Mahra Polo edged a thriller against Zedan to qualify for the semi-finals of the McLaren Cup on Friday.

There wasn’t much in at the Al Habtoor Polo Resort & Club, with Mahra winning by 5.5 goals to 5 to book their place in the last four of the event.

It was even stevens for large parts of the singles contest, with Mahra holding a 4-3 lead at the interval, but the half goal handicap made all the difference as both teams kept going right until the end.

Jeronimo del Carril scored four for Mahra while Pablo Mac Donough, of Zedan, also netted a quadruple of goals in what turn out to be a classic five chukkers encounter in front of a large crowd in Dubai.

Victory means the Rashid Al Habtoor-owned team are the first side to reach this stage of the cup with a 2-2 win record.

The McLaren Cup, which is the opening trophy up for grabs in the Dubai Golf Cup Series 2018, continues this weekend with UAE Polo playing against Bin Drai.

The tournament runs until February 9 while the Polo Masters Cup (February 10-15), Julius Baer Gold Cup (February 16 to March 9) and The Dubai Cup (April 6-13) make up the other events in the series.