The University of Pretoria Tuks made great progress in the first and third quarters as they beat the University of Free State Kovsies 5-2 on the opening day of Varsity Hockey at the University of Johannesburg on Friday.

Tuks opened the scoring in the third minute through the promising Grant Glutz, who flicked home at a short-corner, and they were 2-0 up after just seven minutes as Tevin Kok rammed the ball into the goal with a quick strike.

Kovsies went straight upfield and earned themselves  a short-corner through, Egon van der Merwe’s quick shot making it 2-1 to temporarily halt Tuks’ progress. The Free Staters immediately employed the powerplay – a two-minute period of nine-a-side when goals count double – but it brought no reward for them.

There were a couple more short-corners for Kovsies before the end of the first quarter, without any joy though for them. An evenly-contested second quarter brought no further goals for Tuks until a minute before halftime when a reverse-sticks cross by Ashley Kemp was deflected into goal by a defender (3-1).

The third chukka was the most thrilling of the match as Kovsies cut the deficit to just one goal (2-3) in the first minute after the restart, having earned a penalty corner with a swift attack down the right. The Free Staters once again had problems stopping the ball at the corner, but the talented Dylan Swanepoel picked up the rebound and scrambled the ball into the goal with a little flick.

Tuks then laid siege to the Kovsies goal with Matthew Butler and Kok both coming close to scoring, but the goal eventually came from a long-corner when Stephen Cant found the back of the net. The Tuks defence was extremely well-marshalled by Michael Marki, who was afterwards named the player of the match, and goalkeeper Hendrik Kriek was only really extended once in this period, making an important save in the 39th minute to keep the score 4-2.

Tuks went 5-2 up two minutes before the end of the third quarter as Glutz, who was rampant up front at times, rammed home a penalty-corner flick into the bottom right corner of the goal.

The Pretoria students probably expected to roar to victory in the final chukka, but they were frustrated by a hard-running Kovsies side and their own errors. It was nevertheless a good start to the Varsity Hockey tournament for them against the useful opposition.

FNB Player of the Match: Michael Marki (Tuks)

Mugg & Bean Star Saver: Louwfrans Esterhuizen (Kovsies)

Samsung Super Striker: Grant Glutz (Tuks)