The women’s Hoofdklasse regular season will go down to the final day after Den Bosch landed two wins from two to draw level with AH&BC Amsterdam at the top on 55 points.
Crucially, they beat third placed SCHC on Saturday 3-2 to move level and they then backed that up with a 7-1 success over struggling HGC.
Pleun van der Plas’s lovely piece of dexterity saw her volley in the first goal but a sharp Pien Dicke strike equalised for 1-1 at half-time.
Frédérique Matla restored the lead and Ireen van den Assem extended the advantage out to 3-1 and while Ginella Zerbo got one back, Den Bosch had the all important result.
A day later, Matla added a hat trick in their 7-1 win over HGC to bring her season’s total in the Hoofdklasse to 22 goals with Joosje Burg, Lidewij Welten – her 150th career strike – Teuntje de Wit and van den Assem all scoring.
Amsterdam, for their part, got the better of neighbours Hurley 1-0 courtesy of Marijn Veen’s single goal in the 33rd minute.
The upshot was Den Bosch moved level with Amsterdam on points with one game to go each. Amsterdam face fourth-placed hdm while the Brabant outfit are up against bottom-placed Laren.
In the men’s Hoofdklasse, the last remaining issue is the destination of the fourth playoff place. Den Bosch are in pole position following their 4-1 success, coming from a goal down to beat HC Tilburg with two goals from Austin Smith and one each from Koen Bijen and Noud Schoenaker.
They stay two points ahead of Pinoké who won against already relegated Almere 10-0.
Den Bosch’s final challenge is a battle with 11th placed Hurley; Pinoké hope they slip up there and then they can do their side of the deal with a home win against Tilburg.
Bloemendaal are already confirmed in first, SV Kampong in second with HC Rotterdam confirmed in a playoff spot.