LSH were crowned the football Property Cup champions this week for the second time in three years thanks to goalkeeping heroics in a tense penalty shoot-out final.
The national consultancy, which beat Colliers on penalties to win the 2024 tournament, met Savills in this year's final at Queens Park Rangers' Loftus Road ground in London, with the charity tournament celebrating its 60th anniversary.
In its current format the tournament has raised more than £60,000 for charity, with the proceeds from this year's event once again going to the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research.
Teams from Arcadis, CBRE, CoStar Group, Cushman & Wakefield, Gardiner & Theobald, Hartnell Taylor Cook, JLL, Knight Frank, Montagu Evans, Newmark, Ryan, Savills, Summix, the Office Agents Society and the Valuation Office Agency also participated, as 16 sides took to the pitch.
The event was organised by LSH and Porterfield PR, and sponsored by Porterfield. CoStar News was the media sponsor.
Tense cup final
Both LSH and Savills failed to finish top of their groups during the league stage earlier in the day, but beat the likes of CBRE and JLL in the knock-out phase to fight their way to the cup final.
It was Savills, playing in navy blue and yellow, who enjoyed the early possession as both teams looked to get a foothold in the game with many players from other teams remaining in the ground to cheer on the top two.
LSH then enjoyed a period with the ball and managed to win a free-kick in a dangerous position, but wasted it. Soon after the team in red lost possession from a corner, sparking a rapid Savills counter-attack only to have a long ball cleared by the LSH rearguard.
At the halfway point both sides had struggled to test the opposing goalkeeper, while LSH had a player booked for preventing a quick free-kick in the middle of the park.
Shortly after the caution, the 2024 champions created the game's first true opportunity as one of their attackers floated a cross into the box from the right-hand side of the pitch. The ball agonisingly skimmed the head of the striker waiting in the box, with the ball going out for a throw-in.
The team in red then tried a shot from distance, but this whizzed over the bar and into the empty blue seats of the Loftus Road Stand behind.
A few fouls were given away in the middle of the park as both sets of players began to tire. In a moment of madness, the LSH keeper was then deemed to have handled outside his box, presenting Savills with a golden chance from an indirect free-kick. But they could not capitalise, as the wall stood firm to prevent a low-drilled effort.
Following a cagey 20-minute final, the referee took the match to penalties. Savills struck the first spot-kick but was denied by a strong parry from the LSH keeper, who made a save to his right, giving his team an early advantage.
LSH coolly dispatched the next spot-kick, with Savills making no mistake from the six-yard spot on the second attempt. Their opponents converted again to make it 2-1, and then the LSH goalkeeper made his second save of the shoot-out to put his team firmly in the driving position. The dejected Savills striker lashed the ball into the stands.
LSH buried their third penalty with aplomb, with Savills then scoring their fourth penalty to keep hopes alive, making it 3-2 to the reds. With the teams taking up to five penalties each, LSH converted the fourth attempt to win 4-2.
Jon Rea-Palmer, head of M4 Corridor at LSH and the principal organiser of the tournament, praised the effort of his team as well as all the other sides who took part in the charity tournament.
He told CoStar News his team was very happy to pick up another title while "raising money for a great cause", while LSH's Gus Strong won player of the match.
"It's been a really good day, QPR have looked after us really well, again, and the sun has shone, as it does every year. The standard seems to improve each time and it was nice to see our boys in the final, they have done very well.
"The Valuation Office Agency and Summix Developments were two new entrants for this year. There have been a couple of people who couldn't make it due to the Shedmasters [event] in Lisbon, but it has been really good."
He added: "QPR always look after us really well and the pitch is immaculate. Everyone is trying to play the game in the right spirit and there has been some great goals and some great saves as well, which is great to see.
"I think we will probably raise about £10,000 for Bobby Moore Fund...so it's been an unqualified success."
Plate final
Earlier in the day Arcadis and CoStar battled it out for the Plate competition, with both sides having failed to pick up silverware the previous year.
Arcadis, playing in orange, came close to scoring early on as a cross from the right-hand side of the CoStar box was fizzed into the centre, finding an attacker who blasted over the crossbar.
That built confidence as an identical attack and cross down the right made its way to the centre, which was controlled by the attacker and deflected in for 1-0.
Arcadis almost grabbed a second shortly after a CoStar defender was caught on the ball and dispossessed, although the strike kissed the side netting.
The plate final was a tale of two halves, with CoStar, playing in blue, getting some joy down the left just before the break. But the resulting shot was dragged wide after a clever give-and-go between two attackers.
In the second half, CoStar won a corner after a cross in from the right was blocked, as the team from the Blue Fin building in Blackfriars began knocking on the door, with a long shot also flying over the bar moments later.
A mazey run from midfield then caused havoc in the Arcadis half, but the ball wouldn't sit right for a CoStar attacker to take a strike. This prompted a response from Arcadis, who recycled possession in the middle of the park and smacked the post from a shot outside of the box as the game entered its final phase.
But, with 90 seconds to go, the boys in blue made a breakthrough. The Arcadis defence failed to deal with a lofted ball from their opponents' half, which then fell into the path of an attacker. He laid it off to a teammate in the middle of the box, who buried it to level up the game right at the death. It was penalties again.
Each team scored their first two kicks from the spot, tucking them calmly into the net. But, as it looked like both teams would make it a long shoot-out, CoStar missed their third effort. Arcadis would make them pay, converting the rest of their penalties to take home the silverware.
Charlie Etheridge, the CoStar team vice-captain, said: "We'll be back better than ever, with a lovely new shiny strip. Hopefully we'll be sponsoring [the tournament] again and come home with some silverware. It's for a great cause and it's good to be out here with the boys."
Stephanie Moore, the founder of the Fund and Sir Bobby Moore's widow, was in attendance to watch the finals at Loftus Road. She told CoStar News that the Fund was grateful for the continued support of the industry.
"It just gets better every year," Lady Moore said. "The weather has been perfect, the pitch has been perfect and the comradery has been fabulous. They are all charming young men - there were only a few yellow cards.
"Of course, the proceeds go to the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research and every penny counts. When you think about how expensive research is, without it we are never going to move forward. So we need people to keep playing in the tournament and we need more teams to enters."
Paul Norman, managing editor, CoStar News Europe, added: "With scores of men and women dying from bowel cancer every day, it is essential we keep raising awareness of this illness and today illustrates the good work that the real estate industry does for the less fortunate."