Team Jeep and Team L-Istrina battle it out at Marsa.

The Malta Polo Club’s season continued on Saturday with the Ormsby-Johnson Cup match at Marsa.

The first recorded contest for this historic trophy was in 1949 when Lord Louis Mountbatten, serving in Malta at the time, also played for this honour.

The cup honours the memory of Lt Commander L. Orsmby-Johnson, a skilled polo player who served in Malta at the outbreak of World War One.

Team Jeep, captained by Martin Arrigo, were keen to maintain their winning streak as their opponents, Team l-Istrina, presented a solid line-up with MPC coach Jeremy Besancon as captain and club president Karl Galea playing in defence.

At half-time both teams were equal with goals scored by Besancon, for l-Istrina, and Matthew Brincat and Arrigo for Jeep.

Both teams were driven on by their forwards, Miles Lockwood, Jean Vella and Ben Farrugia, who kept the pressure for most of the match.

In the third chukka, Jeep pulled ahead, with Vella and Chris Delia turning the ball at speed under solid defence from Galea and Besancon.

The lower handicapped players for both teams scored goals in the final chukka, Brincat and Farrugia demonstrating control of speed and accuracy under pressure.

Jeep increased their lead in the final seconds of the match for a 5-3 win.

The cup was presented to the winning team by James Arrigo, son of the late Major John Arrigo, a much valued player and backer of the Malta Polo Club.

The Most Valuable Player award went to Delia while Besancon’s pony ‘Gautiva’ was named Best Playing Pony.

The umpires were Julian Mamo and Desmond Mizzi while George Lyttleton was third man referee. Match commentary was done by Daniel de Petri Testaferrata.

L-Istrina: Ben Farrugia, Jean Vella, Jeremy Besancon, Karl Galea.

Jeep: Miles Lockwood, Matthew Brincat, Chris Delia, Martin Arrigo.