Alejo Taranco’s golden goal won Desert Palm the HH President of UAE Polo Cup after a thrilling 7-6 victory over Bin Drai, on Friday.
With his side two goals down, Taranco scored the equaliser in the fifth chukka which forced extra-time, and later bagged the winner in the Grand Final at Ghantoot Racing and Polo Club in Abu Dhabi.
The result will be hard on Bin Drai, who came agonisingly close to winning the prestigious tournament with Raul Laplacette scoring five goals.
Desert Palm’s Tariq Albwardy was delighted with the result and said the players’ fighting spirit was key to winning the game.
Albwardy said: “It’s all about team effort and basically after 30 minutes, my players still had the desire to keep the effort going. And that was the difference between the two teams.
“We did have a lot more experience in our team. We came into the last chukka losing by two and then things just turned around.”
“We played really well to win this title. We played harder (than Bin Drai). We never gave up during the game and we nailed it. In the last chukka we put in a lot of effort and I’m glad we won the title. We had the spirit to push forward in the match."
Laplacette said it was disappointing to finish the game on a losing note, especially coming close to winning the title.
“It was a very tight final. We tried to open the game but they played well and so did we. We always try to win but it was very difficult,” said Laplacette.
Taranco gave Desert Palm a 3-1 lead but Bin Drai levelled the scoreline thanks to Laplacette’s brace in the third chukka. Desert Palm found themselves 6-4 down with Laplacette again being the difference.
Santiago Labourde reduced the deficit before Taranco scored the crucial goals of the game.
Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi Polo finished third in the competition after beating UAE Polo team 8-7 in the subsidiary final.
