Africa-Press – Namibia. THE national women’s field hockey team made a remarkable comeback over the past few days as they step up their preparations for the Africa Cup of Nations finals which start in Accra, in Ghana, next week.
On Tuesday afternoon they were thumped 8-0 by a strong men’s invitation team including some national players, but the following evening they managed to hold the men to a 4-4 draw.
Playing in the hot midday sun on Tuesday, the women defended well till the end of the first quarter when the men’s dominance started to tell. Brandon Lensen opened their account, while further goals by Nico Jacobs and Nicolai Hilbert put them 3-0 up by half-time.
Lensen completed his hat-trick with two more goals in the second half, while further goals by Matu Kavikairiua, Delron Handura, and Jacobs’ second goal completed a resounding win.
The following evening though, the women’s team were in a different class. Although the men still dominated possession, the women’s defence kept them at bay for most of the match, while the men’s lack of defensive structure was fully exploited by the women who scored several goals on the counter-attack.
Anthea Coetzee put the women ahead from a counter-attack, which split the men’s defence, but after numerous failed attempts, Penda Namundjebo equalised for the men from a short corner.
Coetzee restored the women’s lead with another counter-attacking goal, but Delron Handura immediately equalised to draw the teams level at the half-time break.
Vanessa Schoeman once again put the women ahead with a thumping shot from a short corner, and when Tara Myburgh tapped in a cross to put the women 4-2 ahead midway through the third quarter, it seemed they were on course for victory.
The evergreen Siyabonga Martins, however, inspired a late comeback for the men with two fine solo goals in the final three minutes as they managed to pull off a 4-4 draw. After the match, the women’s coach, Melissa Gillies, said they had learnt a lot from their initial defeat.
“I think it was a good game to play on Tuesday, just for us to find some of our weaknesses, and figure out how we want to adjust our system. Our games against the men are in preparation for our games against the South African women. We love the pace the men bring and the way they move the ball, which exposes the holes in our system, and shows us what we need to fix,” she said.
“The most pleasing thing was the levels of composure the ladies showed in defence today – they were very tight and composed, they didn’t go flying into tackles, and stayed in the duel really nicely,” she said. Gillies said she was very pleased with her players’ fitness levels.
“I loved the fact that they were keeping up with the guys and staying in the duel. I think we locked up the middle a lot better today than yesterday and really forced the men to the outside, allowing us to consolidate in the middle and be tight on our marking, so I think overall defensively the levels of composure were a lot better,” she said.
For the women, Vanessa Schoeman and Carien van Rooyen stood out in defence, while goalkeeper Maxi Smith was in great form, especially in the first match, where she pulled off numerous excellent saves. Despite that defeat, she said it was a good experience.
“I think we are doing pretty well. The men are much bigger than us, so it’s very difficult to play at that pace, but I think we kept our structure well, and I think we will do a very good job against the women in Ghana.
“South Africa will be a tough match because their team consists mostly of the players who went to the Olympics last year, but we will not underestimate the other teams. Sometimes you just focus on the bigger teams and then you lose against the smaller teams, so we will go full out and take it one match at a time,” she said.
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