Vampire Bats beat Emlor S seven six to take the County Cup
Rory Sweet’s Vampire Bats and Spencer McCarthy’s Emlor S went head to head on Cirencester Park’s Ivy Lodge ground for a hard and fast finale to the County Cup. A very close game which could have gone either way right up until the last seconds; Vampire Bats just claimed the edge over Emlor S, seven goals to six the final score.
Described by Vampire Bats main man John Paul Clarkin as a ’tough match’ with ’nothing in it’, the score was never far from level, with the lead switching continuously throughout.
Emlor S were the first on the scoreboard with the only goal of the first chukka, a 30 yard penalty, converted by Marcos Araya to give Emlor the start they would have been looking for following their 8 – 6 loss to their opponents in the league stages. The chance for Emlor to really gain some ground early on passed them by however as Araya sent two consecutive penalties left of the posts.
To the contrary Vampire Bats drew level early in the second with some clever interplay from Clarkin and Gareth Evans. Clarkin took the ball towards goal, leaving it for Evans and keeping the man, he then ran to goal to pick up the pass and put it through. A quick succession of goals followed; firstly a long ball down the far side of the ground from Araya found McCarthy who took it in-front of the goal mouth, controlled it and backed it in; clearly none the worse for only just making the game following a delayed flight. Vampire Bats were quick to answer though, 16 year old Jj de Alba had the final word in a melee in front of goal, leaving it two all going into the third.
Araya continued his penalty consistency to take Emlor S two goals clear at the beginning of the third chukka. Clarkin brought Vampire Bats back in touch though, eventually driving the ball low and on target after many previous attempts being pounced on by Emlor.
It was Evans who leveled proceedings once more, navigating the red shirts of Emlor defence and dribbling it through, much to the upset of Araya who took it out on the goal post on his way past, breaking it off and leaving them with a technical: a penalty 5b for Vampire Bats.
A speculative shot at goal from Clarkin paid off early in the fourth chukka; a timely reminder of his eight goal status. Yet another penalty converted by Araya however meant that the lead was short-lived, with no doubt the sixty yard ball was perfectly between the posts and well above the Vampire Bats heads.
Clarkin snuck in another to make it six five as the crowd were momentarily distracted by a passing display of World War 2 spitfires and Lancaster from nearby Kemble Airfield.
Vampire Bats sealed the deal in the fifth with a 30 yard penalty converted by Clarkin. Emlor clawed back one goal with a huge lofted shot from Nacho Gonzalez finding McCarthy who took it to goal, it wasn’t enough though.
It was the Vampire Bats who eventually came out on top though to take the spectacular trophy, with the Best Playing pony prize also going to Rory Sweet’s mare Diva.
Vampire Bats: 0-1 2-2 4-4 6-5 7-6