Image, courtesy of Frank Uijlenbroek, shows Cannock's James Fair dispossessing Bloemendaal's Rik Van KanIt was always going to be hard for Cannock playing against the current Dutch league leaders, but with the weather a la England and both sides assured of their place in the next round, it proved to be an interesting encounter.
Nick Meijer missed a sitter for Bloemendaal after 5 minutes but Cannock had a good chance just a moment later. Good saves by Fair kept the score at 0-0 until Cannock won a penalty corner in the 12th minute, which was converted by captain Richard Lane. However, Bloemendaal came out firing after the first break and were soon level through former Scot Laurence Docherty. It wasn’t though, until the last minute of the first half that they finally took the lead with a shot from the top of the circle by Martijn van Mierlo.
At the start of the second half captain Lane was hit by a lifting ball and was clearly showing signs of this when Bloemendaal added to their lead through Ronald Brouwer. Bloemendaal’s 1st penalty corner of the game finally arrived after 16 minutes but their shot was well saved by Fair. At the start of the last quarter Cannock pushed up the pitch but left themselves open at the back and, with two against one, it was inevitable that Bloemendaal would score again with a second from van Mierlo. With twelve minutes remaining Cannock earned their second penalty corner but a rather complicated move meant they failed to get a shot on target. Bloemendaal’s second penalty corner a minute later was put in the top of the net by Tim Jenniskens. With second left on the clock, Lane, showing no signs of his earlier injury raced through to put the ball in the back of the net to make it 5-2. At the final whistle Bloemendaal earned their third penalty corner but the ball was put wide.
As a result of this match, Bloemendaal and Cannock qualify for Round 2 at Easter
In the earlier matches Club Egara beat Der Club an der Alster 4-0 with a hat-trick from Guillermo Schinckendantz and one from Eduard Arbos. Amsterdam disposed of Olimpia Kolos Sekvoia by 8-0 with a hat-trick from Santi Freixa, two penalty corner conversions by specialist Taeke Taekema and one each from Don Prins, Jan Willem Buissant and Geert Jan Derikx.
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