Semi-Finals

The first Plate Semi-Final saw the tournament's second derby game. The Chosen Ones and The Cheeky Boys who had travelled together as part of the Adams Carpentry group would come face-to-face in direct competition. The Cheeky Boys, courtesy of their bye to this round, had been cheering on and supporting their sister club as they took on NHBC to reach the semi-finals would now, temporarily, throw friendships out of the window to compete against their team-mates.

Just like East Germany had shown no mercy against West Germany in their derby, The Cheeky Boys showed no mercy to The Chosen Ones. The chief architects of the The Chosen Ones downfall were Jake Walker and Rob Adams who both notched hat-tricks. Consolation goals from Jack Cooper and Mike Parker could not stem the flow so it was The Cheeky Boys who went through to the final, 6-2.

The second semi-final saw Atlantic Star meet DHL PragueRed. Atlantic Star went into the game on a high following their 7-1 demolition of the Lions Bar to record their first win of the tournament. They came up against a DHL Prague Red team that were rested after earning a bye to this stage. This was familiar territory for DHL Prague Red who reached this stage at the 2008 Prague Masters. On that occasion when leading they hit the self-destruct button by getting a man sent off when leading and eventually succumbed to an equaliser before going out on the Golden Goal to eventual 2008 Prague Masters Plate winners - The Prisoners.

The rest must have done the local side some good as they turned on the style. Instead of hitting self-destruct this time they pushed home their advantage and there was nothing Atlantic Star could do about it despite Graham McAnally's 4th goal of the tournament. Daniel Finlay-Notman got the ball rolling for DHL before a brace from each of Rupert Baltrock and Cillan O'Donoghue and a final goal from David Janecek. The final score, 6-1.

Final

The final would be a Czech Republic versus England contest between debutants The Cheeky Boys and DHL Prague Red. Both teams had qualified for the final with convincing semi-final wins so would go into the final with confidence. DHL Prague Red could draw upon the 2007 Prague Trophy Cup Final for experience. On that occasion they narrowly lost to winners AFK Druhaci. How would they fare in the 2008 Plate Final?

Not so well is the answer. In a game that was expected to be close the Cheeky Boys ran away with it to some degree. A goal from Daniel Finlay-Notman was the high point for DHL Prague Red but they could not stem the flow from The Cheeky Boys forwards. Jack Walker (2), Rob Adams (2) and the icing on the cake from David Adams completed a 5-1 victory. A phenomenal turn of fortunes for The Cheeky Boys who lost their opening three games (all by the scoreline of 4-2) were followed up by three convincing wins 7-3 (v Lions Bar), 6-2 (v The Chosen Ones) and 5-1 in this final.

Our comiserations to DHL Prague Red. The DHL Prague squads adding a great deal to this tournament as always. Congratulations to The Cheeky Boys - a job well done.