St Andrew’s hunts a rare win at Selborne
St Andrew’s College, after going down 1-2 to Grey High School last weekend, faces a stiff challenge in its quest to return to winning ways, with a Friday night showdown against highly motivated Selborne College in East London.
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Push-back for the big clash is set for 18:45 on Selborne’s main AstroTurf, and a sea of black and white will fill up the stands.
St Andrew’s will enter the match as the underdogs, considering the excellent season Selborne has put together. But the boys from Makhanda have proven themselves to be a tough outfit, too.
At home, Selborne has only lost once in 2024, and that 2-5 defeat came against the dangerous Grey College last month. Apart from that loss, they drew 1-1 with Queen’s College and swept their opponents at both the Tony Godding Festival and the Nomads Festival in March.
In the past two weeks, despite playing away from home, coach KJ Friend’s side has scored a whopping 16 goals while only conceding one.
They thumped Dale College 10-1 at the Qonce school’s reunion and, last week, they outscored Cambridge High School 6-0.
Waeden Plaatjes, captain Tre’ Gilbert, and Kungothando Macanda were among the goal scorers in both matches.
The hosts are not short of confidence and will want to continue their record of success against the Makhanda side. Post the Covid-19 pandemic, the teams have met twice, in 2022 and 2023, and it’s Selborne who’ve won both times, winning 3-0 and 2-0 respectively.
St Andrew’s head coach Dean Ferreira will be eager to reverse that trend and his side will be inspired by the promising season they’ve put together.
They began their 2024 campaign sublimely, going undefeated at the Tony Godding Festival, where they also defeated Grey College 2-1.
They were also in action at the Bishops 175 Hockey Festival and the St Stithians Easter Hockey Festival.
At Bishops, Ferreira’s side won their first three matches, but they then went down 1-2 to the hosts, before losing their final match 0-3 against Michaelhouse.
They had mixed results, including a couple of draws, at Saints. Then it was on to their Eastern Cape derby matches. So far, they’ve been on a good run.
Apart from last week’s defeat against the in-form Grey High, they’ve posted wins over Hudson Park (3-0), and Cambridge High (7-1).
Winning away from home will be a big ask, but the boys from Makhanda have the quality to spring a surprise ahead of their matches next month against Queen’s College and Kingswood.
Other matches
In an early game, on Friday, Graeme College faces Dale.
Stirling hosts Hudson Park, while Woodridge takes a short trip to Pearson High School in their final match of the term.
Eastern Cape fixtures
Friday, 31 May
15:30 – Graeme College vs Dale College
18:00 – Stirling High vs Hudson Park
18:45 – Selborne College vs St Andrews College
19:15 – Pearson vs Woodridge College
