Parktown denies St David’s victory with furious finish
The Parktown Boys’ High School 1st XI held St David’s Marist Inanda to a 2-2 draw at St David’s on Saturday, showing strong character to rescue a share of the spoils.
St David’s started the stronger and put the visitors into an 0-2 hole for the better part of the match.
The hosts appeared to be on course for victory after Niklaus Jooste netted five minutes from the end of the first chukka, followed by a brilliant field goal from Zuko Dingaan in the second quarter.
The end-to-end battle continued with both sides fashioning opportunities, without turning them into goals. St David’s, however, saw their lead evaporate in the dying minutes of the contest as coach Kyle Reddy‘s charges manufactured two goals of their own.
The first, scored five minutes from the end, came from Robert Bailey, who deposited a penalty stroke into the back of the St David’s goal box after a Parktown penalty corner had struck a post man on the goal line.
That goal fired up the Parktown faithful, who urged their team on to find an equaliser. Buoyed, the players responded.
With two minutes left, from a penalty corner, Ryan Venter beat the first-wave runner, then slotted past the goalkeeper to make it 2-2.
It has been a season in which Parktown has shown outstanding growth, with their strong character serving them especially well in recent weeks. Saturday’s draw was the latest example of it.
“St David’s got two early goals, putting us 0-2 down for almost the whole game. They pressed well, stopping all of our outlets and forcing turnovers high up the field, which they capitalised on twice,” Reddy commented.
“I think we did well to show resilience and fight back.”
Hoërskool Monument, meanwhile, ground out a 2-1 win over Helpmekaar Kollege.
The Krugersdorp side took only five minutes to open the scoring, and they doubled their advantage in the first chukka. From there, it was an arm wrestle.
Helpmekaar found a reply in the third chukka, but there was no further give in Monument’s defence and they claimed the victory.
In Pretoria, Sebastian Prozzi‘s goal propelled St John’s College to a tight 1-0 win over Pretoria Boys High School on the PBHS Hill Astro.
It was a welcome result for the visitors who had played to a 2-2 draw with Jeppe High School for Boys last weekend. In that clash, they showed great tenacity by rallying from two goals down to level against the Aitken Cup champions.
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