An impressive ten teams entered the Club’s August 4 goal contest for The Lodsworth Village Cup with Gussie Gould’s Gould meeting Marco Vignali’s La Dulce Vita in the Final on Ambersham 1 on the afternoon of Sunday 14th August – a re-match of The June 4 Goal Final two months earlier in which Gould secured the tournament title. This would also be La Dulce Vita’s fourth consecutive 4-Goal Final of the season.
In a close contest, it was Gould who made the running in the first chukka as Nicholas Rogerson and Gussie Gould scored to give their team a two-goal advantage, however Josh Cork was quick to close the gap scoring for the first goal for La Dulce Vita. Cork struck again with a 60-yard penalty conversion to the even the score in the opening minutes of the second chukka, however Nicholas Rogerson edged Gould ahead with another successful attempt at goal. Nicholas Hiller levelled the game to 3-all by half time.
Following the half time break, Josh Cork scored yet again to give La Dulce Vita their first lead of the game. However, this was short lived as Jimmy Wood took advantage of an opportunity to convert a 30-yard penalty to equalize. Unrelenting, Cork pulled La Dolce Vita ahead by one again at the end of the third chukka. Wood was the only one to score during the fourth chukka, bringing the score level by the final whistle and pushing the game into extra time. Following a handful of missed attempts by La Dulce Vita, it was Nicholas Hiller who ran the ball to goal to secure the winner, ending the game 6-5 in favour of La Dulce Vita.
Marco Vignali stepped down from the podium to receive the trophy, and Tennessee, played and owned by Josh Cork, was presented with the X-Zony Best Playing Pony rug.
