We arrived at the Plate Quarter-Final stage and we would shortly see eight teams reduced to four teams. Inter Balear would meet Green Man FC. The pre-determined draw meant the 3rd best 3rd placed team would meet the best 6th placed team with the former being Inter Balear. They would be favourites going into this game.

In a strange twist of fate the two teams had met earlier in the day in Group B. It was Inter Balear who emerged victorious in the previous encounter as they ran out 4-1 victors. A repeat would do them just fine. When you consider that Inter Balear won the Plate here in 2015 (as Seleccion Balear) and the Cup here just 3 weeks ago as Valecuatro, this would add weight to their favourites tag.

Green Man FC were also in that 2015 Mallorca Tournament (as Stanford FC). They would have met Seleccion Balear in the Plate Semi-Finals had they beaten Wrexham Rednecks in the Quarter-Final but they went down 7-3 on that occasion. This was a much stronger Quarter-Final performance from Green Man FC in 2017, especially given the quality of the opposition, but it wasn't quite enough.

Inter Balear ended up doing the double over Green Man FC. It was 2-0 this time with goals from Antonio Lobo Blanco and Juan Garcia Noguera.

The second Semi-Final was Whangdoodles versus Shergold's Hairline Harriers. Whangdoodles came into the game on the back of a bye – would this give the legs and lungs a rest or would it mean those muscles would start to stiffen up? Shergold's Hairline Harriers had put down a marker with a big 4-0 win last time out.

Whangdoodles had performed well this morning without really picking up the results as they were on the wrong end of some narrow results. They did end the group phase on a high with a 4-2 win.

This turned out to be a cracking game. Shergold's Hairline Harriers were well up for it and it was they who took the lead in the first half. We then had fireworks in the second half.

Reno Mindemann equalized to make it 1-1 and it was game on. Aaron Ledwith was the unfortunate scorer of a hilarious own goal to make it 2-1 and restore the lead for Shergold's Hairline Harriers. There was then controversy as the Harriers were awarded a penalty which arguably should never have been a penalty - it was judged to be hand ball when there was a case for ball to hand. Andy May converted the spot kick to make it 3-1.

John Curran then "did a Zlatan" on one of the Shergold defenders, using his size to shield his man out of the way and score, but the referee deemed it to be a foul and so the goal was disallowed. This is a feature of playing in Europe compared to the UK and is a key challenge for British teams in adapting their style to win on away soil.

It was a pity from a Whangdoodle's perspective as that would have made it 3-2 and set up a thrilling finale. It was a great game and Whangdoodles were honest enough to say that Shergold's Hairline Harriers deserved to go through.