The Northwood 1st Hockey Team came out 4 – 2 victors in what was an extremely tough fixture against Jeppe on Saturday.
An inspirational first half performance saw Northwood take a dominant lead which was always going to be tough for the home team to pull back.
The opening exchanges saw Jeppe dominate the first ten minutes and Northwood goal keeper Garick Goldman was in inspirational form keeping the home team at bay. The highlight was when he saved a penalty corner drag flick and the two resulting rebounds with unbelievable mobility and commitment.
Northwood managed to work through the first ten minutes of dominance from the home team and the next fifteen minutes saw the visitors take the game away from Jeppe. The first goal came from a swift counter attack from the Northwood forwards which was finished when Blayde Capell smashed a reverse stick shot into the bottom corner.
Northwood continued to pile on the pressure and were rewarded with a goal by debutant Kyle Rawling when he calmly slotted the ball passed the advancing Jeppe goal keeper.
Shortly afterward an outstanding ball from right centre back Ighsaan Manuel found left forward Ntobeko Sibisi unmarked in acres of space in the circle. Sibisi showed a turn speed and composure when he went around the keeper and finished to give the visitors a 3 – 0 lead.
Northwood capped off an outstanding half of hockey when a well worked penalty corner variation was deflected home by Cody van Breeman.
Jeppe created a number of scoring chances through field play and penalty corners but the Northwood defense and keeper were up to the challenge.
The visitors took the 4 – 0 lead into the break.
The second half saw Jeppe increase their tempo in an attempt to rein in the visitors and played long periods of outstanding, dominant hockey. They managed to pull one back five minutes into the second half when an individual piece of brilliance resulted in a forward scoring a simple tap in goal.
Jeppe continued to apply pressure as Northwood went into defensive mode. The visitors defended with passion and commitment making it hard for Jeppe to get back into the game. Jeppe found a bit of hope when they managed to score their second after a goal mouth scramble. The home team threw everything into attack but were racing against the clock and the visitors eventually triumphed 4 – 2 in what was a tough encounter.
It was a great team victory against a well coached, high quality Jeppe team.
