Bloemendaal and Kampong share spoils in rollercoaster battle

Bloemendaal and SV Kampong played out a stunning 4-4 draw in the men’s Hoofdklasse as the home side came back from 2-0 and 4-2 down to rescue a point.

It sees Bloemendaal sit in third spot, three points off leaders AH&BC Amsterdam with Den Bosch now in second spot. Kampong, meanwhile, cling onto fourth spot, one point ahead of HC Rotterdam in the race for the playoff places.

In a rollercoaster battle, both sides were missing key men with Teun Beins out for the hosts while David Harte had an ankle injury so Estiaan Kriek stepped into goal for the Utrecht outfit.

It comes just over two weeks out from their ABN AMRO EHL FINAL8 fixtures where Bloemendaal face Club de Campo and Kampong meet Surbiton.

Kampong did burst into the lead with a corner goal from Jip Janssen and Duco Telgenkamp’s sweet shot on the spin.

Bloemendaal fought back, Nathan Ephraums picking up the pieces from close range on two occasions to make it 2-2.

Telgenkamp, though, retored the Kampong lead before half-time and Janssen extended that lead from another corner.

Bloemendaal, though, showed their resolve with Jasper Brinkman cutting the gap with a corner drag and Marc Miralles levelled from the penalty spot for 4-4.

It has been a tricky spell for Michel van den Heuvel’s side since the restart after Christmas with three defeats in their previous five games saw their healthy advantage in the table dissipate.

But Van den Heuvel points to Bloemendaal’s young age profile and says the side is learning all the time. With Teun Hogenhout (17), Jan van ‘t Land (19), Gijs ter Braak (20), Casper van der Veen (20), Lars Leistra (21) and Lucas Veen (21) there were six relatively young players on the pitch.

“We need these kinds of games to grow. Especially with the young group we have,” he told hockey.nl.

“Some of our boys are not used to this level of competitive hockey. Important weeks are coming up now with big games. We have to show mental and physical toughness in those. In that respect, this game was good for our development. We are on the right track.”

Elsewhere, Rotterdam came undone 4-1 at the hands of Den Bosch with Timo Boers adding two goals to his growing tally, leaving them in fifth place ahead of a vital game against Amsterdam next week.

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