Tarryn Secures Hat-Trick Test Win

For the
second successive match, striker Tarryn Bright spared SPAR SA’s blushes when
she landed the match winner in her side’s 1 – 0 win over Ireland, on Friday, in the third Test, played at
Stellenbosch, Cape Town.

Bright also
scored the lone goal in SA’s close-shave 1 – 0 victory over the tourists on
Tuesday.

The final
scoreline could easily have been trebled, but for an inept display by SA in
front of their opponents’ goal.

SA was far
more patient in their build-up movements, and were quite content to switch
attack from side of the field to the other in the opening stages.

Ireland, on
the other hand, were equally patient in their few forays into the SA half, but
they lacked cohesion on the fringes of the circles to be able to set up any
real scoring opportunities, and at times, they were thwarted by basic errors.

SA looked
pretty disjointed upfront, more so in the face of Ireland’s solid central defence,
and it was not surprising that the hosts failed to score after they enjoyed a
surfeit of possession in the first half.

Ireland pulled off a few penetrating runs
down the left flank but they were met with stout defence, most notably by Cindy
Brown, deep inside the SA half.

SA started
the second half were they left off in the first but very nearly came a cropper
when a lightning counter-attack by Ireland came within a whisker of
cracking the hosts’ defence.

The
dominance by SA was reaching frustrating proportions as they hashed one scoring
chance after the other.

Eventually
it was left to the skillful Tarryn Bright to unleash a reverse stick shot which
thundered into the back of the Irish net to finally open the scoring in the
match, nine minutes from the end.

The final and
fourth Test between SPAR SA and Ireland
will be played at Hartleyvale on Saturday afternoon, starting at 3pm.