Zacara joins leaders by defeating Emlor in Queen’s Cup
By Herbert Spencer
Lyndon Lea’s Zacara joined Dubai and La Bamba de Areco in the leaders’ column Wednesday (26 May) when they defeated Spencer McCarthy’s Emlor 8-4 in the day’s only Queen’s Cup match.
Argentina 9-goaler Javier Novillo Astrada, ably supported by his elder brother Eduardo, was again man of the match for Zacara, scoring seven of their eight goals. But the team did not have an easy run in a sometimes scrappy and low-scoring contest.
With Zacara at 22 goals and Emlor at 21, Emlor started the match with a point on the scoreboard. The first chukka’s only goal came from Javier Novillo Astrada who converted a spot penalty with a booming shot through the posts from a good 80 yards out.
Emlor had equalised again by the end of the third period and took the lead in the fourth, but were then held scoreless in the last two chukkas. In the end it was pony power that made the difference, with Zacara having the edge in the strength and depth of their string.
Zacara, Dubai and La Bamba now lead their respective groups with clean 2-0 win-loss records, but with all but two matches in the tournament won or lost by only a single goal, it’s still anybody’s game.