Netherland trounce Irish Men in EuroHockey Championship: 7-4 – Hockey Update
Taeke Taekema displayed one of the best performances in the tournament, as the Dutch Men powered to a 7-4 win over Ireland in the group fixture of the EuroHockey Championship that took place at the Warsteiner Hockey Park in Monchengladbach, Germany.
Taekema, the top point-scorer of the match while speaking to the media after the game expressed satisfaction over the Orangemen. He stated, “For years we were criticized that we played defensively and now we would be way too offensive. And yes, the last
few minutes against Ireland, we had perhaps better play. Maarals you score seven goals against Ireland, four goals against England and France at eight you'll do just fine."
Paul Revington, the trainer of the Dutch team while talking to the journalists said that he was quite satisfied after the first half of play. He continued that the games against world’s best teams like Netherlands could only make improvement in their games.
However, he further expressed that they wanted to remain in the group.
Netherlands and Ireland - both the teams started the action in quite a fast way, as they wanted to earn the lead in the crucial fixture. The Dutch team has had edge over the Irish due to their ranking difference which paid off for them in the head of attacks.
With seven minutes into the game, the Dutch team drew first blood in the hands of Bob de Voogd. He managed to drive the ball at the defensive circle of Ireland and volleyed a powerful shot into the goal. It was the point that not only boosted the courage of
Dutch players but ignited the offence of rival Irish players.
In search of equaliser, the Irish started efforts and succeeded to do so in the 14th minute of the mark. Eugene Magee marked a goal from the field and made the score equal at one-all. Amazingly, the Irish put the Dutch team under pressure and
established dominance in the field through ball possession.
In the 22nd minute of the match, William Geoffrey McCabe converted a short corner and put Ireland to the front at the score-chart. However, the players from Netherlands were not sitting motionless and watching the results passing by. Taeke Taekema,
the legendary player from the Dutch squad scored off a couple of penalty corners respectively in the 27th and 31st minutes and closed out the half at 3-2.
In the second half, the Dutch team further stretched out their game and scored another four goals while holding opponent only for two. Taekema added two more while his team-mates Teun de Nooijer and De Voogd accounted for one goal. From the other side, Timothy
Cockram and Michael Watt scored one goal each but could not save their side from a humiliating defeat. The Netherlands won the match at 7-4.
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