Men’s 1 vs Van Der Stel – 20 April 2024

20 April 2024
Pinelands vs Van Der Stel (4 – 3 win)

After making the trek up to Stellenbosch on a misty but not windy Saturday afternoon you could tell from the get-go the boys were ready to get stuck in. Not sure if it was the inspirational hockey videos Gennie sent in the group or the fact that everyone had a “early” Friday night but vibes were up!

After Brad found the turf (“????” ????) we had a quick team talk from Bindy and onto the turf for a warm up we went! From chasing the chickens to back leg kicks, Reece took us through it all and warmed up we were cause sheesh! We started to game well!

From the first whistle of the game, the ball was passed back to Gennie and boom! Another bomb overhead found a agile Deano up front (agile compared to last week????) and into the circle he ran and FOOT! Yes boys! SHORTIE!. From a not so straight push out Wayne managed to trap it and Gennie slapped a deflection ball into the box and fooled all is us cause there wasn’t a deflection at all, the ball rolled straight into the box between the post-man and goalie! Classic! But 1-0 up in the first 5 is a great start!

And so the game ebbed and flowed, some great runs up front to some quick turns and strong arcs, it was delightful to watch from the back. With a sneaky goal from Worm and a couple strong top D flicks from Van Der Stel’s short corners we soon found ourselves at 2-2 and all still to play for!

With some inspiration from Coach Bindy on making sure we continued to press as a unit we heading into the second half with confidence that we can take this game for sure!

We soon found ourselves at 3-3 after a breakaway goal from Van Der Stell with about 10 mins to go and did we not drive all the way to stellenbosch to settle for a draw! With a great run up the right hand line and along the baseline into the D we soon found ourselves with a short corner and up from the back came Gennie. Some say Gennie is more accurate than the pin location he dropped in the group, but anyway! Out came the ball, trapped top D, Gennie positioning himself and bam! The flick flew off his stick and for some reason the goalie started logging, I think he still had PTSD from the first goal but nevertheless the ball flew into the top corner and the boys celebrated taking the lead 4-3 with couple minutes to play.

With some dodgy tackles in the last few minutes and a couple injury stoppages we managed to hold on for the victory and damn, It felt good!

A great team performance meant the gents that headed back at the club to consume out of the right hand and watch Chelsea loose over a couple pizzas and brownies!

Great weekend gents and onto the next!

Luke ✌????