Heathcote overcomes Certified 11-9 to ride into Hampton Cup semi-finals – Polo Update
Tommy Biddle once again succeeded to maintain his impressive record and scored eight goals, as Heathcote powered an 11-9 win over Certified in the quarter-final match of the Hampton Cup being held at the Bridgehampton Polo Club in Long Island of California.
Highest point-scorer – Tommy Biddle briefed the media after getting a berth in the semi-final round saying that Nick Manifold displayed outstanding game at the Number four position and played vital role in the defence. He stated, “I really didn’t think we
played that badly in the first chukker. We just missed some opportunities. We kind of had a case of the blahs early on. It wasn’t easy. It was very physical, and we played disciplined defence. Nick (Manifold) was anchored at the Back position for the last
two chukkers, and nobody got past him.”
Heathcote obtained three handicap goals at the start of the match that put them ahead. However, the field action was started in the hands of Tomas and Marcos Garcia Del Rio through a penalty conversion and field effort. Tommy Biddle of Heathcote immediately
answered by a couple of goals and increased the tally up to five. Within no time, Tomas Garcia Del Rio added a couple of more goals and closed out the chukka at 5-4.
In the second chukka, the two teams strengthened their defence and no goals were scored despite fast style of play. Both the line-ups accomplished plenty of attacks but to no avail. The action continued in the third set of play and Heathcote succeeded to
maintain their edge in the game. It obtained a single goal in the hands of Tommy Biddle while holding opponents goalless in the seven and half minutes of action.
In the first chukka of second half, Tomas and Marcos Del Rio scored two goals apiece of which two were taken on penalty shorts while other from the field and established first lead for Certified in the game at 8-6.
The second last chukka was opened in the hands of Adam Snow which managed a score from the field and expanded the Certified edge up to three goals. Biddle accounted for a single goal and trailed at 9-7 after two chukkas left to play.
In the second last frame, Heathcote made a return into the match and regained a single goal lead. Biddle was the player who notched all the three goals and took the score at 10-9 while holding Certified goalless.
Biddle accounted for another goal in the last chukka while the resilient Heathcote defence kept Certified at bay and sealed the victory at 11-9. With this two-goal victory, Heathcote earned a spot in the knock-out stage.
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