It was a clash of the titans when Central Hockey Club hosted Maties Men in a Western Province Hockey Union’s Men’s Grand Challenge at Vygieskraal on Sunday, May 26.

Much to the delight of the spectators who braved the evening’s winter breeze, the outdoor league match lived up to standard, with both teams sharing a spoil of eight goals.

Central Men’s team went down 3-5, however, their coach, Craig Lotters is confident they will finish the season strong.

“It is not nice to lose at your home ground but we probably gave them a little too much respect at the start of the game and then in the second half we showed them what we can do. I think if we can do that from the start of the game it would be a different result,” he said.

Lotters said the majority of their players are at national indoor duty, however, they will come out guns blazing when they they travel up to Stellenbosch, to face Maties Vics Men, on Saturday, June 1.

Central Hockey Club will look to bounce back to winning ways when they travel up to Stellenbosch to tackle Maties Vics on Saturday June 1. This past weekend, they went down 3-5 to Maties Men. The week before, they won 7-0 against Conberg. Picture: Lonwabo Marele

This past Sunday, Maties Vics played away to UCT. They were 3-0 victors, moving them to sixth spot with nine points after three wins and five loses in eight games of the campaign.

A week ago, Central thumped Conberg 7-0, making it two wins in their seven games played. They are on six points in ninth position, with UCT remaining winless at the bottom of the log.

“Being Olympic year, we have got players that are available at certain times, other times they are not available. So it is just about managing it week for week what we have and how we want to prep for it. Obviously we always want to be stronger in the second half of the season, so it is making sure we learn from the previous seven games and taking it forward from there,” said Lotters.

Meanwhile, Central’s women’s team played to a 1-1 draw against Maties Ladies. The draw moves them to fourth spot with 11 points, while Maties Ladies lead the women’s outdoor grand challenge standings with 22 points. Maties are one point in front of second-placed WPCC Ladies.

There are two matches left in the first half of the Men’s Grand Challenge outdoor challenge. Central Hockey Club’s men’s first team will be looking to finish strong after winning two of the seven opening games. This coming weekend, they have a Maties Vics challenge to take care off. Picture: Lonwabo Marele

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Central Hockey Club ready for Maties Vics challenge