CWG hockey: South Africa survive a scare from Trinidad and Tobago
By Anand Philar, IANSFriday, October 8, 2010
NEW DELHI - With nothing to lose, Trinidad and Tobago threatened to pull off a miracle but eventually went down 3-5 to South Africa in a Pool B game of the mens hockey competition at the Commonwealth Games here Friday.
In the only other men’s match, Malaysia recorded their first win from three matches in Pool A when they beat Scotland 2-0 on goals by Azlan Misron (31st) and Hafiz Hanafi (52nd).
The Scots, having lost their previous two games, put on a brave show, but their best was not enough to stop the Malaysians who capitalised on the two good openings that came their way.
Meanwhile, it was an astonishingly strong performance from Trinidad and Tobago who all but rattled South Africa after sharing four goals in the first-half. The Proteas’ experience eventually made the difference in the second-half.
Gareth Carr starred for the South Africans with a double strike while Justin Reid-Ross, Lance Louw and Paton Taine scored one apiece. On the other hand, the Caribbean champions replied through Wayne Legerton (2) and Kwandwane Browne.
The victory took South Africas tally to six points and to second place behind New Zealand in pool B while the Caribbean champions slid to their third defeat, but certainly made their presence felt Friday night.
“We put in some goals but they didnt get us the results. We hardly get to play any of the top 15 teams and here, we obviously focused on our defense. But today, we attacked much more,” coach Eric Verboom said.
“But let me tell you that for us, the Commonwealth Games competition is a development tournament as our focus is on the Pan-American Games next year and we want to qualify for the (2012 London) Olympics.”
South African coach Gregg Clark said he was not surprised that the Trinidadians came out hard at them, but his team was organized enough to survive the onslaughts.
“We were expecting a tough fight. They have been improving and we knew they would be coming at us strongly. But we were efficient enough to hold them,” Clark said.
