By Theo Garrun

Day 1:

St John’s ended off the 1st day of the Standard Bank King Edward Hockey Festival in dramatic fashion on Thursday when they beat Jeppe 1-0 in the last game of the day. It was a home game for St John’s who, as part of their 125th Anniversary celebrations, are hosting the night games at this year’s festival.

Jeppe have been having a dream season, but their run was cut short by a determined St John’s side, playing in front of a big, noisy home crowd. They went up early in the 2nd half, through a well-taken penalty corner and then defended heroically as Jeppe threw everything into attack.

In the other night games played at St John’s, the hosts, King Edward beat Parktown 1-0 and Northwood beat Grey College 2-0.

The win by KES meant that they are one of three teams to win both their games on the opening day. Earlier, they beat Queens College 1-0. The other unbeaten sides are St David’s, who beat St John’s Harare and Kearsney, and Northwood, who were winners over St John’s and Grey College.

KES face Kearsney and St John’s on Saturday, the latter being the late game under lights, again, and a dramatic clash between the neighbouring schools in on the cards.

Day 2:

At the end of the second day’s play at the King Edward Easter Hockey Festival, there were just two teams who have won four out of four matches – Northwood and St David’s Marist.

St David’s have been very impressive over the two days. They beat Eldorainge 7-0 and Trinityhouse 5-0 on Saturday, to take their aggregate to 19 goals in four games, conceding just three. Northwood have kept four clean sheets at the festival so far, their 6-0 and 2-0 wins over Trinityhouse and Eldoraigne, respectively, took their tally to 13 goals for and none against.

In the final game of day 2, played at the St John’s Astro as part of that school’s 125th Anniversary celebrations, St John’s beat the tournament hosts, King Edward, 2-0. That result brought the tournament hosts’ unbeaten run to an end, and showed that St John’s are one of the class acts at this festival. They did lose to Northwood on the first day, but went on to beat the very impressive Jeppe 1-0, under lights later that day, and after beating Queen’s 3-0 on Saturday, they go into their final clash, against Kearsney on Monday, with three wins out of four under their belts.

Jeppe got back on track on the second day with a hard-fought win over Grey College and a convincing win over Parktown. Kearsney recorded their first win when they surprised Grey College 1-0, at St John’s, on Saturday night.

The two unbeaten sides both have tricky encounters on the final day. Northwood play the hosts, KES, who despite their slip up against St John’s, have looked one of the more skilful sides on display, while Northwood take on the physical and uncompromising Grey College.

Day 3:

The Standard Bank King Edward Easter hockey festival drew to a close on Monday with Jeppe emerging as the best side on view, despite losing 1-0 to St John’s on Thursday night. They beat St John’s Harare 8-0 in their final game – the biggest score of the weekend.

Apart from the St John’s setback, Jeppe were dominant in all their games and they look set for another successful season.

St John’s were good value for their win over Jeppe, played on their own field, under lights and they followed that up with three more wins. On Monday they beat Kearsney 3-2 to finish strongly, after losing 3-0 to Northwood in their opening game on Thursday.

Northwood came into the final day with four wins out of four, but they were held to a goalless draw by the the hosts, King Edward, in their last game. They were, nevertheless. the only team to finish unbeaten over the three days.

The draw was a solid result for a KES side who improved greatly over the three days and can go into their local season with confidence.

St David’s were the only other team to go into the final day with four wins under their belts, and were looking like one of the class acts at the festival. They were however, beaten 2-0 by Grey College in their last game. Their skilful passing game was effectively disrupted by the direct, physical style of Grey.

Parktown beat Eldoraigne 4-0 in their final game. It was a good festival for them, with several close score lines.

Jeppe’s Jaydon Brooker was in a class of his own over the three days. He was the top goal-scorer, and he was deservedly named the Standard Bank Player of the Tournament.

Here are the hockey results: