Glenwood clinches victory over Westville in Friday night thriller
Glenwood High overturned a 0-2 deficit to capture a 4-3 win over Westville Boys High in an enthralling Friday Nite Lights encounter at Westville on Friday evening.
In a big win for the Green Machine and a massive boost for Glenwood hockey, Xaydon Kariko, Mesuli Msomi, Murray Wicks, and Siya Malatjie were on target for the visitors.
“The team moved the ball and utilised the press well,” a pleased Michael Labuschagne, the Glenwood first-team coach, told SuperSport Schools Plus afterwards.
Glenwood headed into the game off the back of a lopsided loss at the hands of Northwood and Labuschagne’s charges were eager to show that their result from last week was not a representation of who they are as a team. However, at the halfway point of the contest, they were experiencing déjà vu.
As they did last week, Glenwood conceded first. Westville went 1-0 up towards the end of the second chukka.
Coach Cameron Mackay’s charges came close to opening the scoring after driving into the visitors’ circle. They were stopped, but Glenwood conceded a penalty corner. Westville spurned their first attempt. However, they were rewarded with a retake and, despite overshooting the injection, they scrambled and found a way through.
Five minutes into the third chukka, and Westville had doubled their lead, netting off the rebound of the goalkeeper’s excellent stop of a goal-bound shot.
Two goals down, Glenwood kept their cool. “The guys stuck to the structure of the plan and kept doing things the way they were supposed to,” Labuschagne told Supersport Schools Plus.
Their discipline was rewarded when Kariko pulled one back for the visitors in the third chukka. Westville reacted by going in search of a third goal that would restore their two-goal lead. It was, however, Glenwood who struck instead.
With just over a minute to play in the third quarter, Msomi grabbed the equaliser. At a penalty corner, he fired off a shot towards the Glenwood goal. The ‘keeper made the stop, but the ball rebounded to Msomi, and he gobbled up the opportunity.
At 2-2, there was everything to play for, and neither side was willing to settle for a draw. A thrilling 15 minutes remained.
Glenwood emerged an inspired side in the last chukka. They were a player down for most it, but that was barely perceptible because they ran hard and covered for each other.
Their persistence on attack, then, earned the Green Machine a penalty stroke and Murray Wicks easily converted from the P-spot to give his team they lead. Westville came right back to level matters.
The sides were deadlocked on three goals apiece until the final seconds of the encounter. But then, Krian Jugoo threaded a pass from the right side through to Siya Malatjie, the Glenwood captain, in the Westville circle. With only 38 seconds left on the clock, he drilled it into the back of the net to seal a 4-3 victory with a cracking winner.
RESULTS
Glenwood 4-3 Westville
