King Power 11 – 8 UAE Polo Team Noel Farm
Twelve Oaks 11 – 10 Marques de Riscal The Duke’s Ground
Two matches in League Two with immense implications on the teams quest for the quarter-finals highlighted the play today. The story began with King Power facing an undefeated UAE Polo Team at Noel Farm. Seconds into the game, Top Srivaddhanaprabha opened the scoring as King Power raced out of the gate with three unanswered goals. Substituting for Nico Pieres, fellow 9-goaler Pablo MacDonough entered the King Power line-up, making an immediate impact with an assist to Mackenzie Weisz, before following up with a goal of his own. Focusing on a quick, passing style of polo, King Power continued to generate scoring chances with the same trio of players from the opening chukka scoring one more goal each in the second chukka to double the score of the UAE Polo Team 6-3. Drawing on their championship experience, UAE Polo Team finished the half strongly though thanks to the play of HH Sheika Maitha, who excelled at the front of the game with two goals to help her team inch one goal closer by half-time. In one of the fastest chukkas in polo, only a single whistle blew over the 71/2 minutes of play, both King Power and UAE Polo Team shot at goal but were unable to find the mark. This left King Power ahead by two. Turning to Tomas Beresford, UAE Polo Team made their first charge of the match in an attempt to tie the score, receiving one penalty goal and a field goal to trail by just one. In arguably his best showing of the season, Mackenzie Weisz’s fourth goal from a Penalty 3 conversion helped King Power seal this 11-8 victory and match UAE Polo Team with a 2-1 record atop League Two.
Moving to The Duke’s Ground, Twelve Oaks were in need of a victory to keep their hopes alive, holding a 1-2 record entering their final match of league play, against Marques de Riscal. A back-and-forth first half featured a tie on four different occasions with neither team conceding an inch. After a Penalty 3 from Joaquin Pittaluga opened the scoring, Twelve Oaks struck again from a John-Paul Clarkin field goal as they found the quick start they needed. In search of their first victory, Marques de Riscal responded with consecutive goals from Santiago Laborde and Guillermo Caset to tie the game at 2-all. Relying on the penalty shooting of Caset, where he scored three of the final four goals of the half, Marques de Riscal matched a strong Twelve Oaks attack from the field. Following up his exceptional performance in the previous game, Charlie Wooldridge scored back-to-back goals to end the half, giving Twelve Oaks some momentum entering the break ahead, 8-5. Foul trouble for Marques de Riscal in the opening moments of the second half resulted in the momentum staying with Twelve Oaks. Consecutive penalty conversions suddenly put Twelve Oaks ahead, leading 10-5. Looking like they were on their way to victory, Twelve Oaks found themselves in foul trouble of their own, committing 10 fouls over the final two chukkas and providing Marques de Riscal the opening they needed. Held without a field goal over the final four chukkas, Marques de Riscal challenged Twelve Oaks in the final moments after scoring five penalty goals but fell a goal short. Twelve Oaks survived this late push to capture their second victory and keep their quarter-final aspirations alive.
Sunday’s Fixtures
12:00 pm – Murus Sanctus vs Great Oaks LL at Les Lions
3:00 pm – Park Place vs Scone Polo at The Queen’s Ground. The winner of this match will receive the Richard Watt Cup.
All games are being livestreamed by Guards TV in association with Polocam TV. Go to https://guards.polocam.tv/package
