A two-all draw saw the senior men of the Beaulieu Hockey Academy place second in the Gauteng Cup after their match against the University of Pretoria (Tuks) on 29 February.
The match was set to be an interesting affair with the home side (Tuks) placed first on the log after two wins, and Beaulieu in second place with a win and a draw next to their name.
Beaulieu coach, Allistar Fredericks was correct when he said, ‘this match will definitely be a cracker’ while his team were warming up.
The first chukka started with a penalty corner being awarded to Beaulieu two minutes in. Armand Scorgie secured the early lead for his team. Fredricks screamed at his players to get into different positions as the first 12 minutes of the match showed incredible intensity from both sides. With one minute left, another penalty was awarded to Beaulieu, but the attempt was short-lived as it was cleared.
Continuing into chukka number two, the heavy pressure and concentration could be felt by spectators but the chukka went goalless.
Half-time came and went, and spectators were ready for an enthralling second half. It came from Tuks player Trevor de Lora in the form of a field goal to equalise the scoreboard. Another two minutes into the third chukka, Beaulieu was awarded another short corner. Due to three different faults, the short corner was taken three times, but this did not bother the scorers as each team still had one goal each. The chukka ended quickly, with either side still in search of a goal to get ahead.
The final chukka began, and a short corner was awarded to Beaulieu three minutes in but they weren’t able to take the lead. With more green cards and slight injury in the chukka, things were getting heated fast on the cold and grey morning in Pretoria.
Things heated up even more when Tuks managed to gain a lead after scoring a short corner with minutes left. Tuks’ Guy Morgan found the back of the net to put Tuks up 2–1. Another final minute thriller came in the form of a short corner as it looked like the writing was on the wall for the Beaulieu team. Beaulieu set up for a short corner with 57 seconds left.
Once again, the experienced Julian Hykes came through for his team, scoring to equalise the game.
At the end of the match, Hykes said, “It was a good game. We had chances, they had chances. So we played okay since they’re a very good side.”
With Tuks winning one more match than Beaulieu, they stay at the top of the log. Both Pool B teams advance to the semi-finals to take place at Beaulieu College.
Old Albanians and Crusaders from Pool A also advancing to the semi-finals.
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