Great Britain comprehensively outplayed an inexperienced South African side in the second and final men’s hockey international played at the Hartleyvale Stadium in Cape Town on Thursday.
Both teams started at a cracking pace and it was South Africa’s Ian Haley who forced the first penalty corner for the hosts in the opening minute. The chance was not converted and the British made the hosts pay when they took the lead in the 13th minute. Craig Parnham collected well to set up Martin Jones for the opening goal.
South African captain Emile Smith came close to equalising in the 21st minute after intercepting a pass and Ian Symons shot wide three minutes later as the home side pressed hard.
But South Africa’s tactics of using the long ball wasted good possession, while the visitors used the width of the field effectively. This paid off shortly before the break when Guy Fordham popped up on the far post, deflecting a free hit for the second goal.
Although the hosts showed more patience in the second half, they were outplayed by their more disciplined opponents. Haley had two glorious chances 10 minutes into the half, first shooting over the crossbar and then failing to get in a shot after dispossessing a defender from the resulting 16-yard hit.
Smith did well to intercept a pass to score South Africa’s only goal in the 53rd minute. However, his effort was straddled by goals from Michael Johnson and Fordham resulting from sloppy defence. Jones completed the scoring 10 minutes from time, deflecting in a pass from Jon Peckart.
South Africa have plenty of work ahead of them before the triangular series against Belgium and The Netherlands, which starts at the same venue on Saturday. — Sapa