Winner of last weekend’s tournament thrash AON in C Division of Red Bull Trophy

By ERICK OCHIENG’

After clinching the trophy they sponsored last weekend, Pepsi returned to the field a buoyant lot winning 8-3 against AON in the C Division of the Red Bull Trophy at the Nairobi Polo Club yesterday.

At the same time, Mike du Toit led the Redds to earn a narrow 3-2 win against Samurai in a very tight encounter in B Division of the Lord Cranworth Trophy.

Pepsi team composed of Captain Ruth Horsey, Harry Griffiths, Miranda Romijin and Natasha Tisminieszky made their intention known at Jamhuri Park grounds   in the opening chukka which they dominated to earn three goals against AON who were literally trying to get in the four chukka   match.

Handicap zero Horsey masterminded the win and was able to coordinate activities upfront with swift Griffiths who had his eyes on the ball all time.

But the second chukka proved elusive for the winners as their horses were prone to bumps and overrides that hindered their ball control, formation and movements.

AON captain Ed Burbidge was able to lead his side into narrowing the gap with two successive goals and another addition from his team mate Nick Millar to end the second chukka  4-3, but to the opponents favour.

Griffiths, handicap -1, and -1.5 Romijin were quite dominant in the third chukka scoring a goal each for Pepsi to take tally to 5-3.

“We failed to mark them. They were clearly a better side for us. What now in front of us is to work on our tactics, markings and communications. We  lost because of poor communication,” said  handicap zero Burbidge.

It was all clear that Burbidge teammates; handicap -1  Millar,-1.5 Louise Woods,-2 Georgina Blumer lost control of the game in the last and final chukka  when they permitted Pepsi to rove up and down including on their backlines without  being a threat.

Pepsi were able to dominate  and take their tally to eight against AON who stuck their guns to three.

“I am grateful that everyone contributed to the win. We went out to enjoy and that is what made us win,” said  Horsey.

Redds and Samurai had a tight battle, tying 2-2 in the first three chukkas until captain Quentin Savage broke the yoke just two minutes to the bell with a meteoric pace to score the all important goal that earned them the victory. Other scorers for Redds were Aisha Gross and Tiva Gross.

“Samurai were tough, but hopefully we won,” handicap 0.5 Toit told FeverPitch while praising  his teammates Savage(1.5), Tiva (0.5) and Aisha (0.5) for their contributions to the win.

Captain Martin Waganjo, who in the first three chukkas barred  the Redds from netting the all important goal said Samurai composed of handicap one Sarah Griffiths, 0.5 Jos Craig and zero handicap Sasha Craig  will rise today to win their second match.