18 may 09, SINGAPORE: It was always going to be exciting to see Hollandse Club Blue take on league leaders Hockey Village People. The hot favourites for the inaugural League Masters took on the most consistent side respectively.
The Dutch started the game with a bang as they moved the ball very nicely and had two shotson goals both expertly saved by Martin Painter in the People's goals. At the other end, Martin Snijder was hardly tested in the opening exchanges.
The Blues were pushing real hard and got the breakthrough after 6 minutes when Pascal Blanchet weaved his way into the People's "D" and layed the ball off to an unmarked Jan Hordink to put the Blues 1-0 up.
To their ultimate credit, The Villagers kept their nerve and were chipping at the Blues defence patiently with Paul Rdiley a constant launch pad of long ball inspired attacked. Stephen Whitton the intended target for most if not all these long balls, was also in a personal battle with Blanchet for the league top scorers' billing. Both players were on 6 goals a piece before this game.
The reason why I mentioned this now is because Whitton moved clear ahead following a defensive slip up by Tjalling Gerus at the Blues backline and Whitton hit the ball so hard past the hapless Snijder.
As you would all know, when trouble comes it usually rains. And within a minute, the Villagers were 2-1 up. Whitton played a neat one-two with David Rego and the latter slotted the ball elegantly past an onrushing Snijder.
The Blues were close to cumbling under these sustained pressure but the leadership of Hans Sluiser and the mercurial skills of Joeri Gianotten the Blues managed to stay in the game and went into the break a goal down.
The Villagers were delighted with their shift and yearned for similar energy in the second period.
The second half got off and it was similar to the first where the Dutch took the early initiative. They were rewarded yet again for their attack mindedness as Gianotten whizzed his way into the Villagers' "D" and powerd a flick into the top right hand corner to make it 2-2.
Although the goals dreid up after that, the game was end-to-end stuff and was an excellent showcase of Masters hockey.
The teams were rather pleased with their efforts and debutant, Tim Way for the Villagers was highly influential, not bad for a guy who has not paid up his membership fees :)
Next up 25 May 09:
8pm: Mucha Hockey v Merlions (Hollandse Club x 2 umpires)
9pm: Hollandse Club Blues v Hollandse Club Oranje (Mucha & Merlions to umpire)
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