The South African men’s hockey team bounced back from Monday’s embarrassing 8-0 defeat to England to draw 2-2 with Ireland in the first Test at the Tshwane University of Technology on Tuesday night.
But there was still disappointment as the South Africans squandered what looked to be a match-winning 2-0 lead.
The drawn result means that with just one match to go, the series decider will be played on Thursday night.
The first half of Tuesday’s match was slow and uneventful. The sides shared possession and had their chances, but nothing looked too convincing.
The goalkeepers were brought into action when each side had their share of penalty corners, but by the break the two teams were still level on 0-0.
The second half saw the South Africans earning an early penalty corner, which Ian Symons duly converted to give his side a 1-0 lead by the 41st minute.
Thornton McDade then took the South African side further ahead when his reverse stick shot found the back of the net with 17 minutes to go.
Ireland were not to be outdone, however, and came back with two field goals in quick succession. The first came from Mark Gleghome, in the 58th minute, and the second from Mark Irwin, five minutes later.
South Africa had a last-gasp opportunity to take the win, being awarded two penalty corners in the final minute, but both were kept out and the scores remained level.
”After an 8-0 defeat you can really plummet, so it’s great that the series is still alive,” said South African coach Paul Revington afterwards.
”It is disappointing that we were 2-0 up and should have actually won, though,” he added. ”But we want the series win and our first win of 2006, so the guys are going to be going all out to get that.”
In the other match of the day, England easily overcame Australian state team New South Wales, beating them 7-0 in their first encounter.
South Africa will play Ireland in the second and final Test at the Tshwane University of Technology on Thursday night at 6pm. — Sapa