Photo: The pain of defeat. East Grinstead's Dave Cressell is comforted by his girlfriend after his side's 3-2 defeat against Bloemendaal.I doubt whether I have ever seen a English club side perform against the Dutch as well as I did this afternoon in the quarter finals of the EuroHockey League in Hamburg. Not only did East Grinstead match Bloemendaal in all departments but for much of the game they dominated them.
Danny Hall opened the scoring for Grinstead after 11 minutes but when Wouter Jolie equalised from a penalty 12 minutes later, one could not help but feeling that the Dutch were at their most dangerous when wounded and that East Grinstead would be about to face a backlash. But it did not come, or at least not until much later.
Grinstead went back into the lead when Dave Dee Prez struck in the third quarter, but Jolie equalised with his second with thirteen minutes of play left. Right up to the last it was still anyone’s match and it looked a certainty for a one-on-one shoot-out. Unfortunately, for East Grinstead, Nick Meijer had the final say, scoring in the final minutes to give Bloemendaal a 3-2 victory.
Despite losing, EG were impressive, and there will not be many European club sides who will give these giants of Dutch hockey such a close run for their money. It certainly will give the Dutch something to think about next time they play an English club.
