LADIES
LGC (1st team) vs Central: 0 – 1 loss
LTC (2nd team) vs Kuils River: 1 – 3 loss
The LTC ladies were very keen to meet their first opponents in the playoff fixtures, Kuils River. Having beaten them the first game of the season and going in with a strategy to make their best player ineffective, we were confident of a good result. Unfortunately, we got turned around by said best player and she scored within the first five minutes. Thereafter, we dominated possession and territory, but failed to put the ball in the box numerous times even though we had good opportunities. Tarryn Gilchrist equalised about ten minutes before half time, and we knew that we could pull off a win. The second half started much like the first, with Kuils River getting in behind us and regaining their lead 2 – 1. Frustration ran high due to the players having to tell the ref (not ours) what to blow because he didn’t know what he was doing, and we lost concentration. Although we still had a lot of possession and territory, we were unable to score again. Many thanks to Morgan Poole, who stepped in for Coach Craig, to Mel Grant for umpiring and not sending any of us off, and to Cindy Dyamond for filling in for us in goals. Lots to work on ladies, but there are still games to be won.
– Helen West
L2 A (3rd team) vs Pinelands B (4th team): 1 – 4 loss
Pre-played on Thursday 5/8. A lekker snot-klap! Shannon put us up early with a slick little reverse stick that wrong-footed their defence. Thereafter, Mel and her team were on their toes, and two top net saves must have earned Mel the “Player of the Match”. Our defensive shorties let us down and Ninja Nadya drove the final nail in the coffin with a captured long ball which she slid past Charne. Despite us dominating in the second half, their structure, disclipline and experience defied our best efforts. Bloody frustrating all around!
– Lara Valstar
L2 B (4th team) (Masters) vs Pinelands A (3rd team): 4 – 1 win
Pre-played on Thursday 5/8. The L2 derby between the Pinelands 3rds and Masters was held at Hartleyvale. The 1st and 2nd side kindly agreed to swap practice times so the game could be played at 19h00 instead of 18h00, thanks to them. The masters wore their traditional lumo colours for this mighty clash. Shar “The Strategist” Kruger missed the game as she was away on the Masters Provincial Tour. Cindy “Super Sub” Dyamond willingly took the opportunity to watch the game from the back. The game was not a walk-over as the result suggests. Mel pulled off a couple of brilliant saves to deny the 3rds, there were some desperate tackles and the ball sailed inches past the “wrong” side of the upright for the 3rds. Hard luck and well played – you have come a long way since the start of the season. OK enough about them. It’s great to get bonus points again. A magnificent team effort! The masters as a whole played very well. As a team we worked well as a unit, tried to execute all the moves and techniques we have been taught. We created many opportunities which were well finished by Careen on three occasions and once by Nadya. Nadya’s goal was a result of a perfectly timed/weighted pass down the centre of the pitch by Mach “Play Wide” Hoben and was picked up by Nadya (when we all thought she was not going to) and gently stroked over the line. Careen “The Goal Scoring Machine” Mc Kinon played with complete composure and netted two short corner goals and one field goal. A great team effort and a well deserved beer was enjoyed afterwards. Our next game will be a tough one, hopefully we can continue our good form.
– Cindy Dyamond
L4 (5th team) vs Café Del Mar: 0 – 3 loss
We had a bit of a wobbly start to say the least! At 3pm kick-off, we only had eight girls! Two of the school girls arrived a bit late, but finally rocked up and helped us out! One of our spectators, CJ, beautifully dressed, got kitted out and played the entire game for us (bear in mind that she hasn’t touched a stick since school days)! Thanks so much, wouldn’t have been able to do it without you! It was a tough game, as Café del Mar have loads of experience, big mouths and plenty skill, but we held them off as best as we could! We had beautiful passes and a few chances to score even, but couldn’t convert. All in all, we had a good game, never mind the score – and of course had mini fines afterwards… And made Liam blush plenty! We look forward to the next game!
– Tanya Joubert
L5 (6th team) vs Bellville: 3 – 1 win
The L5 team played superbly well at home on Saturday, beating Bellville A 3 – 1 (a team we lost 10 – 1 to in the first half of the season). Alison Smith scoring a hat trick, proving that having someone on the far post really does work! Our team work was excellent and we made the most of our scoring opportunities. The defence was solid and we were lucky to have the fantastic goal keeping abilities of Lara Valstar!
– Alison Smith
The last time these two sides met it was a 10 – 1 drubbing and I think the girls were slightly apprehensive of what might happen again. However, they soon realised that grass hockey is different to astro hockey and they stormed into an early lead. Once again this side has impressed me with their ability to play as a relatively well co-ordinated team despite many players playing out of position or with completely new team mates for the first time! The fact that you managed to push on from your early lead into an even stronger position was great to see and you completely deserved your 3 – 1 victory. Well done, you have put in the effort at practices lately and the rewards are starting to show!
– Liam Bell
MEN
MGC (1st team) vs WPCC A: 4 – 1 win
Then mid-season break would appear to have been kind to us. This week we followed up a great win over log leaders UCT 3 – 2 with a most pleasing bonus point victory over WPCC A 4 – 1. A true-to-history tussle between two historic clubs. After going into the break with a 2 – 0 lead the boys where forced to sap up a huge amount of pressure as the Province boys through everything bar their keeper at us. In the end, however, we made the most of the opportunities that we were able to create through hard running excellent leading and fine finishing. A great team performance with everyone giving their all once again. On a side note: with the Smiths leaving us, Oz and Priscilla now have bragging rights over Chris for life!
– Morgan Poole
MTC A (2nd team) vs Fish Hoek: 2 – 3 loss
MTC B (3rd team) vs Constantiaberg: 2 – 2 draw
After a very slow start to the first half we went into the break 2 – 0 down. Some positional changes and a hungrier team ethos in the second half meant we produced a strong fight back and played much better hockey. Though the final score was 2 – 2, we were the far more dominant team on the balance of things and it’s about time we sorted out our inability to finish off good opportunities! That being said our two goals were clinical in their execution.
– Liam Bell
M2 A (4th team) vs Van Der Stel: 3 – 0 win
The team played superbly, giving Van Der Stel next to almost no chance to do anything. Everyone marked tightly, ran into space as needed and called well, and the Pinelands game just flowed. From Andrew Savage: “definitely the best game we’ve played all season”. Goals scored by Andrew, Jarrod and Kyle.
– Marc Pelteret
M2 B (5th team) vs X: game postponed
M3 (6th team) vs VOB: 2 – 3 loss
A good game in which we didn’t use our opportunities – almost everyone in the offence chose to have a reverse stick shot at goals instead of laying it off to a free man’s strong stick. Highlight of the game: a bully arising from Sean Dale running into the posts – and knocking them over! Been a while since I’ve seen either of those events happen…
– Marc Pelteret
M4 (7th team) (Mighty Dodo’s) vs WPCC: 0 – 2 loss
Once again missing our committed keeper, Petal was forced to play in goals. Unfortunately, this time two soft goals were conceded due in part to defensive errors and just plain poor keeping… However, given we had more opportunities and failed to convert a single one, we never stood a chance. A two duck loss certainly wasn’t a true reflection of the game. Thanks to Savage for helping us out as ref! Dodo of the Day – Al Capon.
– Matthew “Petal” Le Grange
M5 (8th team) vs Durbanville: 0 – 4 loss
A 0 – 4 defeat snuck up on to us and we were unable to reverse it, once detected!
– Steve Sollinger
M6 (9th team) vs Vredenburg/Saldanha: 1 – 2 loss
Good match. We should have scored a number of times in the first half, but we changed sides with score at nil – nil. Stephan Young scored a great field goal early into the second half, but Saldanha replied with “soft” goal, and then sealed the game with a good field goal. We had a number of chances to equalize, but “lady luck” was not shining.
– Geoff Croxford
Masters A: no game (away on tour)
Masters B (Wynspan): no game (away on tour)
