Beaulieu Academy strikes back to win the match
BEAULIEU – Former South African player Julian Hykes again put his team in the winning position by scoring four goals for Beaulieu to overcome Old Eds in the SGHA league.
The Beaulieu Hockey Academy men’s A-side came back to beat a strong Old Eds side on September 12.
In the first round of the Southern Gauteng Hockey Association (SGHA) league, Old Eds came out on top against Beaulieu by beating them 4–2 at Randburg Astro in June. The score was mirrored by the home side in the second round of the league.
Both teams showed many chances at goal through the first 15 minutes. With seven minutes elapsed, good passes between the forwards to striker Julian Hykes put Beualieu ahead early.
An increase in tension throughout the chukka brought a penalty corner for Old Eds with two minutes left.
Beaulieu goalie Sizwe Mthembu was sent off for a foul, and Kaveshan Karunakaram came in his place for the rest of the chukka. Old Eds forward Dylan Swanepoel levelled the score sheet after scoring the corner.
The second chukka brought another early goal for the home side. Midfielder Reza Rosenberg had a shot at goal saved by Old Eds goalie Matt Roos, but rebounded to Hykes for a clear shot on target.
The rest of the second chukka again had a number of chances to score, with a penalty corner awarded to Old Eds that narrowly missed the goal.
Beaulieu was not able to capitalise on the visitors being two players off the field to score as halftime was called.
The start of the third chukka saw another goal for Beaulieu from Hykes, thanks to Marvin Simons and Sanele Mchunu short passes.
With 15 minutes left in the match, Old Ed were still searching for another goal. They were able to score with the penalty stroke with three minutes left.
Swanepoel scored as the ball went to the left of Mthembu. Within seconds, the visitors were awarded a corner that was well defended by Beaulieu. The home bench cheered as they won 4–2.
Anthony Davies, Old Eds coach, said not having a number of players available to play on the day was a factor for the day’s loss, but still commended players Rayner Yorke and Joshua Beehan for their
efforts on the field.
“We’re not super happy with the result since we are also in the top three of the league and wanted to win. We struggled with the counter attack and turnovers. We could have been a little more patient with the ball. But we definitely want to win the remainder of our coming matches,” he said.
Beaulieu captain Jesse Salo lauded his team’s efforts on the field, with Sanele Mchunu and Gerald Mpopo as standout players in the game. “Since our early loss against Wits, we’ve been playing every match like it’s our final. Because we treated this game like a final, the boys really stepped it up. We were unbelievable today,” he said.
“Looking forward, we want to improve on goal scoring. We’re currently tied with Wanderers in terms of points, so it will come down to goal difference. We need to start putting goals away.”
