Pearson brace themselves for stern Coastal Cup battle in KZN
The 2024 hockey season is officially up and running. The pre-season is done, and festivals now grab the spotlight.
This weekend will be no different as many of the country’s best return to action at the Nomads Hockey Festival, hosted by Maritzburg College, the Founders Festival, at Kearsney College, and the Coastal Cup, hosted by the KwaZulu-Natal High School Hockey Association at the Riverside Sports Club.
Among the teams gearing up for action will be Pearson High School, with the side from Gqeberha flying down to KwaZulu-Natal to participate in the Coastal Cup.
Pearson is the only Eastern Cape team in the lineup and is joined by KZN’s Westville Boys’ High, Durban High, Glenwood and Clifton College, the Pretoria quartet of St Alban’s College, Garsfontein, Menlopark, and Waterkloof, and Paarl Boys’ High, from the Western Cape.
Coach Dalan Phillips’s side enters the event with good game-time under their belts after participating at the Tony Godding Festival in East London over the past weekend.
There, the side achieved mixed results, winning two of their four matches against Cambridge High (5-0), and Queens College (4-0) respectively.
They further went on to draw 1-1 against Bloemfontein’s St Andrew’s School but suffered a 0-2 defeat at the hands of Grey College in their opener.
In an interview with SuperSport Schools after the tournament, Phillips admitted that his team’s performances against the Bloemfontein schools were filled with missed opportunities and inaccuracy in the final third.
“We came to the Tony Godding Festival with a fairly new team, and expectations were set from last year,” he told SuperSport Schools at the venue.
“I think, as a whole, in terms of the hockey played, I was quite happy, but unfortunately what you do in the two circles counts.
“I think defensively, we were fairly okay, but offensively, we struggled to score goals, and if you don’t score goals, you can’t win many hockey games,” he added.
Pearson’s team this year returns a handful of experienced players, and coach Phillips has been forced to rebuild and integrate new younger players in the system.
Those players had an opportunity to taste first team action from a first time in East London, and the coach said he was happy with what he saw.
“Some of them have settled in nicely,” he said.
“I must say, I have a nice set of boys. They’ve just got a lot of learning to do.
“I have one youngster coming up from the u14s, and he’s come into the side to learn and should take that experience back with him to the u16 group and continue to grow.
“With the others, we have done nicely as a team, and like I said, we’ve defended well but haven’t been able to capitalise when attacking.”
Pearson will kick off their Coastal Cup campaign with two matches on the opening day.
First up will be a clash against Westville Boys High at 09:15, before they take on Menlopark at 15:45.
The second day will see Phillips’ side take on Paarl Boys High before they end their tour with a tussle against St Alban’s College on Sunday at 11:45.
Pearson fixtures for the Coastal Cup
Friday 22 March
09:15 – Pearson High vs Westville Boys High
15:45 – Pearson High vs Menlopark High School
Saturday 23 March:
14:45 – Pearson High vs Paarl Boys High
Sunday, 24 March 2024:
11:45 – Pearson High vs St Albans College
