15 April 2023
Clifton College and Maritzburg College had seen plenty of one another in the lead-up to their hockey clash at the Riverside Sports Club on Saturday morning, with both teams recently playing five matches each in the Saint Stithian’s Easter Festival in Johannesburg, although they didn’t face one another.
In Johannesburg, Clifton won two, lost two and drew one, while College was one of only two unbeaten teams during the festival, winning three and drawing two games, including a 2-2 result against Saint Stithian’s, who beat Clifton 4-1, and a 1-1 draw with Saint Andrew’s College, who also handed Clifton a 4-1 defeat. So, easy game for College? Not so fast…
Maritzburg College controlled Saturday’s game for the first half, playing some delightful hockey, but Clifton refused to buckle, showing outstanding character to withstand the onslaught and eventually turn the match on its head after the break with a quick-strike counter-attacking goal and a penalty stroke. The memorable 2-1 victory was a historic first for the Clifton 1st XI over the Red Army.
They were led from the front by their captain Connor McKenzie, who enjoyed an excellent outing. Afterwards, he told Pinnacle Schools: “I couldn’t be prouder of the boys. We’ve trained hard for this, so many early mornings, so many training sessions, and this is a big moment in our school’s history, beating College.”
While the boys from the KwaZulu-Natal capital started out well – they maintained a beautiful platform at the back, moved the ball around the field nicely, and kept possession well – they struggled to turn that advantage into goals, which was something that coach Kyle Emerson lamented after the game.
“We were very good in the first half, but we didn’t take our opportunities. We created multiple penalty corner opportunities that we didn’t get off properly. We didn’t get enough shots on target,” he said.
They did, though, take the lead from a penalty corner, with a well-executed variation putting them ahead, which, at that stage of the game, was no less than they deserved.
Clifton, though, kept scrapping. They didn’t back down, and that was the secret to their victory, declared captain McKenzie: “We didn’t drop our heads. Obviously, we conceded first. But we stayed in the game. On our part, that’s all we can do, just do our jobs.
“We trusted in our abilities, and eventually we came right.”
In the third chukka, the play was looser, but it looked like more of the same, with College dictating play. But then Clifton caught College on the counter, and Tim Saulez found the back of the net to pull his side level. Until then, Clifton hadn’t looked likely to trouble College.
That goal, though, changed the complexion of the game, and suddenly it was College who looked a little flustered.
“In the second half, with it still being a tight scoreline, I think we panicked a bit,” College coach Emerson said. “I think we played into their hands, with their zonal press, and allowed them to turn us over, when the plan was to keep patient and move the ball.”
Clifton enjoyed some success exiting their half with the overhead through Kyle Thomas, which caused College some problems. “You can’t have a player standing on the halfway line unmarked, and a guy throwing him a high ball,” Emerson exclaimed.
When Clifton were awarded a penalty stroke for a bad tackle in the circle, it was Thomas who stepped up to take it. He had won them the game from the spot against Ashton International, and he won them the game from the spot again against College, scoring with little fuss past goalkeeper Nick Holmes, whom he sent the wrong way.
College, so impressively controlled in the first half, had lost some of their shape, and now, having to chase the game, they couldn’t find it and impose it on Clifton once more. Energised, the home team hurried and hassled the Red Army as they desperately sought an equaliser. It never came.
“You can’t put that [loss] down to tired legs, because we’re fit,” Coach Emerson commented later. “We’ve come off of two festivals, where we’ve played that hockey that moves the ball. But they turned it into a frantic game. That’s what Clifton wanted. It became too direct.
“When we move the ball, we are at our best. That’s what let us down. And Clifton did well, from their outlet. Their rotations, which we had planned for, were good, and we allowed them to get the ball into dangerous areas, so credit to them for taking their opportunities.
“They only had a couple, but they took them. A stroke does help.”
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