King Power Foxes completed a memorable British summer on Sunday 19 July, beating UAE 14-8 in the final of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup to become British Open champions. Around 14,000 spectators were at Cowdray Park to watch it.
The line-ups
- King Power Foxes: patron Top Srivaddhanaprabha, ten-goal brothers Gonzalito and Facundo Pieres, and the young one-goal Englishman Hugo Lewis. They had already won the Queen’s Cup a month earlier.
- UAE: an all-professional side of ten-goaler Pablo Mac Donough, Santiago Stirling (four goals), Lucas Monteverde (eight goals) and 16-year-old José Ramón Araya, a no-goal player whose handicap is sure to rise after this season.
How it unfolded
Mac Donough, the leading scorer of the British Open, opened for UAE with an accurate 60-yard penalty, Top replied with a field goal, and it was 2-2 after the first chukka. The second chukka belonged to the Pieres brothers while UAE missed two chances, and when Gonzalito carried the ball all the way from the throw-in at the start of the third it was 6-2. The half-time score was 7-4.
In the fourth Monteverde raced away to score a fine field goal for UAE, but Facundo’s pressure on Mac Donough sent a shot out of play, and from the roll-in Facundo set up Top for his second goal. After Top was unseated in the fifth and replaced by one-goal player Kian Hall, UAE closed to 10-8.
The last chukka was all King Power. Facundo went on a solo run for 11-8, and then Hugo Lewis scored twice, first from a break down the pitch and then from a Facundo pass, to make it 13-8. A Facundo penalty completed the 14-8 scoreline, and Top had won the Gold Cup at only his second attempt.
Awards
- Most valuable player: Facundo Pieres.
- Best playing pony: Divina, ridden by Pablo Mac Donough.
Both teams were driven to the presentation in open-top Land Rovers, a nice touch on a day that clearly belonged to the Foxes. Lewis, still a one-goaler, was the story for us, with two goals in a Gold Cup final to go with his Queen’s Cup medal.
Sources: Sussex Express
