SuperSport Schools Plus

Selborne domination continues, Stirling hit their stride

By Avuyile Sawula , in Hockey | Featured Hockey | News , at 2024-07-28 Tags: , , ,

Selborne College's Waeden Plaatjies earned his 50th cap for his school in their 7-0 win against Dale College on Friday night. Photo: Shot by Shani Photography
Selborne College’s Waeden Plaatjes earned his 50th cap for his school in their 7-0 win against Dale College on Friday night. Photo: Shot by Shani Photography

Selborne College captain Tre’ Gilbert said he’s pleased with how his side has conducted itself during the second half of the schoolboy hockey season in the Eastern Cape.

His comment came after Selborne scored an emphatic win on Friday night in East London, thumping Dale College 7-0.

Gilbert led from the front, scoring four goals, including three from penalty corner drag flicks. Daniel Conroy, Daniel Sirgel, and Waeden Plaatjes also netted.

The one-sided win meant Selborne continued its unbeaten run in the Border region this season. Only once have they lost at home. That defeat came in April, against Grey College, who won 5-2 to bring an end to Selborne’s unbeaten start to the season.

Since the beginning of the third term, they’ve made light work of every opponent they’ve faced. They’ve scored freely, conceded few goals, and produced high quality hockey week in and week out.

In their first match of the term, they cantered to a 6-1 win over Hudson Park. A week later, they travelled to Komani to face Queen’s College, who had held Selborne to a 1-1 draw when the teams met in East London earlier in the season. The second time around, the East London boys ran out 6-1 winners.

Before their meeting with Dale, Selborne took on Cambridge High School during the week. They had won 6-0 when the teams met for a first time. In their second meeting, coach KJ Friend‘s side more than doubled that score, striking 14 times without reply to set themselves up nicely for their clash with Dale.

It was business as usual against the Dalians. Selborne dominated the opening two chukkas to take a comfortable 4-0 lead into halftime. Their goalkeeper Nathan Amos-Brown was a spectator for most of the match, with the action happening in the opposition’s half.

Three more goals in the second half made it 7-0. “We’ve had a great third term as a team,” Gilbert told SuperSport Schools Plus.

“Our goal-scoring ability has taken off. The past four games, we’ve scored 33 times and we’re really in a great space as a team going into our clash against Grey High.”

The highly anticipated Eastern Cape battle between Selborne and Gqeberha’s Grey High will be the last match for both teams this season.

It’ll be a showdown between two sides that have enjoyed massive success this year, and it will also be about the leading teams in the region duelling for bragging rights.

Gilbert said Selborne is expecting a tough tussle against their rivals. “We’re coming into the Grey game with some confidence, but nothing is guaranteed in schoolboy hockey.

“All we know is that we will go into the game with the perspective of playing our style of hockey.

“We have massive respect for our opponents as they are [ranked] third in the country, so we expect an exciting finale to the season,” he concluded.

Other matches

Also in East London, Stirling High School recorded two wins over the weekend, beating Cambridge High 2-1 on Friday night, before claiming the scalp of Woodridge College on Sunday, with a 3-0 victory.

Against Cambridge, a Chad Clark-Evans brace sealed the win, while Josh Williams scored twice against Woodridge, and Jaren Marillier added his name to the score sheet.

After beating Framesby 3-0 on Friday night, Hudson Park suffered a hefty 2-5 defeat to the same Woodridge College on Saturday.

Meanwhile, in Komani, Queen’s College returned to winning ways with a 3-0 defeat of Merrifield College on Saturday.

RESULTS

Merrifield 1-1 Woodridge College
Selborne College 7-0 Dale College
Stirling High School 2-1 Cambridge
Hudson Park 3-0 Framesby
Merrifield 0-3 Queen’s College
Hudson Park 2-5 Woodridge
Stirling High 3-0 Woodridge College

Avuyile Sawula
error: Sorry ol' chap, those shenanigans are not permissible.