BELGIAN SIDES FAIL TO MAKE FINAL. Report on today in Eindhoven.

We had picked out Germany’s Harvestehuder as the side most likely to succeed in this season’s Euro Hockey League, but 53 minutes into their semi-final match against Racing Club Bruxelles the bronze medal play-off match beckoned.

After a week of bright but chilly days, it was warm sunshine in Eindhoven for the last four.  And it was a bright morning for Racing Club Bruxelles’ fans as their number 13, Jonathan Beckers, found the net from two first half penalty corners.  For most of the half, and indeed the second half, Racing Club looked much the more promising of the two sides.  But there is something in the German DNA which tells them never to give up, and they didn’t.

It was another number 13 and another penalty corner that got Harvestehuder back into the game. This time it was the FIH Player of the Year, Tobias Hauke.  The Germans wasted no time to build on this, with a Xaver Hasum field goal two minutes later.

With the match looking as if it were heading for a shoot-out, Michael Korper scored the winner six minutes from time.

Attendances, which have been disappointing in Eindhoven, took a turn for the better when the host club, Oranje Zwart, took on KHC Dragons.  The Dragons have a noisy and passionate group of fans, whilst the Dutch were playing on their own ground. 

For some reason KHC Dragons usual blitzkrieg tactics did not seem to work against Oranje Zwart, who managerd to play a far more measured and controlled style of hockey. However, it took the Dutch an entire first half before they could find the net, just before the hooter. The scorer, Jelle Galema. 

Although the domination was not absolute, it was apparent that Oranje Zwart were getting the better chances and they were rewarded with a Mink van der Weerden goal six minutes into the second half. Gabriel Dabanch put the game beyond doubt by scoring their third 12 minutes later. And that was how the match ended, 0-3 to Oranje Zwart.

Spare a thought for the Belgians.  When the Euro Hockey League started seven seasons ago, the Belgians were regarded as outsiders with only two teams in the league.  They now have three, two of which met each other in the last eight, and now with two sides were in the last four.  It is, by any measure, a remarkable achievement.

SPANISH KNOCKED OUT IN ROUND THREE. Reports from today's European action.

With the English interest eliminated, today’s action allowed the remaining Brits in Eindhoven to relax and enjoy the hockey.  However, although we have yet to do the maths, there are still ranking points to consider and the possibility that England could be relegated to two entries in next season’s Euro Hockey League.

England’s interests would be best served by the Spanish not progressing any further, and the first match of the day involved Club de Campo playing Harvestehuder. The Germans look one of the potential Champions playing this week, and did a reasonably comprehensive job on Club de Campo.  But it was the comic way in which the match ended that makes the match memorable.

We are grateful to Ross Bone of ‘Top of the D’ fame for being close to the incident and being able to pass on his observations. Harvestehuder were leading 1-3 when they were awarded an overtime penalty corner.  Tobias Hauke was seen saying something to Xavi Trenchs in the Club de Campo goal, which we believe was to tell him that the shot would be a soft one.  However, clearly nobody told Michael Korper, who slammed the ball home against a surprised and somewhat casual defence.  Trenches expressed his anger very visibly against Hauke, who thankfully managed to calm things down.  Final score: 1-4 to Harvestehuder.

The second match of the day was the all-Belgian meeting between Waterloo Ducks and Racing Club de Bruxelles.  The Belgians have had a really outstanding tournament here, with all three of their clubs reaching the last eight.  The Brussels club dominated the match, with the Duck’s goals both coming from penalty strokes.  Final score: 2-4 to Racing Club.

Harvestehuder and Racing Club Bruxelles meet each other in the first Semi-final on Sunday. Tomorrow is a rest day.

The day’s third match turned into a cracker, despite the two sides being divided by the match’s only goal. Captain Felix Denayer’s goal just before half-time in the game against Rotterdam, means that KHC Dragons are the second Belgian side to reach this season’s Semi-finals.

Dragons will meet the hosts, Oranje Zwart, who beat the second Spanish club, Real Club de Polo de Barcelona, on a shoot out after the match ended goalless at the end of normal time. 

Meanwhile, in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Reading’s women were taking part in the Club Champions Cup. There they met Germany’s Uhlenhorster. Reading were able to take a 58^th minute lead, thanks to a goal from Susie Gilbert, but the Germans managed to take the match to shoot-out after Vivian Tahal converted a penalty corner in the final seconds.  Reading went on to lose the shoot-out 3-2.

Under the new format, the winner of that match goes straight to a Semi-final, which is due to be played on Sunday.  Uhlenhorster will play Amsterdam, who beat Atasport 9-0 earlier in the day.

The other Semi-final will be between Real Sociedad of Spain and the hosts, Den Bosch. Real Sociedad beat Berliner 0-1, whilst Den Bosch beat Railway Union 0-7.

On Saturday Atasport play Reading, and Berliner play Railway Union.  This is for ranking points only.

THREE ALL OUT. Today's matches in the Euro Hockey League KO16 in Eindhoven.

No England team will be competing in the KO8 of the Euro Hockey League this season after Reading, Beeston and Surbiton were each knocked out of Round 2 in Eindhoven today.

Surprisingly, the best effort probably came from new-boys Surbiton, who took on the hosts, Oranje Zwart. 0-1 down after only two minutes when Gabriel Dabanch opened the scoring, Surbiton regained some shape as the match progressed, and 15 minutes later Rob More scored an equaliser.

The sides seemed equally matched, until in the second half Oranje Zwart took control of the game and added two more to their tally thanks to Rob Reckers and Mink van der Weerden. Final score, 3-1 to Oranje Zwart.

Earlier we had seen Beeston get off to a promising start with a goal scored within seconds of the starting whistle being sounded.  We are curious to know whether this is an EHL record. The scorer, as you would expect from Beeston, was Sam Ward. But just before half-time Nicolas Vandiest equalized for the Ducks, and scored a second eight minutes into the third quarter.

The last ten minutes saw four goals scored.  Alexandre De Paeuw and Gilles Jacob brought the Ducks’s score up to 4-1, before Beeston went through a mini revival which saw San Ward reach his hat trick, with goals in the 66^th and 69^th minutes. Final score, 4-3 to the Ducks.

One black spot in the match was an injury to skipper Adam Dixon, who was felled by a crunching tackle which saw him leave the pitch for treatment.  He returned later but took no further part in the match.

Reading, England’s most experienced European campaigners, had a poor match against old adversaries, RC Polo de Barcelona.  Barcelona went into the second half leading 3-0, and although Andy Watts and Nick Catlin scored to put a potential win on the cards, Reading were sunk by a 69^th minute Xavier Blanco gaol. Final score, 4-2 to Barcelona.

In today’s other match, Racing Club Bruxelles progress though to the last eight after winning their match against Rot-Weiss Koln on a shoot-out decider.

Round 3, sometimes called the KO8, is played tomorrow, and sees three Belgian, two Spanish, two Dutch and one German team fighting it out for a place in Sunday’s Semi-finals. Quite apart from the disappointment of not reaching the last eight, England are in danger of losing their status as a country that has three entrants into the League. Belgium will maintain or increase their ranking points, whilst Spain has got both its clubs though to the last eight.

Tomorrow’s matches are:

Club de Campo v Harvestehuder
Waterloo Ducks v Racing Club de Bruxelles

Rotterdam v KHC Dragons

Oranje Zwart v RC Polo de Barcelona

DRAGONS PROVIDE ACTION ON CHILLY DAY. Lastest from the KO16 in Eindhoven.

It has been a bright but chilly day in Eindhoven for the first day of the KO16 of the Euro Hockey League. Unfortunately there was little action on the pitch to warm us up but, as is often the case, there was an exception.

The last match of the day was the much awaited meeting between the Belgians of KHC Dragons and the Dutch side from Utrecht, Kampong.  Dragons always play fast attacking hockey and today was no different. What added a bit of spice to the match was the fact that Kampong had clearly decided to meet fire with fire, which led to some great action on the pitch.

Jerome Saeys 40^th minute goal for Dragons turned out to be the equaliser and the match ended in normal time at 2-2, forcing the match to a shoot-out.

Early misses in the shoot-out competition by Kampong’s Lawrence Docherty and Sander de Wijn meant that Dragon’s fifth attempt, taken by Felix Denayer, proved to be the winner; 3-4 to Dragons.

Dragons will meet Rotterdam on Friday in the KO8. Rotterdam had a 6-1 win over Grunwald Poznan earlier today.

The all-German meeting this afternoon between Harvestehuder and Uhlenhorst Mulheim had promised much, but provided little in the way of entertainment.  That finished 1-0 to Harvestehuder and they will play Club de Campo on Friday in the KO8.  Club de Campo had a relatively easy 5-0 win over St Germain.

Tomorrow is the day in which an English club is involved in all but one of the four matches.  Reading take on Polo de Barcelona in the morning and, after a one match break, this is followed by Waterloo Ducks vs Beeston, and then by the host club Oranje Zwart playing Surbiton.

PICTURE FROM TODAYS MATCHES ARE AT www.HockeyImages.co.uk.

READING ARE CROWNED CHAMPIONS. Results from today's play-off matches.

In only their fourth season in the England Hockey League, Surbiton were this afternoon crowned the Investec Women’s League Champions at the play-offs at Reading. 

Their Final, against Canterbury, got off to the very best of starts when a penalty corner award resulted in Emily Atkinson scoring with less than two minutes of play on the clock. But, despite generally dominating the match, goals did not come easy, and it was not until 18 minutes into the second half that they scored their second. Hollie Webb was the scorer from a penalty corner. Jenna Woolven made it a third for Surbiton, giving them a 0-3 victory and the Women’s Championships. 

Earlier, Reading had taken third place after a match which showed every sign of becoming  a goal blitz, with Clifton on the receiving end of the blitz.  Becky Halle scored a hat trick, with other goals from Alex Danson (2) and Jess Brooker.  Final score 0-6 to Reading.

In the Promotion Play-offs Buckingham managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by confounding form and winning their final match against Sutton Coldfield 2-0. But it was a close run thing, and Sutton Coldfield might count themselves as unlucky in not keeping their Premier Division status. Buckingham’s scorer was Zoe Shipperley and both were from penalty corners. 

Buckingham will be joining Holcombe in the Premier Division next season. It was already a done deal before this morning, but the Kent side put their stamp on the promotion table by running riot against Brooklands Poynton, beating them 2-8.

Final Promotion Tournament table: 1. Holcombe 7 pts (+12), 2. Buckingham 6 pts (+0), 3. Sutton Coldfield 4 pts (-1) 4. Brooklands Poynton 0 pts (-11). Holcombe and Buckingham are promoted.

Away from Reading there were important Relegation Tournament matches. In the NOW:Pensions Men’s League Brighton beat Khalsa 3-4 and stay in the League. In the Investec Women’s League. Boots lost at home to Chelmsford, and Chelmsford retain their East Conference status. 

We expect to have Pictures from Reading on our sister web site at www.HockeyImages.co.uk some time tomorrow.

BUCKINGHAM'S CHANCES FADING. Results from today's Promotion Play-offs at Reading

Conference West Buckingham’s fourth attempt to gain promotion to the Investec Premier Division seemed to be fading this afternoon when they lost to East Champions Holcombe in today’s Promotion Play-offs at Reading. 

Coming into their second match of the Play-offs with a 4-0 win against Brooklands Poynton under their belt, they suffered a crippling 6-0 defeat which pushes them down into third place in the table, and with the prospect of a difficult match tomorrow. Buckingham were 2-0 down within the first 14 minutes, with goals from Leigh Maasdorp and Lauren Osborn.  But the real damage was done in the last 12 minutes, when three penalty corners were fired home, the first from Megan Frazer, followed up by a goal from Laura Unworth and a second from Frazer.  The icing on Holcombe’s cake came from a 67^th field goal from Nicci Daly.

In last season’s Play-offs Buckingham finished joint first, but were ranked third on goal difference, as so just missed out on promotion. 

In the other Play-off match Sutton Coldfield moved into second place in the table after having made a fine comeback against Brooklands Poyton. The Manchester side had taken a 1-2 lead early in the second half, thanks to a Kelly Baxter goal. But it did not take long for Emma McCabe to equalise for Sutton Coldfield, and two minutes later Jane Sixsmith rather fittingly scored the winner for Sutton.

Tomorrow Sutton Coldfield face Buckingham, and need a win or a draw to keep their Premier Division status.  In the other match Brooklands Poynton is now a lost cause. Holcombe’s goal difference assures them of promotion, although they could drop to second place.

The Promotion Play-offs after two matches: 1. Holcombe 4 pts (+6), 2. Sutton Coldfield 4 pts (+1), 3 Buckingham 3 Pts (-2), 4. Brooklands Poynton 0 pts (-5).

BEESTON TAKE IT AFTER SHOOT OUT. Today's results from Reaing.

Almost continuous rain failed to dampen spirits on the pitch at Reading  this afternoon, as the NOW:Pensions Promotion Play-offs and Championship Finals were played.

In the Promotion Play-offs, it was rumoured that already promoted Southgate had been celebrating last night, and their performance against Brooklands MU showed every symptom of an early morning hangover.  Brooklands, who needed a draw or a win to be guaranteed promotion, gratefully accepted what was on offer and came away with a 1-3 win, all three of their goals coming from their Peter Flanagan.  Southgate’s goal was scored by Rick Gay.  As a result of the match, Brooklands finish top of the play-off pool and are promoted to the Premier Division alongside Southgate next season.

Although Brooklands’ win had meant that the match between Sheffield Hallam and Cardiff & Met was a dead rubber, the match turned out to be much the better of the two Promotion Play-off matches today. However, although the match never appeared to get out of control,  some of the tackling was a little agricultural, which resulted in six yellow cards being shown, four to Sheffield Hallam and two to Cardiff & Met. Sheffield can add that to the three they picked up yesterday, a total which might raise an eyebrow or two.  The match was won by Cardiff 2-5, two of the goals coming from penalty strokes converted by Mark Watling, with Luke Hawker scoring two and Rupert Shipperly scoring the fifth.  Sheffield Hallam’s goals came from David Goodfield and David Bond.  The result of the match means that Sheffield Hallam is relegated to the Conferences, and Cardiff & Met remain in the Conference West.

Final positions in play-offs: 1. Brooklands MU 7 pts (+3), 2. Southgate 6 pts (+2), 3. Cardiff & Met 3 pts (+1), 4. Sheffield Hallam 1 pt (-6).

There was no dead rubber In the NOW: Pensions League Championship Play-offs, with three European places on offer for the last four.

Reading made history, but not in a positive way, by failing to qualify for the Euro Hockey League for the first time since the League’s inception.  It’s actually the first time they have failed to qualify for a European outdoor club place since 2006. Playing for third place against Surbiton, Reading got off the best possible start with an early goal from Jonty Clarke. But a penalty stroke conversion from Alan Forsyth forced the match to a shoot-out which was won by Surbiton 3-2. 

Surbiton are currently playing their first Euro Hockey League season and will shortly be travelling to Eindhoven for the KO16.  Their qualification for the 2014-15 competition is dependent on England retaining its three places.

The Championship Finals, between two sides who have been neck and neck all season, was an entertaining affair, if a little lacking in skilful play.  Perhaps the performance of George Pinner in the Beeston goal just gave them the edge against East Grinstead But first blood went to Beeston when Sam Ward found the net in the fifth minute. East Grinstead lost little time in returning the compliment, thanks to their Andy Piper, but the match eventually finished in normal time at 1-1. 

Both goalkeepers put in fine performances in the subsequent shoot-out, although Pinner perhaps had just the edge, with the result that Beeston won that phase of the match 1-3, and were crowned the 2013-2014 Champions.

PICTURES FROM OUR WEB SITE AT WWW.HOCKEYIMAGES.CO.UK WILL APPEAR SOON.

IT'S A BEESTON v EG FINAL. Results from the NOW:Pensions Semi-finals at Reading.

East Grinstead will meet Beeston in the final of the NOW:Pensions Championships at Reading tomorrow after emerging the winners from a high scoring semi-final match against Surbiton this afternoon.

Luke Taylor and Mark Pearn had given EG a 2-0 first-half lead, but the Sussex side really put the pressure on in the second half which saw them blitz the Surbiton goal with four goals in six minutes, with Taylor scoring his second plus goals from Tony Wilson, Mark Gleghorne and David Condon.  The match ended 6-2 with both Surbiton goals coming in the last two minutes, courtesy of Michael Watt and Matt Daly. 

In the other semi-final the holders, Beeston, made their bid to retain the trophy with a 4-2 win over Reading. Beeston’s scorers were Sam Ward (2) and Adam Dixon.  As an uncanny coincidence, both of Reading’s goals were also scored in the last two minutes. The scorers for Reading were Dan Shingles and Jonty Clarke.