Hilton records brilliant win at Kearsney, DHS triumphs at Michaelhouse
Hilton College and Durban High School (DHS) recorded superb victories away from home on Saturday afternoon. Hilton delivered an outstanding performance in a 2-0 victory over Kearsney College at Kearsney, while DHS defeated their hosts, Michaelhouse, 4-1.
Tadi Hove continued his goal-scoring form for Hilton College as he fired them to victory on the AH Mason Astro, where not many visitors come away with wins.
Hove was one of the scorers in Hilton’s 4-0 win over Westville Boys’ High last week. On Saturday, he took his tally to three goals in two games, striking twice in the space of three minutes shortly before the halftime break.
The teams traded jabs through the first 26 minutes of play before Hove deflected a shot from one of his teammates from the edge of the D past the goalkeeper.
One of Hilton’s targets for the season is to be a great defensive team. It’s an area that they have dedicated a lot of time and attention to, according to their coach, Damian Kimfley. That showed on the field. Matt Thomas and Rob Berman, the two senior figures in defence, rallied the juniors around them into creating an impregnable wall.
Unfortunately for Hilton, their captain, Xavier Enslin, suffered an injury in the first chukka, which led to a hospital visit. Regan Mudau took over operations and ran a steady ship.
Hilton pressed hard and one of those presses resulted in a turnover at the halfway line. From there, Ethan Malthby made an incisive run to the edge of the D before laying off to Hove, who slotted his second goal just before the halftime break.
“The senior players have done well in their leadership roles, and the youngsters stepped up to the plate brilliantly. They look a lot more like the team we want them to be,” Kimfley shared after the encounter.
At Michaelhouse, DHS took the lead over Michaelhouse on the Punchbowl Astro and refused to cede control of the match.
The visitors went ahead shortly before the end of the first chukka when they converted a penalty corner. There was a good response from the home team, who flipped the field and piled pressure on the DHS goal.
Both sides traded attacks, but it was DHS who found the back of the net again, after a fine build-up, only seconds from the break, to go into it with a 2-0 advantage.
The frenetic nature of the contest opened the door for errors to happen and one of those mistakes resulted in DHS being awarded a penalty stroke three minutes before the end of the third chukka. Keegan Hezlett‘s charges made good use of the opportunity and went three goals clear.
Despite trailing 0-3, Michaelhouse kept taking the game to the visitors. Their industry was rewarded when they earned a penalty stroke of their own seven minutes into the fourth quarter. A successful conversion brought coach Nick Bérichon‘s charges back to two goals down at 1-3.
Three minutes later, though, DHS closed out the contest with their fourth goal.
