Kingswood’s boys fight to draw, but girls stumble

ST ANDREW’S and Kingswood played to a goalless draw in closely contested boys’ hockey derby fixture.

The stats will show a one sided game, but both teams had chances to win the game. Kingswood will be delighted with the draw, and St Andrew’s may feel that they should have converted during the game.

The St Andrew’s boys rued missed opportunities on the night, while Kingswood defended with passion and determination.

Both teams shared possession in the first few minutes, but St Andrew’s had five circle entries.

In making those entries, St Andrew’s were awarded a second penalty corner in the 16th minute.

But the stop was not clean and Ross Vides had to fire off a quick reverse shot, which rose above the allowed height.

Aminute later, Josh Christie drove into the St Andrew’s circle, winning Kingswood’s first penalty corner.

Kingswood worked a superb variation, but could not beat Bingana Zukisa with the deflection finish.

Christie was dangerous throughout, with Brad Haller having a massive game in the midfield for Kingswood.

In some exciting play, the St Andrew’s strikers sent the ball into the circle and goalkeeper Steven Savage had to move quickly. In his dive, the ball went through his padding and ended up over the line.

St Andrew’s thought they were finally ahead, but the umpires blew a long corner, although not one of the St Andrew’s player had touched the ball in the circle.

The stats will show a one sided game, but both teams had chances to win the game.

Kingswood’s commitment to defence, though, was remarkable and the players deserve a lot of credit for their intensity and passion.

Kingswood v DSG

In a girls’ hockey encounter, a strong DSG side beat Kingswood 2-0 at DSG in Grahamstown at the weekend.

The match was a great occasion for Kingswood’s Hannah Knott-Craig and AimeeLeigh Pote, who celebrated their 100th appearances for the team.

Both were outstanding on the day and have been the backbone of Kingswood girls’ hockey for the last few years.

Charlotte Rubidge and Sandi Tabata controlled the midfield possession well for DSG and Kingswood had to soak up a lot of pressure.

DSG opened the scoring when Faye Lane sent the ball into the corner of the Kingswood goal after a frantic goalmouth scramble.

A strong DSG defence, through Storm Christie and Lenta Cullinan, kept Kingswood out of their circle for most of the half.

But Kingswood managed to finally get a few attacks going, but most were moderate.

Kingswood had their first real chance in the 23rd minute after Knott-Craig found Emma Fraser in the circle, but the shot did not trouble DSG keeper Bianca Duthie.

They had another chance in the second half.

A good run from Pote saw the ball deflect from a goalkeeper rebound, only for a shot by Fraser to be deflected onto the post and cleared by the DSG defence.

The game seemed to be evening out, before a Kingswood defensive error saw Megan Viljoen finish off a superb effort with a reverse stick shot to make it 2-0.

The statistics and DSG’s performance suggest the better team on the day won.

With DSG controlling most of the territory and possession, Kingswood were not able to convert the important chances that they did get on the counter attack.

They did, though, manage to stay in the hunt and accounted well for themselves in the second half.

DSG walked away knowing that they were full value for a hard-earned victory.