Bush Bucks excel in SA Tour
U17 side take 2nd in thrilling final
EAST London’s Bush Bucks Academy U17 side managed to get second position in the annual SA Sport Tours Schools’ Soccer Tournament after playing to a 2-2 draw against St Stithians College, who beat them 3-2 on penalty shootouts on Wednesday at Hamilton’s club in Selborne, East London.
The Bunkers-West Local Football Association-affiliated club played well to reach the finals, only to meet an old foe they lost to during last year’s instalment of the same tournament at St Stithians.
Bucks’ U17 coach, Chad Lee Mark Dixon, applauded his young guns and said they deserved to win, but they were killed by penalties.
“They really deserved to be the winners because they played really well and I’m very impressed by their performance.
“The games were not that difficult for us. It’s just that the boys started a bit slowly and when they picked up it was a bit too late at times.”
Dixon said his charges handled themselves well under pressure.
“The boys followed my instructions and it’s just that penetration in the final third that let us down.
“But other than that, the build-up play from the back was excellent. It’s just that the boys couldn’t more often,” said Dixon.
Owner of SA Sports Tours, Neil Lyon, said they hosted the toughest schools from Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Cape Town.
“One of the furthest schools was Kimberly Girls’ High and, obviously, it would be nice to get more and more schools. finish
“But the more we hold the competition the more exposure it gets and more schools will enter.
“I’m pretty positive that the tournament is going to grow in future.”
Lyon said schools were a lot more competitive than in previous years.
“We had our local girls’ schools, which unfortunately didn’t perform the way we would have liked but there were some very talented players out there.
“I was impressed by the competitiveness in the U19 division, because there were very few goals and that shows you how tough the games were.
“The less goals scored the more competitive the games are, so that’s good to see and the U16s were also well prepared.”
He said they were hoping the Bush Bucks Academy would win this year after reaching the finals last year.
“It’s a bit of a déjà vu because they didn’t win it but hopefully they’ll be back next year again.
“Thanks to all the people that helped us in organising this event,” he said.