By CS Chiwanza
Ben Wilson scored a brace early in the game, and Ant Crossley chimed in with a second-half goal in Hilton College’s 3-0 win over Maritzburg College when the sides crossed swords on Pape’s Astro at Maritzburg College on Saturday.
Down at the coast, Durban High School (DHS) came back from being a goal down to secure a 2-1 win over Westville Boys’ High on the Blue and Gold Astro at DHS.
Hilton arrived at Maritzburg College with a plan and followed it to the letter. On the home side’s Old Boys’ Weekend, the visitors knew that the Red Army, with strong backing, would come out firing. Hilton planned to take the sting out of College’s approach by controlling possession.
“We said, let’s start slowly. Just keep the ball away from them, suffocate them with the ball, and then eventually we’ll get chances,” Damian Kimfley, the Hilton coach, told SuperSport Schools News.
The idea of holding onto possession didn’t entail Hilton playing negatively and in their own half. They made forays into the Maritzburg College half, and one of those early excursions resulted in a short corner, which Wilson fired into the back of the net to give the visitors the lead with less than three minutes on the clock.
In the middle of the park, Hilton’s midfielders demonstrated composure and awareness, hunting in pairs and creating one-versus-two situations when College had the ball.
“We’ve been quite intentional over the last few weeks, trying to create that,” Kimfley explained. “Jody Paul has come in from the UK, and he’s been quite big on that. Can we try to get the guy off the ball? Can we give the option on the ball carrier? The guys have bought into it quite well, and it’s working quite nicely.”
Maritzburg College’s goalkeeper, Viwe Ndlovu, who represented South Africa u17 at the Dato Mirnawan Cup in Malaysia last year, is a strong presence at the back for the Red, Black, and White. Hilton, though, drew up a game plan to counteract his excellence at set pieces through hours of video analysis.
It worked like a charm, and two-and-a-half minutes before the end of the first chukka, Wilson smashed a missile into the ‘keeper’s left corner from the edge of the circle to double Hilton’s lead.
“He’s very good at saving PCs, especially in the air with drag flicking. So, we identified that, and we said, ‘Hey, let’s try just going in the corners, hitting it there.’ We did it with Ben, and it worked like magic,” Kimfley revealed.
Hilton buried the contest seven minutes from full-time when Crossley provided the final touch to a well-worked move, which began at the opposite end of the park.
DHS vs Westville
Facing DHS on the Horseflies‘ Founders’ Weekend, the Westville 1st XI was keen to impose itself on the contest. The visitors put their best foot forward from the push-back and exerted early pressure on the hosts. They were full of running and threatened, but goalkeeper Bonga Dlomo was on his game and kept the Griffins at bay.
Something had to give, though, and Westville’s persistence paid off with a goal from close range, five minutes into the third chukka.
The Horseflies could have equalised in the quarter when they won a penalty stroke. Unfortunately for them, Bryce Rees-Powell pulled off a brilliant save to deny Chris Abrahams.
Down by a goal, DHS lifted their intensity in the fourth chukka. It was as if a switch had been flipped. They pressured the visitors and finally broke through when Sandi Mazubuko deflected the ball into the back of the net off a short corner variation.
Westville was still trying to regain some control when DHS edged in front, courtesy of a goal from Jesse van Wyk, who directed the ball into the back of the net at the far post. From there, it was end-to-end until the final whistle blew.
“The boys showed good fight to win,” Keegan Hezlett, the DHS coach, said afterwards. “The game changer was the intensity that we brought in the fourth chukka, just the ability to go forward, be direct, and do what DHS does well, and play to the strength of the boys.”
It was a welcome return to winning ways for DHS after an underwhelming couple of weeks that resulted in back-to-back losses.
Results
Hilton 3-0 Maritzburg College
DHS 2-1 Westville