Having lost on penalties in the last two finals, the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers men’s team finally reigned supreme at the Inter-Corps Hockey Championships.
After overcoming the Royal Signals, Adjutant General’s Corps and Royal Army Medical Service in the early stages, the champions-elect squared off against the team that had foiled them in the past two years – the Infantry – in the semi-finals.
With the score locked at 4-4 going into the final quarter, they hit three further goals without reply to eventually prevail 7-4 and set up a showpiece clash with the Royal Engineers.
An early strike from skipper Cpl Chris Randall (pictured above) gave them the perfect start in the final and they doubled their advantage with a cooly converted penalty stroke from LCpl Ben Maltezi.
The Sappers then reduced the arrears before WO1 David Thomas converted from close range following a sublime run from Cpl Scott Rawlings.
“It has been hard graft,” Randall told SoldierSport at full-time. “The Infantry really made us work, and that had a knock-on for the final.
“We were so tired at the start, but kept the momentum up in each quarter and pushed through. It was about the shared grit of people wanting to win.
“We were happy just to make it this far but are ecstatic now we’ve smashed through to get the victory.
“Those previous finals were so close, so it is nice to come away having won it on the field.
“It is amazing that the chain of command has given people the time off to come to this event. It means a lot, and sport is one of the big incentives to stay in.”
Elsewhere, it was business as usual for the AGC as they retained the women’s trophy with a 100 per cent record from five games, while 35 Engineer Regiment beat Army HQ 5-2 in the Army Cup final.
