Westville down improved Michaelhouse in season-opener
The first full winter sports programme of the season pitted Westville Boys’ High against Michaelhouse in Westville on Saturday, with most of the hockey results going in the hosts’ favour.
In the clash of the 1st teams, Westville controlled the first half of their game comfortably. After some half-time adjustments, however, ‘House became progressively stronger, but Westville’s stubborn defence stood firm as the home side posted a 2-0 victory.
From the first whistle, Westville settled into a nice rhythm, with their centre-backs, captain Owen Slack and Nicholas Ackerman, controlling the tempo from the back and setting up a nice platform for the home side.
Both teams attempted to spread the field, but Westville enjoyed greater success at breaking through the press.
That brought them a number of penalty corners, but they threw away their first three opportunities, with their first two, astonishingly, being lost because the injection had happened just before the whistle had been blown by the umpire.
Nonetheless, Westville remained on top in the first half and their reward eventually came from a penalty corner, with Thabo Dlamini finding the backboard to the goalkeeper’s right.
After the break, Michaelhouse came out with a more aggressive press and put the Westville centre-backs under real pressure for the first time in the contest. That changed the complexion of the game.
“In the first half, we were pretty dominant. I think it was pretty easy for us in the beginning,” Westville coach Cam Mackay commented afterwards. “The second half was a completely different story. I think we struggled to outlet, every outlet, almost.
“Our basics were not good enough. I think they had their tails up from the beginning of the half.
“They pressed really well. They, obviously, decided to go harder and that worked quite nicely for them.”
Still, Westville found a second goal, with Caleb van Loenen doubling the hosts’ advantage five minutes into the second stanza.
“We were lucky that we scored from two PCs, which weren’t executed that well,” Mackay said.
Michaelhouse, meanwhile, forced a number of penalty corners of their own but, like Westville, they weren’t sharp.
“We’ve put a lot of work into our short corners, and that was disappointing, that we didn’t capitalise on the five or six PCs that we got,” Michaelhouse coach Nick Bérichon said. A Maritzburg College old boy, Bérichon returns to KwaZulu-Natal after a very successful spell in charge of Garsfontein.
“It feels good to be back home and back to my roots and a part of KZN hockey. KZN hockey is in really good shape at the moment. We’re hoping we can add some quality to it,” he said.
The fourth quarter belonged to Michaelhouse as they pinned Westville deep inside their half for long periods of play. “I think in that second half, kudos to them, they were better than us,” Cam Mackay reckoned.
Summing up, Nick Bérichon said: “We started really slowly. We were well off the pace in the beginning. Technically, I thought it wasn’t our best for three quarters, but we showed in the fourth quarter that, if we do string a few passes together and we get the ball inside the circle, and threaten, we can put teams under pressure.
“I’m pleased with the way we ended off.”
Coach Cam Mackay noted the improvement he saw in Michaelhouse from his counterpart, Nick Bérichon’s short time in charge of the programme. “I said to him at the end of the game there’s already a huge difference from how they played against us last year. Today was bigger and better than what they had before,” Mackay said.
Both teams face interesting games next time out, with Michaelhouse hosting Jeppe on Tuesday and Westville taking on Clifton College. Both should be good tests of the lessons they learned on Saturday.
Scores
1st: Westville 2 (Thabo Dlamini, Caleb van Loenen) Michaelhouse 0
u16A: Westville 1 Michaelhouse 1
u14A: Westville 3 Michaelhouse 1
