Dragons breathing fire
Addo outmuscled in showpiece at Randburg Astro.
The Drakensberg Dragons are the last team standing as they claimed the men’s title in the Premier Hockey League at the Randburg Astro yesterday, beating the Addo Elephants 2-0 in the final.
Nqobile Ntuli, brother of Dragons coach Sihle, was the star of the final, opening the scoring in just the third minute. He was on hand to collect a short-corner rebound, turned quickly and fired into goal, and set up the second goal in the 20th minute with a fine run, Richard Pautz slotting the ball home after goalkeeper Matthew Martins had made the initial save.
At the end of a gruelling three-weekend tournament, the Dragons kept the pace up well, especially in terms of ball-speed, in the final, most notably through the tireless Mohamed Mea, and they were in control of proceedings throughout.
The Dragons, who finished runners-up last year, are now the first team other than the Maropeng Cavemen to win the men’s title.
The women’s final, which was a repeat of the 2016 showpiece game, was even more competitive, but there were also more mistakes made as both the Blyde River Bunters and the Madikwe Rangers were unable to exert sustained pressure on their opposition.
With just a minute to go to halftime, Izelle Verster turned the defender and fired into the righthand corner of the goal to give the Bunters a 1-0 lead.
There were no more goals thereafter, with the Bunters’ lead seldom threatened thanks to the excellence of Carmen Smith at sweeper and Phumelela Mbande in goal, giving new coach Marcelle Keet a winning start to her tenure.
She took over from Lindsay Wright, who steered the Bunters to top spot in 2016.