Marching to victory
Guillermo Terrera leads Saad Audeh’s Marchfield to a defensive success
Duke of Sutherland Cup, Cowdray Park Polo Club, West Sussex THE Duke of Sutherland tournament — part of the Victor Ludorum series —has seen a dramatic increase in teams in the last couple of years. This year, 12 top-quality teams turned out to battle for the 18-goal trophy. The finalists, Park Place and Marchfield had already proven they had earned their places as they lined up on the pictureperfect Lawns One at Cowdray.
The five-chukka match started with Park Place’s Alfredo Bigatti just missing a goal, seconds after the throw-in. However, despite brilliant play from
Chris MacKenzie, Marchfield’s Guillermo Terrera came out of nowhere to steal the ball, running away with it and putting Marchfield into an early lead.
However, MacKenzie wasn’t letting things lie and soon tied things up at 1-1 for Park Place. A 30-yard undefended penalty, taken by Manuel Plaza de Ayala nudged Marchfield ahead 2-1 at the end of the first.
After an exciting and open first chukka, the second was littered with umpire interventions and scrappy play, with neither team really making their mark. The only standout moment was Plaza de Ayala missing a 30-yard undefended penalty, resulting in the ball rebounding off the post and stopping dead just short of the line.
Eventually, Gregorio Gelosi converted a safety 60-yard penalty for Marchfield — pushing them 3-1 ahead at the end of the second.
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
THE third chukka was one of missed opportunities and many penalties. Eventually, MacKenzie scored for Park Place. But nothing deterred Marchfield’s star player, Terrera. He kept things moving to push them 5-2 ahead. Plaza de Ayala finally managed to convert a 30-yard undefended at the third time of trying, to give his team a four-goal lead at half time.
In the fourth chukka the dominant Marchfield suddenly had to defend as Park Place pushed hard to gain ground. Juan Britos unleashed a glorious shot from halfway up the pitch to claw back a goal for Park Place (7-3).
Marchfield was again on the defensive in the final chukka, but a silly mistake by Park Place enabled Plaza de Ayala to convert a 30-yard penalty to push his team 8-3 in front. Terrera earned his Most Valuable Player accolade with some sterling defending, but the South African MacKenzie was having none of it and scored for Park Place. At the final bell Marchfield was ahead 8-4.
Terrera said: “Despite playing very well in the first half and having a four- or sometimes fivegoal lead, I wasn’t confident we would win until I heard the last bell in the fifth chukka.
“We defended for the last two chukkas with Park Place playing well — they’re highly organised and have a good team structure.”
Terrera’s pony Notable won the best playing pony award.