Beaulieu’s big win

The Beaulieu men’s A team dominated Jeppe A to win 7–1 on 11 April giving Beaulieu two wins from two as the Southern Gauteng Hockey Association League kicked off.

The first 15-minute chukka saw a penalty stroke awarded to Jeppe for an illegal tackle by a Beaulieu defender four minutes into the game. Beaulieu’s keeper Sizwe Mthembu was unable to save Craig Templeton’s penalty to give Jeppe a 1–0 lead. Two minutes later, former South African player Julian Hykes equalised for Beaulieu via a penalty corner.

In the second chukka, another penalty corner was awarded to Beaulieu and Dalpiarro Langford extended his team’s lead to 2–1. Seconds later, a foul by Jeppe goalkeeper Brandon Erasmus on Langford saw Erasmus sent off for five minutes. Beaulieu made good use of the numerical advantage with goals from captain Jesse Salo and defender Armand Scorgie.

In the third chukka, Beaulieu extended their lead to 5–1 with a goal from the experienced Hykes. In the last 15 minutes, Kaveshan Karanukaram replaced Mthembu as keeper for Beaulieu and the former pulled off some brilliant saves for his side.

Six minutes into the last chukka, Keanan Wax extended Beaulieu’s lead to 6–1 and with a a minute left on the clock, Hykes completed his hat-trick for the 7–1 victory.

Alistair Fredericks applauded his side’s performance against the strong Jeppe side, and named Salo, Hykes and young midfielder Jamie Seale as his standout players of the game.

He said, “From a defensive perspective, we are getting better. Going forward, the team is showing that we are a very good counter-attacking side with good outcomes, in either shots on target, short corners or scoring goals.

“This team has the ability to slowly wear down teams. We really turned the screws and put pressure on the guys in the last chukka because you become too tired to defend, then we create overlaps in terms of going forward.”

The Beaulieu team is set to face Morningside Country Club on 18 April in their next fixture.