US Polo: Bendabout earn second triumph in Joe Barry Memorial Cup
Lucas Criado lit the lamp with his go-ahead goals as Bendabout rallied to defeat Valiente, 11-9, at Joe Barry Memorial Cup.
A hard-fighting competition has been held at the field of International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington, city of Florida, where Bendabout defeated the opponent Valiente, which was the winner of the first competition against Faraway.
The players of Bendabout displayed a mature game comprised of balanced striking seconded with strong-growing defence, which led them to second victory in the tournament. With the results of the match, the duo foursomes earned different positions; one achieved
the top position while the other lowest. The victory also eased the way of Bendabout towards the title claiming competition.
It was Valiente, which took the lead of one goal in completion of the first chukker. Steward Armstrong was the man, who scored first goal of the match for Valiente which was answered by Chris Nevins and Inaki Laprida. In an offensive way, Jeff Hall and Robert
Jornayvaz marked a pair of goals to put Valiente ahead with one goal lead, at 3-2.
Interestingly the second frame too led by Valiente but it could not sustain the same spirit in the remaining match and lost the game. In the start of the chukker, Jeff converted a penalty shot and increased the pressure on the opponent foursome Bendabout.
Lucas Criado accounted for his first goal and reduced the lead of Valiente to one. Later on his teammate Laprida marked another goal and tied the knots at 4-4.
However, Jeff contributed a pair of goals; one came from the field while other on a penalty shot. Valiente snuck out to 6-4 lead at the end of the second frame.
The face of the scoreboard changed when Bendabout adopted an aggressive approach in the third chukker and their attackers destroyed the defence of Valiente and took on goal lead at the end of the frame. Out of total three, two goals were achieved on penalty
shots while the third one from the field. Valiente could not mark a single goal in the frame due to tight defence of the opposing players.
After the first half, the duo foursomes shifted towards more aggressive mentality, which really unfolded the game up.
The fourth chukker was not as much hard-hitting like earlier as it was comprised of only solitary goal of Bendabout. Criado was the player, who converted a penalty shot in the last minutes of the frame and stretched the lead of his foursome up to two goals.
The foursome under the captainship of Gillian Johnston was leading the score at 8-6. While Valiente remained scoreless in the second consecutive chukker.
Jeff Hall scored off a pair of penalty shots in the start of the second last chukker and levelled the score; however Johnston scored another goal before going into the last frame.
With the single goal of Armstrong, the lead of Bendabout reduced to one goal in the final chukker. It was great chance for Valiente to level the score but all the hell broke out when Criado marked another two classic goals of which one was scored from the
field while other from a penalty shot. The foursome of Bendabout sealed the triumph at 11-9 and managed to move at the top position.
Despite losing the match, Jeff Hall was the top scorer of the team with six goals while his teammates Armstrong and Jornayvaz scored two and one goal respectively.
On the other side, Criado with five goals was highest scorer of his foursome besides four goals of Laprida. Nevins and Johnston accounted for one goal apiece.