Danny Atwell challenging Richard Gooding
Philip Tempro in control whilst
Stewart Gill can only look on
Richard ‘The Velevet Helmet’ Gooding
Above: The winning of the Republic Bank Roger Gooding Challenge Trophy, L-R, Jimmy Roberts,
Richard Gooding, Alex Cole and Stewart Gill
As the clock counted down to the end of the first chukker, the teams kept things extremely
competitive and Republic Bank got yet another goal from a 30-yard penalty, thanks
again to Roberts, this time at the Northern end of the field. With only a few seconds left on
the clock, it looked as though Republic Bank would head into the second chukker with the
lead but Adam Deane was there to bring Buttals back into the game on the horn.
The sound of horses galloping and the bellowing voices of the players dominated the next chukker and a goalless period seemed on the cards.
With only 2 minutes left before the first horn a flag was raised to signal that a goal had been scored; a rather cheeky shot at the South end by
Atwell put Buttals in control once again for the lone goal of the chukker.
Alex Cole got his name up in lights in the third chukker when the clock showed 5:55 minutes. As he proceeded to the far boards with a man
marking him, he released the ball, and his long shot was on the money. The ball skidded its way along the turf, the mark of expert timing, to tie
things up once again at 3-3. Republic Bank picked up the lead a second time when Cole was moving up through the midfield with the ball, but
a bad bounce saw him leaving it behind; good teamwork saw Stewart Gill follow up to swoop in and finish the play. The next goal was scored
by Richard Gooding off a bizarre play just before the chukker ended. Roberts cracked a 60-yard penalty at the Southern uprights, the ball was
up high but just off target, Gooding was in the right place at the right time and raised his mallet to keep the ball in play with a deft touch and just
tapped it over the line for the two-point lead.
The fourth chukker was somewhat of a stalemate, and even though Atwell, completed a hat-trick for Buttals and brought his team back within
one goal with less than a minute left on the clock, there was not enough done or time left to give them another goal that would have forced the
game to into sudden death, poignantly Republic Bank took the final win, of the season 5-4
30