The South African women’s hockey team booked their place in Saturday’s final of the four-nation Spar Cup after beating Scotland 2-1 in Durban on Wednesday night.
The home side didn’t have an easy time of it, though, and had to come back from a 1-0 deficit.
The first half saw South Africa dominating in terms of both possession and territory, but it was the Scots who scored first. They earned themselves a penalty corner in the 12th minute and executed a variation that seemed to have the South African defenders completely baffled.
This gave the unchallenged Alison Rowett a chance to take her time in taking the shot, which eventually went through South African goalkeeper Caroline Jack’s legs to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
The pressure seemed to ease off the South African defence as the second half wore on. With just four minutes to go until the break, South Africa were awarded their first penalty corner, and what seemed to have been a botched attempt was converted into a goal as Kathleen Taylor deflected a shot from Tarryn Bright into the back of the net for the equaliser. The sides went to the break level on 1-1.
Bright was again involved in South Africa’s second goal of the match, which came off their third penalty corner. The initial shot went from Bright to captain Lindsey Carlisle, back to Bright and then to Jen Wilson, who slotted it into the box for the 2-1 lead with 10 minutes to go.
There were some more tense moments for the Scots in the dying minutes of the game, which had the large Durban crowd fired up. Henna du Buisson had a great chance to extend the lead with seven-and-a-half to go and the South African side were awarded another penalty corner with six minutes to go, but neither of these led to a change in the scoreline.
”In their midfield they were tougher than our players anticipated, I think, so that took a bit of adjustment,” said South African coach Jenny King afterwards. ”But once we made the adjustments, from the last 15 minutes of the first half, we really dominated.”
Vice-captain Marsha Marescia added: ”I think at beginning there was some unexpected pressure from them. But we have a young team and I think it showed a lot of character to fight back and dominate until the dying minutes of the game. We really wanted to get another one in the end, but unfortunately there are only 35 minutes in a half and so we didn’t manage to.”
Commenting on who they would rather face in Saturday’s final, Marescia added: ”Either way it’s going to be a tough game. Azerbaijan are a bit more unpredictable. And we’ve played Scotland quite a bit before, so we can adapt more to their style.
”I think tonight showed that a game against Scotland would be more entertaining for the crowd. If we play them in a tough final and beat them convincingly, it’s going to be a big boost going into the Commonwealth Games.”
The South Africans’ opposition will be decided by Thursday’s clash between Scotland and Azerbaijan at 4pm.
In the earlier match of the day on Wednesday, Azerbaijan scored their first victory of the tournament by beating Ireland 2-1. The Azeris were first to score when Zarifahon Zeynalova slotted one in the 19th minute.
Clare Parkhill equalised for the Irish when she deflected one in off a penalty corner in the 51st, but then Azerbaijan, who had both their captain and vice-captain sent off in the space of one minute in the second half, came back with another goal. It was captain Zeynab Nuriyeva who scored, from a field goal in the 61st, just three minutes before receiving her yellow card.
Apart from the Scotland vs Azerbaijan clash at 4pm, Thursday’s Spar Cup fixtures will see the South Africans playing Ireland at 6pm. — Sapa