Report by: Peter Gallagher (Media Sec)
Game: Southampton Men’s 1^st vs. Bath Men’s 1^st (11/10/17)

Despite being early in the season and being the day after a boozy evening for some of our team, 10 of SUWPC’s finest met on the Red Brick for 1:30 on a sunny Wednesday afternoon. The brave boys headed to Anton’s car for a rollercoaster of a ride and the rest had a tight squeeze into Tom’s spacious Clio. Then the journey began.

After a cozy two-hour drive – and for Tom’s car a trip around some of Salisbury – we arrived at Bath to be welcomed with, as usual, an hour wait before the start of the match.

It was a slow start for SUWPC, with one of our freshest players Sam Wilmshurst getting the first major of the match 20 seconds in before touching the ball or even the opposing team! Three goals conceded in the first three minutes counter after counter as our defence was being tuned, then following a major for Bath, Aleandro Mifsud scored our first goal. After a few majors on both sides, Ali Wakeling ended the quarter with our second goal of the match.

Going into the second quarter 3-2 down we were keen to get stuck in, but luckily so were they; racking up four majors that sadly weren’t taken advantage of. Thankfully, Ali scored his second goal of the match bringing the first half to 5-3.

Despite heroic efforts, the third quarter was a dry spell for our boys, our performance was waning as the three pillars of our team that we were leaning on began to grow tired. Sadly, with Ali’s penalty being saved and us throwing away a double man up, the quarter ended with no goals for us and four for them – but on a lighter note, no more majors.

The fourth and final quarter brought a strong attack from both teams, with the first goal of the quarter scored by Peter Gallagher following a major in our first successful man up of the game. With Bath’s team a man down due to their highest goal scorer being wrapped, they swiftly replied with another goal. The next minute saw them score another two followed by our final fresher of the match – Brian Culley – scoring his first goal followed by his second just ten seconds later.

After three cheers, the game sadly ended in a loss for the Men’s 1^st Team. But our loss comes with a gain, as our Captain – Ali – was able to pick up on many aspects of our game to be improved. It was a pleasure playing the first game of the season with all of you, further in the season we will be stronger and maybe when we meet Bath again we can come out on top.

Polo love,
Peter Gallagher (Media Sec)

Final Score: 13 – 6

Player of the match: Peter Gallagher

Goals:
A.Wakeling – 2
A.Mifsud – 1
P.Gallagher – 1
B.Culley – 2

Majors:
A.Wakeling – 2
B.Culley – 2
A.Mifsud – 1
P.King – 1
S.Wilmshurst – 1