Close match for Beaulieu
BEAULIEU – A late string of goals from Beaulieu saw them go 4–3 down to a strong Wanderers team.
The young Beaulieu B team impressed in their match against an experienced Wanderers B side on 29 May.
Both teams started with strong defences until the last two minutes of the first chukka when Wanderers’ Stuart Phillip put the ball past Beaulieu goalkeeper Tshedza Rasalanavho to put his team ahead.
In the second chukka, two short corners were awarded to Beaulieu but were defended well by Wanderers. Shortly after, Liam Billet put Wanderers ahead 2–0.
In the third chukka, Beaulieu was unable to get onto the scoreboard after being awarded another penalty corner. Wanderers capitalised and went 3–0 up when Alridge Louw scored after Beaulieu failed to clear their lines after a penalty corner.
The last chukka saw a strong fight back from Beaulieu with Joshua Williams scoring from a penalty corner three minutes in. Another corner for Beaulieu was missed and Wanderers extended their lead to 4–1 thanks to Callum Smith.
With four minutes left, young Nashaan Hykes and Landru Scorgie of Beaulieu scored to make it a tight finish at 4–3. However, Wanderers held their nerve to walk away 4–3 winners.
Wanderers coach Patrick Owgan said the second and third chukka ticked all the boxes and believed the game should have been over at the end of the third chukka.
Owgan said, “If we took our chances in those quarters more, we would not have had the mess at the end. The first quarter was us trying to find ourselves and the fourth was very messy and a little tighter than it should have been. Stuart [Phillip] and Ricky West in the midfield really stood out and pressed hard. We won the ball a lot in the midfield thanks to them.”
Beaulieu coach Reza Rosenberg said the match was always going to be a tough one due to the experience of the opposition. “Overall it was a good game and great experience for the youngsters in our team. Wanderers B had a few well-known experienced guys such as Ricky West and Alridge Louw, and it proved just to be that with Wanderers taking the three goals in the first two chukkas,” he said.
“[Beaulieu] players such as Joshua Williams and Ruwaan Nelson stepped up by showing some fantastic individual skills and creating good opportunities for the team,” Rosenberg concluded.
