NATIONAL NEWS - An inspired Southern Gauteng beat arch-rivals Western Province 5-1 Wednesday on day two of A Section action at the SA Women’s Interprovincial Hockey Tournament in Potchefstroom.

The girls from Johannesburg were spurred on by brilliant performances from Shelley Russell and captain Bernie Coston in nailing down a 4-0 lead after just 26 minutes. Kaila Flemming was first on the scoresheet from the penalty spot, Russell bagged a brace and Coston scored a breath-taking goal.

Megan Robertson pulled one back for WP two minutes after half-time, but the Capetonians weren’t able to score again and Roxy Turner-Coetzee netted Southerns’ fifth and final goal a minute from the end.

In the late game defending champs Northern Blues transferred the ball to good effect from Kim Hubach in deep central defence on to right half Natalia Esteves, back inside to captain Nicolene Terblanche in midfield and then out right for Sammy Prost to lay off to Dirkie Chamberlain in the six-metre area – and goal shots plus penalty corner opportunities were the outcome.

As they did in the 2-2 draw with Free State Tuesday, North West defended with dogged determination.

Blues finally made the breakthrough two minutes after the half-time changeover (32nd) when the hugely experienced Kim Hubach let fly with a rocket from the penalty spot. The set-piece opportunity had been awarded by umpire Binks Robertson after the goalward-bound ball had struck a North West defender’s foot on the goalline.

Blues made it 2-0 in the 54th through a Jacinta Jubb field goal while Celia Evans reduced the deficit two minutes from full-time.

In the most one-sided affair of the competition, Free State annihilated Border 15-0.

Head coach Braam van Wyk’s talented young Free State girls led 9-0 at half-time and spread their goal frenzy through all four of the 15-minute chukkas, four in the first, five in the second, and three apiece in the third and fourth.

“The girls didn’t fall into the trap of playing too directly, which often happens when the favourites play the underdogs,” said Van Wyk.

“My strikers, too, were outstanding. We had chatted about the importance of being in the right scoring positions in the strike zone and they met my expectations. Another aspect that was pleasing is that it is vital to forget the scoreboard. You must concentrate on the quality of your play in each passage of play and the scoreboard will take care of itself.”

The second match bore witness to a fine performance from coach Lennie Botha’s Spar KZN Raiders, who beat a competitive South Gauteng Wits 3-2 after leading 3-0 at the break.

Thursday’s final round of Pool fixtures to determine who secures berths in Friday’s semi-finals and playoff matches, sees a couple of blockbusters in the making. Two clashes in particular to savour are those between Blues and Free State at 2pm followed by Southerns versus Spar KZN Raiders at 4pm.

In the round robin B Section, the favoured teams gunning for promotion – WP Peninsula and Namibia – played to a 0-0 draw.

Coach Satchi Reddy’s KZN Inland side are the third team in the title race and they were good value for their 4-1 win over a feisty Mpumalanga.