Queen’s College will take plenty of lessons from 2025 season
Queen’s College first-team hockey coach Michael Baiden was full of praise for his side after they defeated their arch-rivals Dale College 2-0 in Komani.
Playing in front of their passionate home supporters on the Chris Harker AstroTurf, Queen’s sealed a deserved win last Thursday.
It was an encouraging way to end a challenging and demanding season for the Queenians, with Asi Vena netting a brace to see the home side to victory.
“It was good to end off the season on a high by beating Dale,” coach Baiden told SuperSport Schools Plus.
“As everyone knows, Dale is always a tricky fixture. Last year, we played them in the final fixture of the year, and in a closely contested game, we went down.
“There were some tricky umpiring calls that didn’t go our way, and we ended up losing that game.
“The boys were also very happy to end the season on a high after a shaky start to the second half of the season.”
In 2024, Queen’s had a tough time of it against their rivals from Qonce. In their first meeting, in April, they lost 2-3 at home on Reunion Day before going down 0-1 in their final match of the season.
They turned that around in 2025 and defeated Dale 4-2 in their first meeting before closing out their season with another win over their great rivals.
Coach Baiden explained how they did it. “For us, Dale is one of our biggest rivals, and our challenge in the past was that the boys played the event instead of the hockey match,” he said. “This time around, the boys were focused on getting the job done and focused on what they can control, instead of the event.
“The boys and coaching staff also focused on what we are capable of doing and trusted the process. We were disciplined in how we went about things, even though Dale was quite resilient and tough in their approach, but we were able to absorb the pressure and not concede any early goals.”
Baiden was also pleased with his side’s performances this season, despite some results not going their way.
“Results aren’t everything, but there were standout moments we had this year, especially at festivals. We ended up having good results compared to previous years.
“We had a draw on the road vs Kearsney College, who are a top side at the Founders Festival. At that same event, we lost some games where I thought we played immense hockey, going down against Northwood School and beating Parktown Boys’ High 2-0.
“But the standout performance was being 0-3 down against St David’s Marist Inanda and coming back to draw 3-3.
“The wins against Dale, home and away, beating Hudson Park, and being able to win our local derbies were also great.”
Queen’s College will only lose four players from the 2025 1st team squad, so much is expected from them in 2026.
Coach Baiden, along with his backroom staff and Director of Hockey, Siya Lusiba, has built a solid foundation, and now it’s time for their hard work to start paying off.
