UJ star Taylor Dart says he didn’t feel any pressure taking the decisive penalty in their shootout victory over Maties to clinch the Varsity Hockey title.
The midfield ace sealed a dramatic comeback win for his side by calmly pushing the ball between Maties goalkeeper Francoi du Toit’s legs to send the home crowd into wild celebrations.
However, Dart revealed that UJ’s careful preparation for just that situation had given him plenty of confidence to take the final one-on-one.
“We had prepared for that beforehand, we spoke about it and practised our one-one-ones and it was just up to me to finish the game,” he said.
Dart explained that he was always going to try and put the ball through Du Toit’s legs as he had decided that it was a potential weakness after studying video clips of the goalkeeper’s technique.
“That was always the plan, we had looked at some videos of him,” he said.
Dart and fellow UJ national star Clint Panther were the only players to score in the entire shootout, and he said that a combination of the pressure and some good goalkeeping had made it a tough ask.
“There was so much pressure with the whole tournament on the line and it can swing one way and the next, but credit to the goalkeepers who both did really well to stay on their feet,” he said.
UJ were forced to fight back from 2-0 after Maties had dominated the opening exchanges, but they showed plenty of fighting spirit to level the scores and send the game to a shootout.
Dart said that the home crowd in Johannesburg had played a big role in their stunning comeback.
“We really did not want to lose at home, it is meant to be our fortress and we had the whole crowd and energy behind us so that helped a lot,” he said.
“Last night I just couldn’t believe it, we came in as favourites and it was a great feeling to pull it off under pressure,” he said.
