It all comes down to this afternoon in the Dutch championship after Saturday’s first leg fixtures saw both the women’s and men’s games end in a draw.

The women’s decider will be at 12.45 (CET) after the first leg at the Wagener Stadium ended 2-2 with Fiona Morgenstern scoring twice for AH&BC Amsterdam while Mette Winter and Yibbi Jansen equalised both times.

For Morgenstern, it made a nice change from her previous playoff experiences with Oranje-Rood, saying to hockey.nl in the build-up to the final series:

“Now the tension is much healthier. I’ve already played play-offs three times with OR. But then we were always number four. The underdog. 

“Now we are a real contender. Do we really have a very good chance of becoming champions? That idea already generates so much energy. We’re not afraid, we’re really looking forward to it.”

On the men’s side, Pinoké went in front in the final quarter via an Alexander Hendrickx penalty corner but a late reply from Arthur van Doren got Bloemendaal back on terms 1-1 as the second leg head to ‘t Kopje.

For Hendrickx, he says the feeling is much stronger in the Pinoké panel that they can get over the line having finished runners-up a year ago.

“Not only in the Netherlands, but also in Belgium they say that you first have to lose a final before you can win it,” he told hockey.nl. “That was also the case with the Belgian team. We really lost a lot before we reached the top. You can best compare Belgium with Pinoké.

“Last year we were happy just to be in a final at all. Then we quickly learned what the painful feeling was after a lost final. We must remember that feeling because this is a completely different Pinoké.’

Women’s final (12.45 CET): https://nos.nl/livestream/2476190-hockey-finale-landskampioenschap-schc-amsterdam-v

Men’s final (16.00 CET): https://nos.nl/livestream/2476191-hockey-finale-landskampioenschap-bloemendaal-pinoke-m