Clifton celebrates Old Boys’ Weekend with an avalanche of goals
Daniel Holliday scored a hat-trick, and goalkeeper Georg Wolhouter kept a clean sheet, as Clifton College dominated St David’s Marist Inanda at the Riverside Sports Club on Saturday, winning 8-0 on their Old Boys’ Weekend.
“I think we delivered a performance that I’m sure [Clifton Headmaster] Mr. [Adam] Rogers, the rest of the team, and the boys, can be proud of. It was outstanding,” Calvin Price, the Clifton coach, told SuperSport Schools News.
A clinical performance made amends for a 1-2 loss to St Alban’s College on last year’s Old Boys’ Weekend.
“We’ve played a lot of hockey. This is our 25th game, so this week was really about just keeping the legs going, and I think we were good at that,” Price said.
With so many matches in the bag, Clifton didn’t train intensely for the St David’s match. Instead, they polished their connections and focused on maintaining their structure.
At times this season, one of Clifton’s shortcomings has been reacting to the opposition’s approach, rather than imposing their own. Against St David’s, they stuck to their game and processes, and it paid off handsomely.
Clifton moved the ball well and dominated possession in the first chukka. However, they had nothing to show for it until the final moments of the quarter, when they opened their account with a field goal from Dan Holliday after penetrative approach play from his frontline partner, Dan Rea.
The second chukka was more of the same for the hosts. They made forays into St David’s half but couldn’t convert their opportunities. Just as they did in the first quarter, though, they scored again through the predatory Holliday, who slotted a rebound from a penalty corner shot to make it 2-0 to the hosts at the break.
“At halftime, I said to them, ‘Make sure it’s clinical, zero goals against you. You don’t want to have a goal against you on your Old Boys’ Day’,” Price said.
Clifton’s players responded to that challenge by dialling up their offence to keep their defence from being tested. They scored their third goal almost immediately after the restart, with Luke Carolan firing in at the far post.
The visitors were still trying to get their wits about them when Clifton made it 4-0 six minutes into the chukka. Again, it was Dan Holliday, who got himself in front of his marker, moved the ball away from the defender with his first touch, then stretched to knock the ball past the goalkeeper for his hat-trick.
The hosts, who were on a warpath, added their fifth three minutes after their fourth goal, with Dan Rea providing the finish.
One of the secrets to Clifton’s success was the manner in which they consistently turned over possession. “We’ve worked a lot on the two-versus-one in our favour,” coach Price said, about his side’s defending.
“That’s what we were trying to do. I think that we’ve been bad in one-on-ones. So, we’ve tried to work on getting an extra number into that space. The boys did it well today.”
St David’s threatened at times, but Georg Wolhouter, who has been a rock in goal throughout the season, continued his solid work.
“Georg’s been outstanding between the posts. At St Alban’s, last week, we had eight short corners against us, and he cleared all eight. So, he’s got an unbelievable short corner defence that he’s controlling there,” Price said.
Not content with a 5-0 lead, the hosts remained hungry for more goals in the final chukka.
They secured their sixth goal from the penalty spot, converted by Tye Milne, with just over seven minutes left in the match. They buried their seventh three minutes later, with Milne firing in a penalty corner, and scored their eighth, courtesy of captain Ryde Brisset, from close range with just over a minute to go.
Result
Clifton College 8-0 St David’s Marist Inanda
- Clifton celebrates Old Boys’ Weekend with an avalanche of goals - 2026-05-24
- St Anne’s Cup semi-finalists confirmed - 2026-05-24
- Top guns throw down the gauntlet at St Anne’s Cup - 2026-05-23
