Eastern Province set to battle Boland for u16 SASHOC National Week title
New champions will be crowned at this year’s u16 SASHOC National Week.
This is after Eastern Province A, and Boland A booked their spots in the final of this year’s showpiece in Bloemfontein on Tuesday.
Playing at the University of Free State’s main astroturf, EP defeated KZN Inland A 4-1 in the first semi-final while Boland, in the later clash, thumped a strong KZN Coastal A team 5-2.
One may argue that EP are undeniably the surprise package in this year’s tournament considering they were playing in the B Section, which they won last year to gain promotion to the big league.
In this year’s tournament, they were drawn in Pool A along with last year’s champions, Western Province A, Boland A, Northern Gauteng, hosts, Southern Free State A, and Southern Gauteng B.
EP didn’t have the best of starts on the opening day and went down 0-3 against Coach Sam Holme’s Province team.
That would be their first and last defeat in the group stages as they dominated in their remaining matches scoring 19 goals in four matches and only conceding seven times.
They booked their spot in the last four after finishing level with Boland, and Province on 12 points but progressed due to their superior goal difference compared to Province’s.
In the semi-final, they came up against a strong KZN Inland A team captained by Siwaphiwe Sithembu. In their round-robin stage campaign, Inland didn’t taste defeat winning all five matches.
They were, however, shocked in the semi when Coach Michael Abrahams’ side opened the scoring in the second chukka through Logan Goddard-Ford after a brilliant counterattack move found Inland napping.
Coach Mark Sanders’ team responded two minutes later with a goal from Roy Schirge.
Schirge’s goal would be the last time Inland found the back of the net in the clash with EP’s defence standing firm, and the likes of Dale Jennings, the strong Ameer Muller, and goalkeeper Chulumanco Mkontwana keeping their calm at the back.
In front, it was the dangerous Chris Chree who continued on his goal-scoring form netting in twice for EP to take a 3-1 lead at the break.
Chree, with that brace, reached eight goals in this year’s event and currently sits second in the goalscoring chart.
It was, however, Dante Elkington’s fourth-quarter strike that sealed the 4-1 victory for the Eastern Cape side.
“It was a slow start for us, but the boys bounced back with some good performances,” Coach Abrahams’ told SuperSport Schools Plus after the match.
“After losing on day one, the conversations have been about self-belief and trusting the process. The boys showed great character after day 1 and put in the hard work.”
“Teamwork in the final will be very important. It will take all 16 players, including the management to work together to ensure a good performance can be delivered,” he concluded.
The showdown will not be any easy for EP with Boland also aiming to take the gold medal back to the Western Cape.
In their semi-final, Boland was at their usual best and scored five times to dismantle a strong KZN Coastal A 5-2.
Luka Meets, who has been in prolific form during the week was at the forefront of his team’s performance scoring a hattrick of goals while Adam Lietch and Logan Lackay contributed a goal each to the victory.
The final on Wednesday will kick off at 11:20, and you can catch it LIVE on SuperSport Schools.
Day 5 | Results:
Southern Gauteng A 2(3) – 2(2) Northern Gauteng A
Western Province A 2(4) – 2(3) KZN Coastal B
Southern Free State A 2-1 Border A
Eastern Province A 4-1 KZN Inland A
KZN Inland B 3-2 Southern Gauteng B
Boland A 5-2 KZN Coastal A
Day 6 | Fixtures:
08:30-KZN Coastal A vs KZN Inland A
08:30- Southern Free State A vs KZN Inland B @Fichardtpark
08:30- Border A vs Southern Gauteng B @Grey College
09:40- Northern Gauteng A vs KZN Coastal B @Fichardtpark
10:50- Southern Gauteng A vs Western Province A @Grey College
11:20- Boland A vs Eastern Province A
