Williamson and Rajah bag hat-tricks in Clifton’s draw with St Charles
Clifton College’s captain, Zach Williamson, and St Charles College‘s Rowen Rajah sparkled brightly, netting hat-tricks in an eight-goal thriller featuring the two sides at St Charles on Saturday morning.
The sides shared the spoils in an enthralling 4-4 draw in Pietermaritzburg.
Aside from the hattrick heroes, Tristan Smith scored for Clifton and Blake Francis added another for St Charles.
Clifton entered the contest after drawing 2-2 draw away at St David’s Marist Inanda the previous weekend.
For most of the contest, the Durban school had to play catch-up, but Williamson wouldn’t let them lose.
As they did against St David’s, Clifton came from behind to force a draw.
“It took us a while to get into the game but once we did, we moved the ball nicely,” Calvin Price, the Clifton coach, told Supersport Schools Plus.
“We fell behind because we let in some silly goals. Credit to Matt Coombes and his boys. They came out with a game plan, and it worked nicely for them.”
St Charles took advantage of Clifton’s slow start and put the visitors under pressure. Their sustained excursions into the Clifton final third won the hosts a penalty corner early in the first chukka, and Coombes’ charges made no mistake as Rajah converted to give the home team the lead.
Five minutes in the second chukka, Williamson struck for the first time from a penalty corner to level the scores.
Saints quickly responded, with Rajah slotting another penalty corner to edge them 2-1 ahead, just two minutes after Williamson’s equaliser.
Having found their footing, Clifton dialled up the pressure on St Charles and their excursions won them a penalty corner six minutes into the third chukka. As he had done earlier, Williamson unfurled an outstanding drag flick to beat the St Charles goalkeeper and make it 2-2.
Williamson had a hot hand, and his drag flicks had plenty of zip on them. Within two minutes, he had unfurled another classy flick into the Saints’ net from the set piece to complete his hattrick while also giving the visitors the lead for the first time in the contest.
Both teams had their penalty corner routines humming and the score became 3-3 when St Charles struck again with another Rajah penalty corner conversion.
In the final chukka, St Charles appeared to be on the path to victory when they took the lead with a well-worked field goal through the left channel after six minutes, with Francis providing the finish. Clifton, though, had not travelled to St Charles to be handed a defeat.
The visitors retained the ball well when they attacked and pressed well when out of possession. Then, with just four minutes remaining in the contest, David Rea forced a turnover close to the Saints’ 23-metre line. Showing off some excellent close skills, Rea weaved his way past a couple of defenders before laying off to Bryon Ward, who fed Tristan Smith, and he scored levelled.
RESULT
St Charles College 4-4 Clifton College
