Selborne hosts Dale, while Woodridge hunts three away wins
The spotlight in East London will focus on the best hockey team in town on Friday, Selborne College, who welcome Dale College to their fortress for an evening showdown.
The action, on Selborne’s main AstroTurf, takes place from 18:30.
Catch it LIVE on SuperSport Schools.
Heading into the game, the home side is favoured, and if the Dale 1st XI is not on its game, it could be a long night for the visitors.
Coach KJ Friend’s Selborne side, after starting the season extremely well, which included winning their first 15 matches, hit a few bumps, but they have recently come on strongly.
In recent weeks, they have been among the goals, regularly capitalising on the opportunities they have created, and their defence has been sound.
When last they met Dale, in Qonce, Selborne ran rampant against coach Junior Mqingwana‘s side, scoring a mammoth 10 goals, while conceding one to record a one-sided 10-1 victory.
In that clash, it was one-way traffic, with Selborne in the ascendency from the get-go. Their skipper, Tre’ Gilbert scored four times, while Jaques van der Merwe racked up a pair. Kungothando Macanda, Daniel Conroy, Waeden Plaatjes, and Daniel Sirgel completed the drubbing.
Since then, Selborne has won every game they have played, barring a 1-1 draw with St Andrew’s College late in May.
In the third term alone, they have scored 26 goals in only three matches, with 14 of those coming against Cambridge High, while they also overran Hudson Park and Queen’s College by 6-1 margins.
Selborne possesses several goal-scoring threats, including Gilbert, who has been joined on the scoring sheet of late by Thomas Caswell, Jaques van der Merwe and Daniel Sirgel.
At stake for the East London school is its unbeaten status in the Border region this year.
Despite their big loss against Selborne, Dale’s season has raised optimism about the school’s hockey programme. The improvements over 2023 have been clear as day and they’ve employed a more attractive and effective style of play.
Under the leadership of coach Mqingwana, Dale has picked up some big wins, including beating Graeme College and handing their great rivals Queen’s a loss on the Komani school’s Reunion Day.
In recent weeks, however, they’ve found themselves on the wrong end of a number of one-goal losses. They went down 0-1 against Kingswood before losing 2-3 against Stirling and, last week, they let the game slip in the fourth chukka, losing 1-2 against St Andrew’s College in Makhanda.
The task of dethroning Selborne will be a mammoth one, but stranger things have happened in schoolboy hockey, and Dale will be upset-minded.
If they’re to pull off a shock result, they’ll need players like Sonwabiso Dyani, Gavin Walton, their skipper Sibongile Nzima, and their goalkeeper Libhongo Mgijima, to bring their A-game.
Meanwhile, Woodridge College visits East London for a weekend full of hockey, during which they will Hudson Park, Merrifield College, and Stirling High respectively.
They are scheduled to play Merrifield on Friday at 16:00 before facing Hudson Park the following day at 15:00. On Sunday, they tackle Stirling High at 10:00.
Stirling High, meanwhile, takes on Cambridge High on Friday, while Queen’s College plays Merrifield on Saturday.
FIXTURES
Friday, 26 July
15:30 – Hudson Park vs Framesby
16:00 – Merrifield vs Woodridge College
18:00 – Cambridge High vs Stirling High
18:30 – Selborne College vs Dale College
Saturday, 27 July
10:00 – Merrifield vs Queen’s College
15:00 – Hudson Park vs Woodridge College
