Les Lions / Great Oaks 11 – 9 MT Vikings (rec 1 goal) at Zacara
Les Lions / Great Oaks won their second match of the tournament but had to fight every step of the way against a hugely competitive MT Vikings. Siri Bazzoni’s team dominated the first chukka with some good team-work and were 4-2 up at the end of the first. They continued to add to their tally in the second; Juan Martin Zubia standing out on the immaculate field at Zacara. Barto Castagnola had the usual flashes of brilliance – firing through a fabulous goal from an impossible distance to take the score to 6-4, but MT Vikings were very much in control. Juan Martin and Jeta Castagnola had several running battles in the third while Holly Butler, again playing in place of the injured Siri, did a brilliant job of keeping Barto away from the ball. This hard work ensured MT Vikings had a 6-4 lead at half-time.
With the stats on screen at the end of the fourth highlighting that Les Lions/Great Oaks had committed double the amount of fouls compared to their opponents, MT Vikings just needed to keep their nerve and this game could be theirs for the taking. Les Lions/Great Oaks, one of the favourites going into the tournament, had other ideas though and Barto started the fifth with a goal. A Les Lions/Great Oaks attack delivered a second goal in almost as many minutes and Les Lions were now very much back in contention. That said, Sebastian Merlos delivered a beautiful pass straight to the stick of James Beim, who sent it on to Juan Martin to score, ensuring MT Vikings had their two-goal advantage back. Les Lions/Great Oaks did seem to be more in control of this game in the second half and with Barto securing a penalty just before the end of the fifth chukka (8-7 to MT Vikings) it was clear that this game was still wide open. Dillon Bacon fired through the long-awaited equaliser early in the sixth and his team-mate Jeta quickly fired through another field goal to give Les Lions/Great Oaks the lead for the first time (9-8). With the pressure very much on both sides play started to get a bit scrappy. Juan Martin successfully converted a 60-yarder to level the scores only for Barto to convert a 40-yarder to take the lead again (10-9). With clock rapidly ticking down Jeta sent a lovely pass to Dillon to put through the flags to confirm another Les Lions/Great Oaks victory.
Next matches (please note new times)
1pm Park Place Vaara v Thai Polo
4pm Park Place v Polo Stud Schockemohle
All games can be watched live at guardspoloclub.com/guards-tv
Photo credit : Images of Polo