{"id":95189,"date":"2026-05-10T10:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T08:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=95189"},"modified":"2026-05-10T10:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T08:14:11","slug":"menlopark-secures-a-comfortable-victory-in-pretoria-derby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=95189","title":{"rendered":"Menlopark secures a comfortable victory in Pretoria derby"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_93447\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-93447\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-93447\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Menlopark-at-Saints-400x207.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"207\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-93447\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Menlopark is riding a wave of brilliant performances this season. On Friday night, they added another win to their record with a comfortable victory at Affies Meisies. Photo: Supplied.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Die Ho\u00ebrskool Menlopark <\/strong>made their Friday night trip to <strong>Affies Meisies<\/strong> worthwhile by recording a comfortable 3-0 victory over the hosts. In wintry weather, the visitors delivered a polished performance.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am very happy with the result, earned on a cold night in Pretoria,&#8221;\u00a0<strong>Brad Brook<\/strong>, the Menlopark coach, told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SchoolofHockey\/\"><strong>SuperSport Schools News<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is always difficult playing away in a Pretoria derby. I was pleased with the girls&#8217; performance.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The conditions might have been on the chilly side, but there was nothing cold about the sides&#8217; performances. Affies Meisies were intent on making full use of their home ground advantage, while Brook&#8217;s charges had set their sights on claiming the bragging rights.\u00a0They were rewarded for their early pressure with a brilliant team goal in the first chukka.<\/p>\n<p>The visitors built up from the back before moving the ball into the midfield, where <strong>Monique Gerber<\/strong> and <strong>Chanette Jansen van Vuuren<\/strong> had taken control of matters for Menlo.\u00a0From the midfield, the ball was sent wide to <strong>Anja Steidler<\/strong>, who carried it well before sending a sharp infield pass to <strong>Katelynn Blokpoel,<\/strong> just outside the 23.<\/p>\n<p>Deftly, the forward beat a couple of defenders before slipping the ball just out of the Affies&#8217; goalkeeper&#8217;s reach for a cracking opening goal.<\/p>\n<p>Stung, the hosts tried to respond immediately, but they were met by resolute defence.<\/p>\n<p>Janse van Vuuren later extended Menlopark\u2019s lead with a moment of individual brilliance. After picking up the ball just inside the Affies half, she beat a couple of defenders on her way to the Affies D, before firing the ball into the back of the net.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was some really good work from the rest of the team to lead her out into space, and open it up for Chanette to have a go,&#8221; Brook recalled. &#8220;It was a really good bottom corner, far post, finish.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kathleen van Rooyen<\/strong> extended Menlopark&#8217;s lead to 3-0 in the final chukka with a reverse stick shot after the visitors&#8217; tight press had led to a turnover of possession.<\/p>\n<p>The hosts pressed and prodded at Menlopark&#8217;s defence throughout the contest, but had limited success. When they pierced the backline, they found themselves denied by <a href=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/player-profile-annika-kloppers-menlopark\/\"><strong>Annika Kloppers<\/strong><\/a>, who is enjoying a wonderful season between the posts for Menlopark.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Result<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Menlopark 3-0 Affies Meisies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Die Ho\u00ebrskool Menlopark made their Friday night trip to Affies Meisies worthwhile by recording a comfortable 3-0 victory over the hosts. In wintry weather, the visitors delivered a polished performance. &#8220;I am very happy with the result, earned on a cold night in Pretoria,&#8221;\u00a0Brad Brook, the Menlopark coach, told SuperSport Schools News. &#8220;It is always [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":93447,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/93447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}