The FINAL4 check-in: Bloemendaal and Atlèti on form but Léo run halted by Dragons
In this week's EHL Men's FINAL4 check-in, Bloemendaal got back to winning ways; Atlètic Terrassa won well but Royal Léopold were undone by Dragons
HC Bloemendaal got back to winning ways with a 2-0 win over HGC, ending a rare blip in form that had seen them earn just one point from their last two matches.
They were made to wait in Wassenaar with both of their goals coming in the closing 13 minutes. Thierry Brinkman finished off from close range to put them in front after Florian Fuchs’ brilliant run down the left wing.
And Jorrit Croon made the points safe with a super snap-shot on his backhnad to make it 2-0 with four minutes left.
It saw the club bounce back from last week’s 1-0 defeat to Den Bosch and then a midweek draw against Pinoké which allowed SV Kampong get back within five points of the table-toppers.
Speaking about the week gone by, Brinkman said the loss to Den Bosch was “really not good” before adding: “Things went much better against Pinoké, but we didn’t win either. We are not used to losing twice in a row!
“Of course, I don’t mean we lost twice but it felt like two defeats. Fortunately we stayed calm because the match against HGC was a good test.”
Kampong remain in pursuit with a 4-2 win over Den Bosch with Jip Janssen’s double and further goals from Terrance Pieters and Robbert Kemperman putting them out of sight.
Rotterdam are third after a 3-1 success against Hurley while Pinoké fell 5-4 to HC Oranje-Rood to lose ground. They stay in the top four, one point ahead of HGC.
In Belgium, Royal Léopold lost for the first time since the return of the Belgian league for the new year as they struggled in the absence of Tom Boon, Dylan Englebert, Tom Degroote and Tanguy Zimmer.
They were undone 2-0 by KHC Dragons, opening up a lot of possibilities in their section of the Audi League with Félix Denayer and Lucas Martinez scoring the goals.
With La Gantoise beating Racing 3-1, three teams are now covered by three points with two rounds remaining in this mini-league with two semi-final spots on the line.
” We had a very good first half ,” rejoiced Dragons captain Florent van Aubel . “In the third quarter, Léopold did everything to get back into the game but without success. We fought well and we resisted several corners.”
For Léo, they now have a break before facing into the EHL FINAL4 against Bloemendaal in two weeks time.
In Spain, Atlètic Terrassa cut loose in the second half against RC Jolaseta with a thumping 7-0 win away from home. Marc Escudé scored twice while there were further goals from Quim Malgosa, Pepe Cunill, Joan Dalmases, Marc Bolto and Pau Cunill.
The win puts thems four points clear at the top of the Honor Division with Club de Campo in second place after 17 rounds of the competition. None of the other sides in the top four were in action this weekend.