Two matches today and now one team are already guaranteed a place in next weekend’s Cartier Queens’ Cup quarter-finals while another’s chances are looking stronger.
League Four
Cortium Jaeger LeCoultre 7 – 6 Talandracas
Adrian Kirby’s Cortium team registered their second win of this year’s competition, putting them closer to a quarter-final place, after they defeated Talandracas 7-6 at Coworth Park. This is the lowest scoring match of the tournament so far. In fact the score is proof of how evenly matched these two teams were throughout the six chukkas. In fact it took all four members of the Cortium team to score in order to secure victory this afternoon. Edouard Carmignac’s Talandracas team started this match badly by failing to score at all in the first. However they rallied and by the end of the fourth they had brought the scores level to 5-all. However this surge ended here as Talandracas failed to score again in the fifth, thus losing their momentum once again. Luckily for them, Cortium struggled to take advantage of their opponents difficulties and could only secure one goal. This was enough though as both teams scored once in the final chukka, thus allowing Cortium to win the match by one goal. Talandracas who have already secured one win, need to win their final league match against Sumaya on 4 June to guarantee them a place in the quarters.
League One
El Remanso 13 – 8 Emlor
El Remanso are the first team in the 2013 competition to win all three of their league matches. This puts them at the top of League One and guarantees them a place in next weekend’s quarter-finals. George Hanbury’s team has impressed throughout the league stages and their 13-8 victory over Emlor today just confirmed their dominance in this competition. El Remanso started their 2013 campaign with a very close but impressive win over Dubai – thanks to some great play from Guillermo Terrera. Their next battle, against Enigma, was an equally close. In fact only in today’s game did El Remanso have any substantial advantage over their rivals. They now have a nail-biting wait until Thursday 6 June to find out who their opponents will be in the quarter-finals. Spencer McCarthy’s Emlor has already notched up one win and will now wait and see how Dubai fare over Enigma tomorrow to see how the rest of League One shakes out.
Tomorrow’s games – Saturday 1 June
La Bamba De Areco v Salkeld at 12 noon at Coworth Park: Both teams looking for their first victory to keep in with a chance in League Three. Salkeld only lost by the narrowest of margins in their first match – a golden goal – and so will be hoping to dominate this game from the start. La Bamba also lost their first match in extra time and so both teams have all to play for at Coworth Park tomorrow at midday.
Enigma v Dubai at 3pm at Guards Polo Club: Enigma will be looking for their first victory while Dubai will be hoping to make it a double, following their win over Emlor last Sunday. Only a victory will guarantee them a place in the quarter-finals as runners-up in League One. If Enigma wins then it’s all down to goal difference as three teams in this league would have registered one win apiece.