'9Ruben VersteegR. Versteeg
'15Borja LacalleB. Lacalle
'23Jaïr van der HorstJ. v. d. Horst
HT
'37Andrés MirA. Mir
'49Ricardo SánchezR. Sánchez
'56Pepijn ReyenaP. Reyena
'57Jose BasterraJ. Basterra
'59Ignacio Abajo Sáenz de TejadaI. A. S. d. Tejada
'59Jaïr van der HorstJ. v. d. Horst
FT
Match report
Men’s ABN AMRO EHL Ranking Cup
M8: Den Bosch 3 (R Versteeg, J van der Horst, P Reyenga) Club de Campo de Madrid 2 (B Lacalle, J Basterra)
Den Bosch won a cracking contest to close out day two of the men’s EHL Ranking Cup, keeping Club de Campo just about at bay. It gives the Dutch club fifth place ranking points with Campo settling for ninth.
Den Bosch played the first half at an outstanding pace, moving the ball swiftly and they went in front from a super pitch-length move in the 12th minute. After building a strong platform, a long diagonal overhead found Ruben Versteeg in an attacking position and while he slightly miscontrolled, it opened enough space for him to whack home the first goal.
Campo, though, showed their pressing intensity in the first match and a brilliant steal by Borja Lacalle created an overload 30-metres out. The first shot was saved by Flip Wijsman but fell back perfectly for Lacalle to swipe into the goal.
But Den Bosch kept pushing forward and after several waves of attack they were back in front in the 23rd minute. This time, it was Versteeg’s under the arm pass which put the ball on a plate for Jaïr van der Horst to dive onto and apply a reverse-stick finish for 2-1.
They were thankful for Gijs Campbell who produced a great stop on the line to keep the narrow lead intact. It was mainly the Dutch club who made the play with Mario Garin making a lot of strong interventions.
He was powerless to stop what looked to be a game winner from Pepijn Reyenga with an absolute rocket of a shot to the top corner.
That was with just four minutes to go and should have clinched it but within seconds, Campo had a stroke when Alvaro Iglesias had his stick checked in front of goal. Jose Basterra flicked in the stroke for a second successive game.
With both sides seeing yellow in the last few phases, it made for a lively closing phase but Den Bosch held on for victory and the fifth place ranking points.
Umpires: B Bale (ENG), A Fedenczuk (SCO)
