READING WOMEN IN EURO FINAL

Reading women have reached the final of the European Club Champions Trophy in Antwerp.  A run of three successive wins - 3-0 over Royal Antwerp, 12-0 over Baku, and 3-2 over CSP Izmaylovo, sees them lined up for tomorrow's (Monday) final against Spanish side Real Sociedad Futbal SAD.

BLOEMENDAAL ARE EHL CHAMPIONS from Peter Savage at the EuroHockey League Finals

This afternoon in Bloemendaal saw two finals, those of the EuroHockey League and the Women's Club Champions Cup, plus the third/fourth place match between Amsterdam and Rot-Weiss Koln.

The EHL Final had all the ingredients of a cracker from the start, with one of Europe's consistently best clubs taking on the pretenders from Belgium, KHC Dragons.  To add a bit of spice, the home side Bloemendaal, took the opportunity to say goodbye to a great servant of the club and three-time winner of the FIH Player of the Year Award, Teun De Nooijer. 

There had been some suspicion that this might be a bit of a turkey shoot, with Dragons fielding few player known outside of Belgium, and Bloemendaal packed full of internationals from The Netherlands and around the world.  But although there was little doubt which was the better side on the pitch, the Dragons never seemed in awe of their esteemed opponents and made a real match of it - not a classic for sure, but a game that certainly had its moments of excitement. 

Playing in front of a packed ground, it took the home side 21 minutes to crack Dragons' resolute defence, Rogier Hoffman being the scorer from open play.  With ten minutes left to play, when many might have predicted that the score might have run into double figures, Hoffman struck again to make it 2-0.  And that is how the match ended.

A lot of credit must go to KHC Dragons, a club who seem to have come from nowhere to become a real force in European hockey. And it will not have escaped the folks back in England that the two finalists were the sides that knocked Beeston and Reading out in the KO8 back at Easter.  Perhaps we can take a little bit of comfort from that.

Although it was a good result for Bloemendaal, and KHC Dragons were able to go home with their pride intact, the whole day was somehow about Bloemendaal's Tuen De Nooijer. Every time he came near the ball he was cheered to the rafters.  He will probably play in the Dutch play-offs and there is a testimonial arranged for him in the Summer, but after that we shall not see him again. He will be sadly missed by friend and foe alike.

The third/fourth place match between Rot-Weiss Koln and Amsterdam, which preceded the main event, seemed to suffer from some very tired legs. Goals from Casper Horn, Valentin Verga, Taeke Taekema, and two from captain Billy Bakker, gave Amsterdam a 5-3 victory.

The afternoon also saw the playing of the Women's Club Champions Cup, a sort of EuroHockey League Lite for women.  The two finalists were the same as last year, 's-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) and Laren. Last year Laren had managed to break Den Bosch's grip on the Cup, which went back over a decade, but Den Bosch set their stall out very early with a goal from Sabine Mol in less than a minute. Two goals before half time, the first from Laren's Kim Lammers, and the second from Mol, gave Den Bosch a 2-1 lead at half time. 

Laren managed to equalise early in the second half, Lammers scoring her second of the game. But Fabienne Roosen and Elsie Nix scored for Den Bosch to give them a 4-2 win.

PICTURES FROM ALL TODAY'S MATCHES ARE ON OUR WEB SITE AT: www.HockeyImages.co.uk.

DRAGONS GIVE BELGIUM THEIR FIRST EURO LEAGUE FINAL, by Peter Savage in Bloemendaal.

Both semi finals of the EuroHockey League in Bloemendaal (The Netherlands) ended with shoot-out deciders this afternoon.

In the first semi-final between Rot-Weiss Koln and KHC Dragons, Rot-Weiss dominated the first half with a goal from Christopher Menke and a penalty stoke conversion by Christopher Zeller.  A penalty corner by Dragons, fired in by captain Jeffrey Thys, looked more like a brief respite than a revival, but Dragons came out for the second half looking more as if they were going to make a match of it.

Dragons were rewarded for their efforts with a 52nd minute goal from Matthew Cobbaert, putting the sides on level terms.  14 minutes later, Koln's Andrin Rickli made amends for two green cards in the first half by slotting home what appeared to be the winner, but less than 60 seconds elapsed before Thierry Stumpe equalised for the Dragons.

We've seldom seen a goal scored in silver goal extra time which has not won the match, but this was the exemption that proved the rule. 11 minutes into extra time Dragons seemed to have it sewn up after Felix Denayer gave them a 4-3 lead, but Zeller scored his second, forcing the match into a one-on-one shoot out decider.

The shoot-out proved to be a bad one for both keepers, with the tally standing at 4-4 until Benjamin Wess was unsuccessful in his attempt, and it was just left to Thys to score to give Dragons the match.

The second semi final had much in common with the first.  Amsterdam seemed to have the match by the throat, with Mirco Pruyser scoring twice in the first half.  The match was well into the second half before their opponents, Bloemendaal, got back into the game with a penalty corner conversion by Eby Kessing. 

As the match progressed, Bloemendaal seemed able to assert themselves and pull themselves back into the game and, with seven minutes remaining, Fergus Kavanagh, scored the equaliser.

Extra time produced no goals and so the match progressed to a penalty shoot out.  In sharp contrast with the previous game, the 'keepers seemed to have more success, in particular Jaap Stockman in the Bloemendaal goal.  Denying Billy Bakker, Valentin Verga and Nicki Leys, the final tally in the shoot out stood at 3-1 in Bloemendaal's favour.

It is reputed that a Belgian coach was once asked when he thought Belgian hockey would be as good as Dutch.  His answer was "2013".  Tomorrow we'll have a chance to find out if he was right!

PICTURES FROM TODAY'S MATCHES IS ON OUR PICTURES WEB SITE AT www.HockeyImages.co.uk.