Terrance Pieters stepped up to take on the drag-flicking duties to great effect for SV Kampong as they recorded a 5-2 success against Pinoké last Sunday in the Hoofdklasse.
With regular flickers Jip Janssen and Martijn Havenga not available, Pieters stepped up to net twice – in addition to also hitting the post twice – with vicious shots, the second of which was key in putting them 3-2 in front.
Speaking to hockey.nl, Pieters laughed about his surprise new role: “I train with Jip nowadays, apparently that paid off! Actually, I never completely stopped practicing corners. I know it has added value, so I train hard on it. Fortunately, they went well.”
He also completed his hat trick in the last minute with a close range finish from a Sander de Wijn pass to the back post.
It followed a turbulent week in which the Utrecht club had limited training time over Covid-related issues which will require a hearing with the KNHB committee on Friday.
Pieters added: “There was a lot of commotion. I found it confusing. As players, we have said to each other that we must remain calm and listen to the advice.”
“It was also the week that it was announced that there should no longer be an audience at the games. It wasn’t until Friday evening that it became clear that we could play on Sunday.”
The result keeps Kampong in second place on 16 points, two points behind leaders Bloemendaal who were 6-0 winners over Hurley.
HGC were very impressive in a 4-1 success against Oranje-Rood, scoring all four of their goals in the first 26 minutes courtesy of Luuk van Duren, Pelle Vos and two from Seve van Ass.
The Hague club are equal in fourth place on 12 points alongside Rotterdam with Jeroen Hertzberger scoring five times in a 7-3 win over Almere.
Den Bosch ran up a 5-1 win over AH&BC Amsterdam with three goals scored into an unguarded net after goalkeeper Philip van Leeuwen was sin-binned and no reserve was in pads.