Bulova, hold your horses! CIBC FirstCaribbean are the real sheriffs in town.
In a gripping final at the Lion Castle Polo ground on Sunday, CIBC FirstCaribbean were crowned champions of the First Citizen Barbados Open 10-Goal Tournament, when they edged Bulova 5-4 in a thrilling encounter.
Before a large and appreciative crowd, Olly Taylor gave the eventual winners an early lead, before Dave Allen scored for Bulova to even the contest.
Another Taylor strike, followed by one from Teddy Williams, gave CIBC FirstCaribbean a two-goal cushion, but Jamie Dickson’s late strike in the second chukka enabled Bulova to reduce the deficit to just one (3-2) at the halfway mark.
On resumption, Williams would double his goal tally, launching a huge 70-yard drive through the goalposts to once again restore his team’s two-goal lead, only to see Jeff Evelyn score for Bulova just minutes later to make the score 4-3.
Taylor seemed to have put the game out of the reach of his opponents when he scored in the final chukka to give his side a 5-3 cushion.
However, Dickson’s goal, with just under two minutes remaining in the match, gave Bulova a fighting chance of forcing the game into overtime.
It wouldn’t happen though, and CIBC FirstCaribbean held on in the nerve-racking final minutes to claim the coveted crown.
Earlier in the afternoon’s subsidiary final, Range Rover held off a spirited performance from First Group to also register a 5-4 win.
Max Charlton scored all four goals for First Group, but they were cancelled out by strikes from Range Rover’s Danny Atwell, who scored three goals and Simon Crotto, who scored two.