Northwood defeats Pinetown Boys’ High in goal fest

It was raining goals as the Northwood defeated Pinetown Boys High School by 4-2.

Coming back from a defeat in the first round of the league, Northwood High School looked determined and a hungry side to win the match against Pinetown Boys High from the minute they entered the field.

Earlier this year, during an interview with SuperSport Schools, Mini Khoza, the director of soccer at Northwood spoke about the importance of controlling the game from the first to the last minute of the game. On Wednesday, the team showed exactly that with a goal in the 3rd minute of the game from their captain Usiphile Nxele.

The first half belonged to Northwood as they kept on winning the second ball and not allowing the Pinetown Boys High to play to their strength.

Despite threatening attacks from Pinetown, Northwood remained strong in all aspects of the game. Going into the second half, Northwood were up by two goals to nil, after a beautiful header from Ethan Hutton. 

Coming into the second half of the game, Pinetown looked out-numbered as Northwood continued to dominate the game. Gabrie De Kock scored the 3rd goal for Northwood followed by a penalty converted by Othandwayo Xaba with less than 17 minutes left in the game. 

Northwood came close to scoring the fifth goal after the ball hit the crossbar from a long-range free kick. 

Pinetown’s Boys came lively in the dying minutes of the game, with Qhawe Mapeyi becoming a threat to the defence of Northwood. Pinetown capitalized on the lack of concentration by Northwood scoring two goals for consolidations.

However, Northwood managed to put the game to bed as the match official blew the whistle confirming a win for Northwood by 4-2. 

Not only was it a tough day at the office for Pinetown, but their captain, Sphesihle Maphumulo got early showers after being shown a red having picked up a yellow card in the first few minutes of the game. 

Mini Khoza is delighted about the win and the performance displayed by his boys as he mentioned that at Northwood, they welcome good competition, and they love rivalry.

“All our traditional rivals provide tough competition for us, it is always a great spectacle and a challenging game against teams such as Pinetown, Durban High, Glenwood, Maritzburg and others.

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Siya Pongco

A passionate reader and dedicated writer, Siya possesses three degrees from Rhodes University including a Postgraduate Diploma at Rhodes University. He also played amateur cricket and soccer, both during his university years. While honing his journalism skills at Grocott’s Mail in Makhanda, he developed a profound interest in the community’s response to crime. Additionally, he covered topics such as art/culture and student politics at Rhodes University in 2022. In his spare time, Siya can be found exploring galleries, dining at restaurants, indulging in literature, taking photographs or savouring his favourite dish, spaghetti.

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