In the first Final of Cowdray Park Polo Club’s season, Cowdray Vikings met Gardenvale in the Final of the 12 goal Tyro Cup held on Sunday 13th May. Lila Pearson’s Cowdray Vikings team comprised herself at Number 1, her son George (2 goals) at 2, Ralph Richardson (3 goals) at 3 and his brother Jack, elevated this year to 7 goals, at Back. Patron of Gardenvale, Shane Finemore , playing off -1, was joined by Will Harper (1 goal) at 2, Matt Perry (5 goals) at 3, and England captain James Beim (7 goals) at Back.

First to score were Gardenvale with a goal from James Beim, quickly followed by a neat goal from 15 year old Will Harper taking Finemore’s side into a 2-0 lead. But the Richardson brothers soon retaliated with a super goal by Jack and a nifty pick-up by Ralph which saw him run ahead of the field all the way through the goal posts to equalize on 2-2 for Cowdray Vikings by the end of the first chukka. Chukka 2 saw another splendid goal from Ralph Richardson, one from James Beim and another from Jack Richardson resulting in a narrow 4-3 lead for Cowdray Vikings by half time.

Following the tread-in there was plenty of flowing end-to-end polo but only Gardenvale were lucky enough to get numbers on the scoreboard ending chukka 3 with a 5-4 lead. In the final chukka, a steal from Beim by Jack Richardson enabled him to pass the ball to George Pearson who steered the ball between the posts to equalize on 5-5. Cowdray Vikings won the ball from the throw-in but Gardenvale were soon in possession again. The whistle blew and Gardenvale were awarded a 30 yard penalty which Beim saw through to take back the lead once more. Back came Cowdray Vikings with another super goal from George Pearson taking the score to 6-6. With less than a minute left on the clock, Will Harper spotted a loose ball, pounced on it and sent a beauty between the posts to seal victory in the Tyro Cup for Gardenvale on a final score of 7-6.

The stunning trophy was presented by Mrs Sheldon Withers to a delighted Shane Finemore, who was delighted to win the Tyro Cup for a second year running.