Guillermo Fortuño’s first minute goal and super defensive effort saw Real Club de Polo earn their place in the EHL Men FINAL8 next Easter as they defeated Holcombe 1-0.
Polo burst out of the blocks to score after just 28 seconds with Fortuño cleaning up a rebound off Ollie Payne’s pads from the game’s first attack.
It proved the only goal of the contest as try as Holcombe might, they could not find a way through. Goalkeeper Luis Calzado was in excellent form, proactively cleaning up numerous attacks around the circle and then making the corner saves to keep the narrow lead intact.
Via his stick and the post, Tim Guise-Brown’s drag-flick bounced away while Calzado also scrambled away a number of other chances.
At the far end, Barry Middleton did some excellent post-man work to stop a Marc Recasens drag-flick while Payne denied Alex Reyné’s touch right in front of his pads.
In the endgame, Holcombe won a series of corners in the dying moments but Calzado had the final say with his solid boot kicking away a drag-flick, earning them a place in the FINAL8 for the first time since 2019.
