Jorrit Croon made his welcome return to action last Sunday as he helped HC Bloemendaal to a big 2-1 win over SV Kampong in the Hoofdklasse topper as he hopes to put his injury woes behind him.
He suffered a nasty fall against Amsterdam in November; it followed knee ligament injury and a shoulder issue sustained in the Pro League semi-final last year but the 21-year-old creative midfielder is now hoping to kick on for a busy 2020.
“I really have no worries about whether my body is doing well,” he told hockey.nl after the win over Kampong and he feels his touch will come back in time.
“I have put in a lot of hours without a ball and stick. But having the stick is so different. That was hard. That took getting used to in the beginning. I have a feeling for the ball.
“But if you have run with your back bent for half an hour, coordination is harder.
“Whether it was the bloody weather at Bloemendaal, with a stormand rain. Minus two degrees. I stood on the field with a smile. I hadn’t played in that long. I love hockey.
“If you don’t play for four months, it will affect you. The fact that we were now playing against Kampong, who played with the ‘knife on the throat’, was good for me.”
Jip Janssen put Kampong in front in the game before Arthur van Doren’s reverse-stick shot and a typical Roel Bovendeert goal turned things around in the second half.
The two clubs could meet again in the EHL FINAL4 should they win their FINAL8 games on April 9.
Bloemendaal are currently top of the table with a six-point lead over HGC with Den Bosch a point back form them. Rotterdam are in fourth on 27 points with Kampong hoping they can bridge the three-point gap.