DHS edges Northwood in thriller, Michaelhouse wins at home
Durban High School (DHS) made their home crowd happy with a 2-1 win over Northwood when they crossed swords at DHS on Saturday morning.
In Balgowan, Michaelhouse registered a 2-0 win over Clifton College.
“We often get distracted in trying to do all the options. Recently, I have been telling the boys to pick the best option in front of them,” Keegan Hezlett, the DHS coach, told Supersport Schools Plus after the match.
Against Northwood, DHS wasn’t distracted by a buffet of options. They knew what they wanted to achieve and chose what they felt was the best course.
One of those paths was a high press when Northwood had the ball in their half. The other was to make enterprising runs down the left flank, which was interesting, because Northwood wanted School to play down the left, and thus on the Knights‘ strong stick side.
One of the DHS presses caused a turnover in the Northwood final third and the hosts bisected the Northwood defence with precise passes before Tariq Cloete fired the ball into the back of the net from close to the penalty spot with less than five minutes left in the first chukka.
The Knights had started the game a little flatfooted, coming off a tough schedule at the KES Easter Festival last week and their matric dance the evening before the encounter. Gradually, though, they worked their way into the contest, upping their intensity. It was a typical DHS vs Northwood clash – a hard-fought, all-out effort, with little to choose between the sides.
Through the next two chukkas, the game ebbed and flowed, with School having better success at penetrating deep into Northwood’s territory, but the visitors stood firm and kept them at bay, led by a composed performance from their skipper Kyle White.
“We created many opportunities. I think we managed to play the ball against the grain. Everyone running to the front was able to find that middle player and it helped with creating space,” Hezlett said of his team’s efforts.
Three minutes into the final quarter, DHS converted one of those opportunities, from a counterattack, into a goal, with captain Josh Mungherera tapping in from an inviting pass.
Their two-goal lead lasted only five minutes. Northwood is never more dangerous than when they are down and they hit back hard at DHS, looking more like the side that went unbeaten at KES. Coach Justin Collins’ side launched persistent attacks on the DHS goal and made the game more interesting when Ryan Herselman scored with eight minutes remaining.
“I think our big thing is not having consistency,” Collins reflected on his team’s performance afterwards. “We want our practice intensity to match the game intensity.”
Northwood works on ramping up their intensity as the game progresses during training and they stayed true to that in Saturday’s game. However, it wasn’t quite enough and they went down 1-2 in the end.
In the KZN Midlands, Michaelhouse was clinical in their 2-0 win over Clifton. Coach Nick Bérichon‘s side was patient, building from the back, and their accurate passing enabled them to find spaces that led to Clifton’s circle.
Early on, they made several entries into the Clifton D and could have taken the lead but were denied by Clifton’s goalkeeper, Georg Wolhuter, who stood rock-solid between the posts.
In the second chukka, the Durban side appeared invigorated and they launched an attack deep into the Michaelhouse half. However, when they were turned over, ‘House countered down the left flank, quickly switched play to the right, and then made a circle entry on the right baseline before tucking a pass under the shoulder, which led to a well-taken strike that flew past Wolhuter high into the left corner.
Clifton gave as good as they got as the teams headed into the final chukka separated by a goal. With four minutes remaining, though, Michaelhouse made sure of victory by converting a penalty corner to run out 2-0 winners.
RESULTS
DHS 2-1 Northwood
Michaelhouse 2-0 Clifton
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