The
Vivari Queen's Cup final - 15 June 2008
Match Report by Iain Forbes-Cockell (“The Major”)
Having
lost in the final of The Queen’s Cup by one goal in each
of the last two years (with Broncos in 2006 & Ellerston in
2007), third time lucky Gonzalito Pieres finally got the chance
to be on the winning side in this year’s match when Ellerston
beat Sumaya 10-9 in a really good open game of polo. There were
only 15 fouls in the entire game and 11 of the scores were field
goals and 8 goals were from penalties (in sharp contrast to last
year’s Gold Cup which had 24 fouls and 12 of the 20 goals
were from penalties).
Sumaya were
fast out of the blocks and shot into a 3-1 lead in the first chukka.
They kept up the pressure in the second chukka, at the end of
which they were ahead 5-2. In the third chukka Ellerston began
their comeback and scored 3 times to Sumaya’s one goal,
so the score at half time was Sumaya 6, Ellerston 5. In the second
half, Ellerston kept applying pressure with tight marking of their
opponents and rapid bursts of speed from their two key players
Gonzalito Pieres and Pablo MacDonough (substituting for Facundo
Pieres, who had a riding muscle injury during the quarter-final
match). At the end of the fourth chukka the two teams were level
on 7 goals apiece. The fifth chukka saw many attacks with great
defence from both sides and only one goal scored which gave Ellerston
the lead for the first time in the match. A very exciting sixth
chukka followed with four goals scored (two for each side) and
so Ellerston won with the final score being 10-9 in their favour.
