With Chelmsford arriving on Sunday afternoon, a light-hearted Tourno in the evening with Mixed Casuals/Chelmsford teams was just about right to stretch some muscles. However on Monday morning the two Boys U18 sides played a highly competitive match. Chelmsford opened the scoring after a defensive lapse on 14 mins and, despite some sustained pressure, Casuals were only able to equalise 10 mins into the second half from an excellent reverse-stick drive. However 5 mins before the end Chelmsford sealed a 2-1 win with a sharp deflection in front of goal. The evening Mixed match saw Casuals gain some consolation with a 4-3 win in a very open game, and this was followed by a fun evening in Cascais.

In today’s final Mixed game neither side was able to score – hardly surprising, given the lunch-time heat and some very tired legs. This led to an impromptu shoot out, which Chelmsford edged 7-6. These 3 days  were another short but memorable exchange between the two Clubs, hopefully soon to be repeated.

Last weekend the British and Portuguese teams drew an exciting match for the Pringsheim Cup. After the Brits lead 2-1 at half time, the Portuguese built up strong pressure to lead 5-2. But the British managed to score 3 times on the break for a final 5-5 score line and a share of the trophy.

In today’s Veterans fixture, Casuals went 1-0 ahead against Belenenses, but allowed their opponents to equalise before the break. Casuals then took the lead again, before Belenenses made it 2-2 from a penalty corner.

At this morning’s end-of-season Hockey Feast there were games for all the Casuals juniors. After an U11 game, there was a game between mixed teams of U13s, U15s and U18s. This was followed by the annual prize-giving, at which medals and trophies were presented to Top Scorers and to the Most Improved Player in each age group.

Finally the U18s played the Ladies, and were made to work hard for a 2-1 win.

After the Casuals’ British team reclaimed the Kuiper Cup from the Dutch last week with an exciting 3-2 victory, today saw the two Portuguese teams compete for the Camões Cup. Although the game was tied 1-1 at half time, the Whites appeared to have the edge and did go ahead after the break. But the Blues not only drew level, but eventually found a third goal for a 3-2 win and the right to play the British in the Pringsheim Cup in two weeks time.

This weekend it was the Ladies and U15s turn to compete in their respective National Finals:

The Ladies began their first match against Sport Club with a goalless first half in which they squandered several chances. Another good cross at the beginning of the second half was missed at the far post, and after 4 minutes Sport took the lead from a scrambled goal. But with 4 minutes to go, Casuals scored a cracking equaliser from the edge of the circle, and this took the game into a shoot-out which they won 2-1 for their first win. In their second game against Viso, Casuals were once again unable to find the net in the first half. But a hat-trick of converted penalty corners gave them a 3-0 win.

The Sunday morning saw the crucial return match against Sport Club: the Porto team were in determined mood and had a 2-0 lead after just 6 minutes. But Casuals fought back strongly in the second half and levelled the score at 2-2 from two penalty corners. Sport went ahead again from a penalty corner and the Casuals keeper made a good save from a penalty stroke to keep it to 2-3. But Sport fired into the roof of the net from their second stroke to give them a 4-2 win and the title. Despite their obvious disappointment with 2nd place, Casuals made sure of a 3-1 win in their last game against Viso.

Once again, two of the three individual prizes went to Casuals players: Andreia Rebelo won ‘Best Goalkeeper’ and Claudia Fidalgo won ‘Best Player’.

The U15s couldn’t seem to get going in their first game against Espinho, and eventually went down 1-4. But they were fully committed in their afternoon game against Casa Pia, and a much improved performance gave them a 3-0 win.

They put up a brave fight in their first match on Sunday against Lousada, but were beaten 7-0 by the impressive eventual Champions, whose goal tally for the weekend reached 23-0! An exciting match against Casa Pia for 3rd place finished 1-1, and in the ensuing shoot out Casuals prevailed 3-2 with their keeper making a couple of great saves.

Two of their players were chosen for the Dream Team: Diogo Lima and Rita Ventosa.