WESTVILLE Boys’ High School faced off against Glenwood Boys’ High School in the KZN Schools Indoor Hockey League U18 final recently.The mouth-watering encounter saw the top two indoor KZN hockey schools this year going head to head to take the trophy away from 2013 Champions, Northwood.
The encounter started at a furious pace with both teams clearly determined to win the coveted trophy and title. Glenwood took the initiative and opened the scoring with a well taken finish by Glenwood’s James Dellis. Both sides continued to push on and create chances in an even first half until eventually WBHS hit back with an equaliser from captain Gareth Simmonds. Glenwood were guilty of a bit of ill-discipline following the equaliser going down a player in the tight stages of the first half, but WBHS failed to capitalise on their numerical advantage bringing the half to a close deadlocked at 1-1.
The second half saw both teams trying to take control of the game. As the half wore on, both sides started to create more chances but both lacked the vital finish, with both keepers showing their class. After a swift counterattack, WBHS finally broke the deadlock grabbing a goal through Jacques Bleeker. This gave the Westville boys the edge and they looked to push for a third goal to kill the game off. WBHS could have done so after winning a stroke following a defensive mistake from Glenwood but they failed to capitalise on this chance with Bleeker’s shot going wide. This galvanised Glenwood back into shape and they pushed to try and find an equaliser in a now end to end affair.
With less than 10 minutes left WBHS turned the ball over and counterattacked with a three on two going forward. The ball was fed to Bleeker once again who made up for his earlier miss to slot home past Glenwood keeper and captain Michael Labuschagne. Glenwood came out to push for a result in the final minutes but WBHS held strong to record a great 3-1 win to become the 2014 KZN Schools’ U18 Indoor Champions.
