Cowie Cup semi-finals showdowns set
The Cowie Cup, KwaZulu-Natal’s premier province-wide knockout competition, is nearing its completion after weeks of intense competition, with only four teams left standing after four cracking quarterfinals.
It has been an inconsistent season for Northwood School and that proved their undoing in the last eight. Last weekend, they beat Glenwood, the Primo Big 10 and KZN Coastal League champions at Glenwood. In their next outing, in the Cowie Cup quarterfinals, last week, they suffered a narrow 0-1 defeat to Alexandra High School.
The Knights’ loss followed an impressive victory over Curro Salt Rock in the previous round, where Northwood triumphed with a lopsided 12-1 win in which Allan Govender and Siphe Gigaga scored hattricks, Owama Maduna and Obi Kelechi bagged braces, and Lwazi Ngcele and Dan van Huyssteen netted, too.
In the quarterfinals against Alexandra, however, Northwood was unable to replicate that scoring prowess, failing to get onto the score sheet, as Alex scored the only goal of the game to book a semi-final meeting with Port Shepstone.
There were plenty of goals in Sheppie‘s game against Empangeni, with the south coast side beating their north coast opposition 3-2 to secure their semi-final spot.
Westville Boys’ High School ran out 2-1 winners over New Forest, who have demonstrated incredible resilience throughout the 2024 Cowie Cup, despite facing significant challenges during the competition.
The Griffin‘s win has set up a final-four clash with Maritzburg College. When the teams met recently, the Red, Black and White claimed a 2-1 victory.
College, meanwhile, faced Carter High for a fourth time in 2024 in the quarterfinals, with Carter heading into the game two wins to one to the good in those clashes. Victory in their most recent meeting had gone College’s way, however.
Playing at Maritzburg College, Carter stunned the hosts with an early goal, College, though, equalised through Nzolo Ngcemu to make it 1-1 at the break.
Carter, the KZN Inland League champions, regained the lead in the second stanza but, with only 10 seconds left on the clock, Thubelihle Myeni delivered a perfect cross from the right and Jordyn Marais jabbed the ball into the net to rescue a draw for the home side, which sent the contest to the penalty spot.
From there, Maritzburg College recorded a 4-2 victory. Goalkeeper CJ Sukraj pulled off a save and a Carter kick was wide of the mark.
When Zipho Makangela confidently converted his kick, the Red, Black, and White were moving on.
Quarterfinals Results
Maritzburg College (4) 2-2 (2) Carter
Westville 2-1 New Forest
Alexandra High 1-0 Northwood
Port Shepstone 3-2 Empangeni
Semi-finals Fixtures: 28 August
Maritzburg College vs Westville
Alexandra High vs Port Shepstone
