Australia drew first blood in the Spar Challenge hockey series when they beat South Africa 2-1 in an exciting first Test played at the Randburg Hockey Stadium on Wednesday night.
The win exacted a measure of revenge for the visitors, who were beaten 4-3 in the four-Nation tournament in Athens at the weekend, and gives them a 1-0 lead in the four Test series.
The teams were locked at 1-1 at the break.
South Africa had to soak up some early pressure from the Hockeyroos, but were the first to score when captain Susan Webber drilled the ball home from a short corner variation in the eighth minute.
The home team dominated the midfield exchanges in the first half with Marsha Marescia and former skipper Lindsey Carlisle working their socks off for the cause.
In fact it was all South Africa in the opening 35 minutes, with the Australians only threatening on a few occasions.
The visitor’s goal came courtesy of an error from defender Anli Kotze, who inexplicably gifted Australian captain Katrina Powell a goal in the 15th minute. She switched the ball across the face of her goal only to pick out the diving Powell who steered the ball past a hapless Grazyna Engelbrecht in goal.
The goal against the run of play momentarily rattled South Africa, but Engelbrecht and her defenders managed to thwart the Aussies’ attacking forays.
Left back Fiona Butler and Webber made some telling tackles to deny the Olympic champions and it was not long before the home team were back on attack.
Ace striker Pietie Coetzee saw her rasping reverse-stick shot on 25 minutes cannon into the side-netting as South Africa pushed for what would have been a deserved second goal in the first stanza.
The first 15 minutes of the second period was evenly contested as both teams sought a winner, but both teams failed to convert any of their chances.
The South Africans began to tire as the half wore on and the Australians’ second goal came with a little more than 13 minutes to play.
Defender Lousie Dobson latched on to a loose ball from a penalty corner variation and smashed the ball into the goal off a despairing South African stick.
The second Test takes place at Pretoria Technikon on Thursday, starting at 7.30pm. — Sapa