EHL Round 1.1:
Pembroke Wanderers 1 (A Sothern) HC Rotterdam (J Hertzberger 3, Paul Maas, Rob van den Horst, P Burrows)
Pembroke can reflect on a successful weekend’s work in Barcelona despite of a 6-1 thrashing by Dutch masters HC Rotterdam yesterday in Barcelona as they advanced to the last 16 of the EuroHockey League.
The Dutch side’s 6-0 annihilation of Scottish champions Kelburne on Saturday meant, in the wake of Pembroke’s 4-2 win over the same opposition, the sole relevance of the final group game was to decide who qualified in top position.
That issue was pretty much wrapped up by the 28th minute when Jeroen Hertzberger fired a brilliant double and Paul Maas squeezed in from close range.
Alan Sothern replied with his fifth goal in three days but, despite Conor Harte’s last-gasp tackling and Nigel Henderson’s eye-catching goalkeeping, Rotterdam notched up three further second half goals.
The former Irish captain Henderson, now 41, had emerged from retirement for the game as David Harte was exam-tied and made his mark with a unique, head-butted save which drew the game’s biggest cheer.
The fixture, though, served to illustrate the difference between the respective sides. The Dutch club’s speed of movement and thought was breath-taking and made Pembroke look pedestrian at times.
The combination work of Jeroen Hertzberger, Rob van den Horst, Paul Maas and Phil Burrows was thrilling to watch.
It took seven minutes for the opening goal as Maas – on video replay – awarded the finishing touch by Hertzberger’s cross. He turned scorer from provider with a delightfully dinked effort – akin to pitch-forking the ground – to beat Henderson in the 13th minute and it was 3-0 when Hertzberger sizzled in a reverse.
Hertzberger completed his hat-trick from the next set-piece and Phil Burrows deflection to van den Horst’s crash-ball – hitting hard enough to break his stick – completed the rout.
Nonetheless, Pembroke are in the hat for the last 16 which takes place in the Netherlands next Easter and will face one of the eight group winners. The draw will be made in a month’s time.
Final Pool Standings:
Pool G: 1. HC Rotterdam 10pts (+11) 2. Pembroke Wanderers 5pts (-3) 3. Kelburne 1pt (-8)
* Photos from the game from Frank Uijlenbroek are here. For The Hook's live match-tracker of the game, click here
12 comments:
super stuff pembroke great for irish Hockey , Tim lewis had a great game as did Harte ,
any idea of location for the next round ?
Do we know where in Holland its gona be on at Easter??
This won't be decided until after round 1.2 as it depends on what Dutch clubs make it through. Should Amsterdam and Bloemendaal both be eliminated then it will be in Rotterdam.
If not it could be in any of the three clubs.
Key thing for Irish hockey to maintain 2 EHL places is for Pembroke to rack up some more points to keep Ireland in the top 8rankings.
Last Year Glenanne earned 12 points and Three Rock Rovers earned 11 points for Ireland.
This time round Glenanne have only earned half that with 6 points in total and Pembroke are currently on 11 points. Any more points Pembroke can earn from Round 2 would help secure our 2 places in EHL
is KO16 going to be around the same time as last year steve? in April? and so what your trying to say is that it will be in Holland for Ko16?
nice to hear the eurosport commentators raving about the Irish support, especially Glenanne's.
Queso, do you mean Pembroke earned 12 ponts and TRR 11?
Yes indeed!!
It was Pembroke who earned 12 points last year by winning the Euro Trophy... Glenanne earned 12 points the year before that by winning the same competition!!
How time flies :-)
How great is it too see such strong support for Glenanne, and not even that, i heard that the Glens used some of the cheer in the Pembroke game. Great to see that. When it comes down to it, it goes to show how close clubs in leinster really are. Well done Pembroke, you did very well, Very unlucky Glens.
Glenanne had close to 75 fans in Barcelona. A serious effort for any club, amateur or professional. They were brilliant all weekend as well.
Its all about ireland not really your club. it was great to see lets push hard for any team representing ireland!
Not sure it is just Leinster clubs. We had messages of support from many of the guys up North too. As someone said it is about Irish teams doing well.
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