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Ellina Mhlanga Senior Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe senior women’s field hockey team got their campaign at the Africa Cup of Nations on a losing note when they lost 0-3 to South Africa in their opening encounter at Theodosia Okoh Hockey Stadium, in Accra, Ghana, yesterday.
Zimbabwe conceded two goals in the first quarter and one goal towards the end of the match.
Lilian du Plessis scored first for South Africa and Bernadette Coston doubled the score in the opening quarter.
It was always going to be difficult taking on the defending champions and despite some good defending by Zimbabwe, South Africa kept on attacking and Tarryn Lombard sealed the victory with just a few minutes to go before the end of the match.
Commenting on the team’s performance, in the post-match interview, Zimbabwe coach, Patricia Davies, said the players gave their best on the field.
“I was really happy with their performance. Some of the girls did struggle with the heat but we will get used to it.
“I think it was a very good match. I think the Zimbabwe ladies held their own, especially at the corners. I think they had 11 against us and got one goal from a short corner.
“They worked, all of them gave a 100 percent effort out there. They gave what was asked of them . . . I think we did as best as we could,” said Davies.
Zimbabwe will be hoping for a change of fortunes when they take on Uganda today in their second Pool A game.
Uganda lost 0-3 to Namibia in the other Pool A match yesterday. This means they will be chasing for a win as well when they clash with Zimbabwe today.
Davies said they will take some time to watch the Uganda game against Namibia ahead of their encounter this morning, so that they have an insight of what to expect.
Captain, Mary Houghton, said despite losing, they did their best and is looking forward to the next game.
“We are proud of our performance. We are only ranked 47th in the world and they are ranked in the top 20. So I think we gave them a good game and that’s what we came out to do and we got all our jitters out now, so we are ready for the rest of the tournament.
“I think we made a lot of silly errors that we can work on and we go back to the drawing board and get ready for our next game,” said Houghton.
Online Reporter