Captain Campbell leads KES to victory in his final appearance
Fynn Campbell signed off his 107-cap hockey career with King Edward VII School‘s (KES) 1st XI in style on Saturday, scoring the final goal in his side’s stirring 4-2 victory over Durban High School (DHS), at The Coliseum, in Durban.
“It feels amazing. I started playing first-team hockey in Grade 9, and I have loved every moment,” Campbell told SuperSport Schools Plus after the game.
“I have been looking forward to this game. I knew it was going to be a good game. We desperately wanted to win.”
The skipper wasn’t the only one playing in his last match for the Red Sticks, with KES bidding farewell to 10 other players on Saturday.
The home side, meanwhile, watched four of their best players run out on the Blue and Gold Astro for the final time. Before the start of play, a guard of honour was formed for DHS captain Josh Mungherera, Bhavesh Naicker, Tyrique Cloete, and Sithsaba Siyoyo. all of whom were selected for national teams during their school careers.
Unfortunately for the hosts, the visitors executed their game plan superbly and hit DHS on the counterattack to seize the initiative. Once in front, they maintained control of the contest.
While KES was able to make some incisive forays into the DHS circle, when the home side attacked, they did a good job of shepherding DHS into comfortable zones for their defence to handle the home side’s forwards, directing the action towards the flanks of the field. When School brought the ball inside, KES flooded the central area, forcing the locals to run laterally without making meaningful circle entries
“We did a good job of guiding them to the outside, where it’s least dangerous for us. We did plan on that. It is one of the things we practiced this week,” Campbell explained.
The visitors drew first blood with a goal from Reece Small in the final seconds of the first chukka. After a sharp counterattack down the right, he provided a diving finish on the far post to give his side the lead.
Then, towards the end of the second chukka, KES intercepted a pass close to the halfway line and went on the offensive. A defence-splitting pass opened up an opportunity for a shot on goal, but it was parried DHS goalkeeper Dilan Ebrahim. Small, though, was in the right place at the right time and he slotted the rebound to make it 2-0 to the visitors.
Eight minutes into the second half, DHS cut into KES’s lead when Thanda Ngejane pounced on a short corner rebound, pivoted and fired home. The Horseflies had started the second stanza with their intensity raised, and they had KES on the back foot. However, after KES had conceded, they quickly struck back.
They caught out DHS with a scything counterattack to win a penalty corner. A variation was stopped on the right-hand post by DHS, but the ball fell favourably for Kamohelo Tsoka, who slapped it into the backboard to make the score 3-1.
DHS never rolls over, however, and they kept up the fight. Five minutes into the last chukka, they pulled to within a goal of KES. A penalty corner trap was bobbled, but Christopher Abrahams picked up the ball, pulled it to his left and unleashed a sweet tomahawk to make it 3-2 to the Red Sticks.
DHS had hope, trailing by a goal, but it was left to the KES captain, Fynn Campbell, a calm presence in an at times fractious contest, to decide the outcome.
He stepped up to take a penalty stroke, with four minutes left on the clock. Cool as a cucumber, he dispatched the chance to make the game safe for his team.
Result
King Edward VII School: 4 (Reece Small 2, Kamohelo Tsoka, Fynn Campbell). Durban High School: 2 (Thanda Ngejane , Chris Abrahams).
