A young and inexperienced South African men’s hockey team showed plenty of the guts and determination they will need in spades at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Madrid next month to beat Canada 1-0 at Pretoria Technikon on Monday night.
The Canadians proved a tough opponent with their tight, uncompromising style of play, but coach Paul Revington will be pleased with his charges’ efforts on the night.
The result gives South Africa a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series.
South Africa started the match rather cautiously, allowing the Canadians far too much time on the ball and that resulted in goalkeeper Chris Hibbert having to smartly clear his line following a goal-mouth melee just minutes into the match.
Canada’s Bini Kullar then had the ‘keeper well beaten after spinning past captain Craig Jackson only to put his shot centimetres wide of the target.
It was all Canada in the first 10 minutes, but South Africa’s defence — with Jackson and young Andrew Cronje prominent — held firm in the face of some fierce onslaughts, and even managed to launch a few promising counter-attacks of their own.
As the half progressed, though, the home team slowly gained the ascendancy — four shorties to one in the opening 35 minutes — and deservedly took a one-goal lead into the break courtesy of a Greg Nicol short corner strike in the 19th minute.
After Canadian ‘keeper Mike Mahood saved the initial shot, Nicol neatly stroked the rebound into the bottom left-hand corner to the jubilation of the appreciative crowd.
And they continued to pile on the pressure at the start of the second stanza with Ian Symons, Steve Phillips and John McInroy making telling runs that created chances for their teammates.
The Canadians, however, were never out of the game and with Ravi Kahlon marshalling his troops at the back and skipper Rob Short making inroads up-front, South Africa had to fight to preserve their one-goal cushion.
In the end even a short corner to the Canadians with two minutes remaining failed to shake the South Africans’ resolve, while Hibbert was deservedly named Man of the Match for his contribution to the win.
The second Test takes place on Tuesday, starting at 7pm, and the final Test is on Thursday at 5.30pm, both at Pretoria Technikon. — Sapa