Pretoria Boys High stun KES as Affies holds Jeppe to a draw
Pretoria Boys High had a shock in store for King Edward VII (KES) on Saturday in Pretoria, stunning the visitors from Johannesburg 4-0 in their showdown on the Astro.
Boys High had suffered a narrow 0-1 loss to Maritzburg College in Pietermaritzburg last weekend, but back at home they found the finishes that were lacking against College.
It took them only five minutes to open the scoring and, from then on, they added a further goal in each of the remaining chukkas. KES battled hard and, although the winning margin was big, Boys High had to work hard for their win.
Earlier in the season, Boys High had beaten Jeppe 1-0, but the Zebras were in Pretoria feeling confident ahead of their clash with Affies after goals from Ezray Stadt, Ben Benjamin and Tumiso Kameel had helped them to a 3-1 win over Westville a week earlier.
Jeppe has largely owned their hockey rivalry with Affies. However, the bigger challenge they faced, which has plagued them throughout the 2024 season, was consistency. They’ve struggled to string results together and that hurt them again on Saturday.
The schools played to a 2-2 draw, which was notable because it was the first time they had shared the spoils since they started an annual derby day in 2008.
It was a big improvement for Affies, who were blown away 8-0 by a very good Jeppe side in 2023.
The talent is there, but the consistency is still lacking for coach Siya Sityana and Jeppe and they continue to work towards attaining it. Affies, considering their historical lack of success against Jeppe, will take heart from the draw.
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