseration to Ruta Uno FC. It was a fine debut overall and they were a great addition to our tournaments.

The final Quarter-Final saw Southgate Tourists take on Wafty Crankers. Wafty Crankers had quite the record in our Plate competition as they won the Plate at the 2011 Prague Masters and also have three other Plate Semi-Final appearances at the 2008 Prague Masters, 2010 Barcelona Fives and 2016 Prague Tournament. A win here and they would reach the Plate Semi-Final stage for a fifth time.

In their way stood Southgate Tourists who made the Plate Semi-Final of the 2022 Lisbon Veterans Tournament where they lost 1-0 to Santa Maria of Portugal. They were just one game away from matching that progress.

Southgate Tourists would come into the game as favourites with 2 wins from their group phase compared to the 1 victory for Wafty Crankers but it's always tough comparing group performances as it's hard to judge the relative strength of each group. With the action underway each half was closely fought and in the end each h period would just have the one goal to show for the teams' attacking efforts. Both goals went to Damien O'Brien of Southgate County who proved to be the matchwinner.

We sadly had to say farewell to Wafty Crankers but Southgate Tourists marched on.

Veterans

(For Open Age, click introduction and then select the relevant Open Age section)