Carrick stars for Western Province in victory over Southern Gauteng
Cape Town and Gauteng schools don’t normally play each other during the annual derby season, however the provincial u18 hockey boys clash in Bloemfontein on Wednesday proved why that should probably be reconsidered.
Western Province stalwart Dean Carrick scored a brace of goals to lead his side to a convincing (3-1) victory against an in-form Southern Gauteng team on day four of the u18 SASHOC boys hockey tournament.
Carrick, with his two goals contributed to the 30 goals that were scored across the seven matches.
Both teams went into the game unbeaten with Western Province having registered wins against Amathole (3-0) and Southern Free State (4-0) on day three.
For the Gauteng side, they beat Northern Gauteng (6-0), and Southern Free State (5-1) in their previous two matches.
The match was deemed as a decider to which side would finish on top of Pool A and have a better chance of making it to the latter rounds of the competition.
In their last meeting in 2022, Western Province, pulled off a performance for the ages, humiliating the Gauteng side (5-0) at Maties.
The occasion was different however, and the game was proving to be more difficult for the Cape side than they would’ve anticipated. The first chukka produced no goals with both sides testing each other’s defence out, with no clear scoring opportunities created.
It’s the second chukka where everything changed, and the Gauteng side lost the match. Province came out firing and applied huge amounts of pressure on their opponent’s defence.
The breakthrough finally came when the Cape side received a penalty for a foul and stepped captain, Dean Carrick who calmy slotted in.
That goal opened the floodgates as a second goal came two minutes after. The side from Cape Town turned the ball over, with Gauteng playing in the danger zone. Josh Opperman quickly pounced on the ball, played a through pass for his skipper who dived and tapped the ball in to extend his side’s lead.
Province put the nail in the coffin when Ethan Lee scored their third goal before the interval.
Northern Gauteng, who have scored 20 goals this week could only manage one and were totally outplayed.
The match was an exhibition of just how heated and competitive a north-south derby between Gauteng and Cape Town schools would be.
In other big matches on day four, Amathole A registered their first win of the week by beating Southern Free State (3-2).
KZN Coastal B closed the day off with a (4-1) win against Eastern Province A, while earlier in the day, Boland played out to a (1-1) draw against Damian Kimfley’s KZN Inland A team.
Western Province ended the pool matches on top with a 100% win record while Southern Gauteng finished on second with 12 points. In Pool B, KZN Coastal A finished above Boland A with Eastern Province and KZN Inland B occupying the last two spots.
Results | Day 2
KZN Coastal A 5 (1) (Connor McKenzie (2), Tristan Boyall (2), Kyle Thomas); Eastern Province A 1(1) (Matt Kingston).
KZN Coastal B 3 (1) (Mathlhatshe Sebake, Ben Bashford, Sandiswa Yeni); KZN Inland B 2 (0) (Bryn Brokensha, Asande Khumalo).
Western Province A 3 (3) (Dean Carrick (2), Ethan Lee); Southern Gauteng A 1 (0) (Jaydon Brooker).
Southern Free State A 2 (2) (Roan Janse van Rensburg (2); Amathole A 3 (2) (Ben van der Merwe, Lucan Hykes, Mthawelanga Mboniswa).
Northern Gauteng A 2 (0) (Ruard Booysen, Louw du Preez); Western Province B 1 (1) (Ray Bonnet).
KZN Inland A 1 (0) (Nicholas Chantler); Boland A 1 (0) (Ruben Sendzul).
KZN Coastal B 4 (0): (Dylan Wiggett (2), Sandiswa Yeni, Mitchell Tillard); Eastern Province A 1 (1) (Ben Ristow).
Fixtures | Day 5 fixtures:
08:45 – Northern Gauteng A vs KZN Inland A
10:25 –Western Province B vs KZN Coastal B
11:35 –Southern Free State A vs Eastern Province A
12:50 – Southern Gauteng A vs KZN Coastal A
14:25 –Amathole A vs KZN Inland B
15:40 –Western Province A vs Boland A