Photo: Darren Cheeseman celebrates his winning goal for East Grinstead. (Image: HockeyImages.co.uk).We already knew that all three English sides had qualified for Round Two of the EuroHockey League before today, but this afternoon was Super Sunday with each facing a top European Club side. The results were mixed, but the clubs concerned can go home with their heads held high.
We have to mention that the first game of today was between Mannheimer and Grunwald Poznan, from which Mannheimer emerged 5-1 winners.
Next up were Beeston, who faced top Spanish side, Atletic Terrassa. Being the hosts, Terrassa had the support of a lively home crowd but, perhaps because the colour yellow is common to both clubs, Beeston seemed to take some inspiration from this, and thanks to two Andrew Monte penalty corner conversions, Beeston were two up as half time approached. Florian Michel found the net from a corner before the half time hooter sounded, and for the rest of the match it was a case of Beeston hunkering down and keeping a clean sheet. Final score 2-1 to Beeston.
Reading had the misfortune to be drawn against Dutch giants Bloemendaal, and it says something about the calibre of the opposition simply to mention two names - Jamie Dwyer and Teun de Nooijer, both FIH Players of the Year. Reading looked seriously out of their depth in the early exchanges, shipping a Rogier Hofman goal four minutes into the match. Rik van Kan struck a second nine minutes later, and Reading looked in serious trouble.
Weathering the first half storm without further goals, Reading started to look increasingly more comfortable in this company. Ronald Brouwer scored a third for Bloemendaal early in the second half, but Simon Mantell replied with a cracker seconds later. Indeed one of the hallmarks of this match was the calibre of the goals. Unfortunately, Reading's growing confidence was not enough to stop Bloemendaal scoring twice more, the first from a de Nooijer penalty corner and a second from open play by van Kan.
With ten minutes left, Reading started to make it more of a contest, and they were rewarded with a penalty corner goal from Richard Mantell, followed by Reading's third from Chris Cargo – another quality goal.
There are few sides here in Terrassa who can keep company with Bloemendaal, and today's result may offer some encouragement to Reading. It was not quite a game of two halves, but Reading clearly showed enormous improvement over the 70 minutes.
The match between East Grinstead and RC Polo de Barcelona was not the sort of match that would not suit an English supporter of nervous disposition. Polo took an early lead courtesy of Pau Quemada and East Grinstead seemed to be on the rails for several minutes. But, as half time approached, Danny Hall struck twice for the Sussex side to put them into the lead.
From that point on a pattern started to appear in the match, where the side that had conceded a goal came back strongly. Polo equalised nine minutes into the second half, but Dave de Prez restored 'Grinstead's lead soon after. Gabriel Debanch scored Polo's third seven minutes later, and the sides were back on equal terms again.
Grinstead stepped up a gear and, with eight minutes left, the winner was scored by Darren Cheeseman, recently returned from Old Loughtonians. You may read some reports that credit Ashley Jackson with the goal, but TalkHockeyRadio spotted the mistake on the official match report and this is being corrected.
Final score 5-3 to East Grinstead.
Our congratulations to the three English sides involved in Round One. The final images from today's matches will appear on our sister site at www.hockeyimages,co.uk some time later today.
