Northern Gauteng breaks through and Coastal claims KZN bragging rights
Northern Gauteng A pulled out all the stops as they fought their way to a second-place finish in Pool B at the SASHOC National Week in Bloemfontein on Wednesday.
Northern Gauteng A’s 2-1 win over Western Province B knocked the defending champions, Southern Free State A, out of the running for the title.
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In Pool A, the leaders, KwaZulu-Natal Coastal A, edged out their neighbours, KwaZulu-Natal Inland 2-1 in a hotly contested derby to secure local bragging rights.
The Northern Gauteng A versus Western Province B match was fiercely contested until the last second. Sinoxolo Mbekeni’s Northerns’ side found themselves clinging on for dear life as Western Province B threw everything they had at them in the dying minutes of the tie.
“I must have aged 40 years in those final moments,” Mbekeni chuckled afterwards.
The highveld side was one of the lower-ranked teams in the group, but they showed themselves to be one of the tournament’s dark horses when they bagged victories in their first two matches.
“The underdog tag is not something we fought against coming into the IPTs. We embraced it. But we also had our plans,” the coach said.
“We knew we had to pull off at least one big performance against the three other top sides in the pool. We did that on day one and two [and] registered two wins from those three games.”
Ahead of the SASHOC National Week, Northerns had set themselves a goal of making it to the semi-finals. Now, having achieved that, they’ve had to reset their goals.
“We are very excited to make it to the semis. Now we are looking to see how far we can go,” captain Gardi van Niekerk said.
With few tabbing Northerns as a potential title contender, they have played with freedom, unencumbered by external expectations.
In team talks, Mbekeni constantly reminded his charges that while they had goals and aspirations as a team, one of the most important things to keep in mind was that hockey was a fun sport and meant to be enjoyed. They ensured they had fun and with that came positive results.
“I think a key part of our plan is to play unexpected hockey, keeping to our brand of hockey, not anything that anyone else is doing,” Van Niekerk said about her side’s approach.
Mbekeni is still not satisfied with his charges’ game management. Had they managed their contest against Western Province B better, they wouldn’t have had to hold their hearts in their mouths as they fought off wave after wave of attacks.
KZN Coastal, meanwhile, triumphed over KZN Inland in an edge-of-your-seat derby clash.
Coach Morne Odendaal‘s Inland side entered the contest knowing that they needed a victory to make it through to the semi-finals. They took the fight to their coastal neighbours from the start. Inland created the first attempt on goal and they kept at it.
Despite having punched their semi-finals’ ticket, Coastal was in no mood to hand out freebies and they were focused on earning the bragging rights. So, they gave as much as they received. Halfway through the first quarter, they had wrestled control of the game from their rivals.
“As much as we were looking for a result, we were also looking at the next stage, the semis. We had what we wanted to achieve in mind, and I think the girls implemented everything we discussed in our team talk; keeping calm, not chasing the ball, managing our legs,” coach Jacinta Wedderburn shared after the match.
Vice-captain Emily Macquet was on the same page as Wedderburn, stating: “We put up a good fight out there. It’s always a good game to go up against Inland. They are our friends, and they are competitive against us.
“We kept our composure and kept the ball because we didn’t want to chase and tire ourselves. I think we kept the ball nicely and converted our chances when we created them.”
KZN Coastal and Northern Gauteng A will meet in the semifinals on Thursday afternoon. It should be a humdinger of a contest.
Southern Gauteng A and Southern Gauteng B will face off later in the other semi-final after the Southerns’ B team edged out Boland A on goal difference to book their final four spot.
Results
Boland A 1-0 Eastern Province A
Southern Gauteng B 2-0 Northern Free State
Southern Free State A 0-2 Southern Gauteng A
Western Province A 3-0 Border A
Northern Gauteng A 2-1 Western Province B
KZN Inland A 1-2 KZN Coastal A
Eastern Province A 0-1 Southern Gauteng B
