20 games of action took place across two venues in Western Cape as the SPAR & Tops Indoor Hockey IPT action got underway at the SPAR and Tops at SPAR Indoor Hockey IPT. The Wynberg Military Base played host to the A Section while the B Section was at UCT.
In the Men’s A Section tournament both Southern Gauteng and the KZN Raiders staked their claim as challengers to the Western Province throne with two wins out of two. For the Raiders it was 16 goals including a hat-trick for Ethan Biggar and South Africa’s all-time top indoor hockey caps holder Justin Domleo scoring a brace in two games. Bongumusa Mngoma in goal also showed his quality in making a number of high-quality saves against Northern Blues.
Southern Gauteng also beat the Northern Blues in a tough traditional Jukskei derby seeing a physical battle that remained tight until the end. Dalpiarro Langford arguably the pick of the players with a captain’s performance. They followed that with a comfortable 7-0 victory in the second game against the KZN Mynahs with Liam Hermanus netting his first career Southerns goals.
SG Witsies also got themselves a victory in the morning but had to wait until a brilliant final quarter scoring 4 goals through four different scorers to put the challenge of Mpumalanga to bed.
Mpumalanga who had played the opening game of the day also took part in the closing game of the day against the hosts and four-time defending champions Western Province. It was always going to be a tough game for the young Mpumalanga men, but they found a Western Province team geared to go from the first whistle in a bruising encounter. Mustapha Cassiem continued where he left off in the EuroHockey club challenge scoring six goals in a smashing 15-0 win for the favourites.
Northern Blues secured a semi-final spot on day one of the women’s section as they secured two wins with an aggregate score of 14-0. Anja Tromp scored a rocket brace from penalty corners with the two goals looking almost identical to each other against North West. While against Mpumalanga it was Cerian Fourie who stole the limelight with half the goals in an 8-0 victory that secured top 4 status for the Pretoria based team.
The combination of results means that 2023 runners up WP Peninsula miss out on the semi-finals after their two defeats while the meeting between North West and Mpumalanga has become in essence a quarter final on day 2 thanks to both team’s victories over Pens.
In Pool A the triple defending champions KZN Raiders got off to a perfect start inspired by their skipper Jess Lardant producing an outstanding display to lead from the back in a 4-0 win against Wits. Tatum Kroutz scored a sublime goal herself in delivering a perfect start for the team aiming for four in a row.
The opening day rounded off with the biggest game on paper of the day. Hosts Western Province taking on Southern Gauteng for honours and importantly 3 points. The two sides played out a superb first half of action that saw the score locked at 1-1 with Gabrielle Terblanche’s opening goal for Southerns cancelled out by Daniella de Oliveira’s penalty corner.
Isabella Booyens put the hosts in the lead for the first time in the game with a goal half way through the third quarter before Grace Cochrane saved a stroke to maintain that lead into the final 10 minutes. Booyens doubled her own tally as well as the lead with four minutes remaining which ultimately was enough to seal the victory and the 3 points on day one for the hosts.
SPAR & Tops at SPAR Indoor Hockey IPT 2024 – Day 1 Results
Men’s A Section
Mpumalanga 4-7 SG Witsies
KZN Raiders 9-2 KZN Mynahs
Southern Gauteng 4-2 Northern Blues
KZN Raiders 7-1 Northern Blues
Southern Gauteng 7-0 KZN Mynahs
Western Province 15-0 Mpumalanga
Men’s B Section
WP Peninsula 2-4 WP Disa
Eastern Province 12-2 Northern Daisies
Women’s A Section
WP Peninsula 2-3 Mpumalanga
Northern Blues 6-0 North West
KZN Raiders 4-0 SG Witsies
WP Peninsula 1-3 North West
Northern Blues 8-0 Mpumalanga
Western Province 3-1 Southern Gauteng
Women’s B Section
KZN Mynahs 7-0 WP Disa
Eastern Gauteng A 6-2 Eastern Gauteng B
Eastern Province 2-6 Northerns Daisies
Eastern Province 0-1 WP Disa
KZN Mynahs 16-0 Eastern Gauteng B
Eastern Gauteng A 1-4 Northerns Daisies
SPAR & Tops at SPAR Indoor Hockey IPT 2024 – Day 2 Fixtures
Men’s A Section
Western Province vs. Northern Blues
KZN Raiders vs. SG Witsies
Southern Gauteng vs. Mpumalanga
SG Witsies vs. Northern Blues
Mpumalanga vs. KZN Mynahs
Western Province vs. KZN Raiders
Men’s B Section
WP Peninsula vs. Northern Daisies
Eastern Province vs. WP Disa
WP Peninsula vs. Eastern Province
Northern Daisies vs. WP Disa
Women’s A Section
KZN Raiders vs. Southern Gauteng
North West vs. Mpumalanga
KZN Raiders vs. Western Province
Southern Gauteng vs. SG Witsies
WP Peninsula vs. Northern Blues
Western Province vs. SG Witsies
Women’s B Section
Eastern Gauteng B vs. WP Disa
KZN Mynahs vs. Northerns Daisies
Eastern Gauteng A vs. Eastern Province
Eastern Gauteng A vs. WP Disa
KZN Mynahs vs. Eastern Province
Eastern Gauteng B vs. Northerns Daisies
PHOTO – ZAC ZINN / ES MEDIA
by South Africa
