15 April 2023
DHS hosted Westville on the Blue and Gold Astro for a windy Friday evening clash that had a bit of a chill in the air. But a good crowd warmed up the arena and both teams did their bit to deliver an interesting tactical battle between two well-coached outfits.
In the first half, especially, the two defences went largely unchallenged because of the success the forwards had in the press. DHS are at their most dangerous when they have the ball whistling at pace around the park, but coach Cameron Mackay’s charges managed to slow the Blue Typhoon’s ball movement.
It might, too, have been a case that DHS was a little rusty, as coach Michael Baker revealed afterwards. “I was worried coming into the game because we had the Coastal Cup and then all my boys went home, because many of them aren’t from the province, so we had only two training sessions in the build-up,” he said.
Then, within the first 15 seconds, the home team missed a gilt-edged opportunity when a Westville slip at the back gifted DHS an all-but-open shot on the goal. The connection of the stick on the ball wasn’t clean, however, and Westville breathed a collective sigh of relief.
“I was worried about our touch,” Baker said. “When the game started, I thought ‘oh no, here we go’. It’s going to be a long night. But the guys showed a bit of character.”
They needed to show character. So, too, did Westville, and both dug deep. Then, when DHS forced a penalty corner, a sharp piece of goalkeeping kept the Horseflies at bay.
It was goalless at the break. Some adjustments were needed from both sides. For DHS, this meant moves that involved two of their leading lights on the night.
Coach Baker said: “We had a couple of conversations to try and see how we could sort out their outlet passes. We had to tweak our press a bit, because they were getting a bit too much licence on the outside.
“On our outlet, I had to make one or two changes. I moved Lerou [Dithlakanyane] into the midfield and Lumi [Matwele] a bit higher, because their press was really good, and we were struggling to get through.”
Those two changes helped, but what helped more than anything else was an increase in intensity and ball speed. DHS has the ability to play the ball at superior speed. When they do, they look fantastic. Coach Baker said he tells his charges to look for the first available pass and give it. It wears out opposing teams who struggle to get near enough the man on the ball to close down the Blue Typhoon.
With those changes successfully implemented, DHS found reward in the third chukka. First, after a penetrating ball deep into the Westville circle, a scramble in front of the goal box ended with the home team finding the back of the net. Then, they went two goals clear with a penalty stroke comfortably slotted by their skipper Lerou Dithlakanyane after the ‘keeper fouled an attacker in the circle.
DHS had taken charge of the contest and it would take a special effort from Westville to fight their way back into it. The Griffin, though, are renowned for their fighting spirit and they very nearly pulled one back in the fourth stanza, creating their best chance of the game. But the slap towards goal, from near the top of the D, was just wide of goalkeeper Keelan Henry’s left-hand post.
In front of him, Lulonke Gono enjoyed a fine game in the centre of the DHS defence, keeping Westville out and distributing beautifully to give the visitors the run-around.
In the midfield, Lumi Matwele excelled under pressure, often breaking through the Westville press with some outstanding close skills. Captain Dithlakanyane, meanwhile, is a luxury any coach would love to have. With his eclectic skills, he can be moved around the park and bring solid execution and consistency to any position, along with a healthy dollop of play-making ability.
Sharing his thoughts on the game afterwards, Westville Director of Hockey, Cameron Mackay, said: “It was quite a tough game. I think we probably weren’t as competitive as we would like to be. DHS is a really good side, so I think to match their intensity for 60 minutes is quite difficult. We don’t really have the same depth to match that intensity, although we tried our best.”
That’s not to say that Westville lacks quality. They’re a good team, but DHS, at their best, are something else. And it’s pleasing to see that School knows it. The support that the 1st XI draws is enthusiastic and substantial.
Summarising the match, Mackay said: “I think our press in the first half was a lot better than in the second half. Once we got tired and got stretched, I think we ended up chasing ball rather than dictating where we wanted the ball to be played.
“So, I think that first half, once we got them to the left, and kind of isolated them to one side, we probably needed to take our chances and create a little bit more.
“In the second half, it was probably a little bit loose from both teams. We’re okay on the counter. We’re decent, and we created chances from overheads and the longer ball. I think [the boys are] better at doing that than they think. We’re trying to do it more.
“But sometimes we slow the game down when it doesn’t need to be slowed. And sometimes, like in the first half, we sped it up when it didn’t need to be sped up.”
Last words to the victorious coach, Michael Baker: “We weren’t clean tonight, if I’m honest. There were lots of turnovers. It was a bit messy. There were some key turnovers that could’ve been upgraded into better chances.”
Looking towards the coming week, he concluded: “Hopefully we get a good practice in, because we’ve got Northwood next weekend, which will be a very tough fixture.”
No kidding, the Knights were 7-0 winners over Glenwood on Friday night.
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