England Men Defeated In Nine-Goal Thriller

England 3
Nick Bandurak (28’ FG); Stuart Rushmere (38’ PC, 51’ FG)

Netherlands 6
Derck de Vilder (1’, 18 FGs); Tjep Hoedemakers (24’, 44’ FGs); Jorst van der Hair (47’ FG); Dennis Warmerdam (59’ FG)

Netherlands’ men took victory against England in a nine-goal thriller in London.

The visitors were 3-0 up after 24 minutes, and although England fought back to close the gap to both 3-2 and 5-3, the Dutch’s ruthlessness in front of goal proved decisive.

Stuart Rushmere scored two of England’s goals - the second a lovely individual effort – while Nick Bandurak also produced a very neat finish following great work by Peter Scott.

So while Netherlands deservedly took the points, England showed resilience and stoicism to stay in the game and will look to their final Pro League matches of the season with optimism; Belgium the visitors in a fortnight’s time.

England: Payne (GK), Creed, Albery, Nurse, Rushmere, Goodfield, Condon, Calnan, Wallace (C), Ramshaw, Bandurak
Subs (used): Griffiths, Sloan, Ward, Roper, Scott, Turner
Sub (unused): Mazarelo (GK)

Report
Just like in Saturday’s game, the Netherlands flew out of the traps and this time they had a lead within just 37 seconds as Derck de Vilder slammed home for 1-0 to stun the hosts.

England responded well though, and Zach Wallace almost scored with a rocket of a shot after controlling a high pass. Before the first quarter was up England saw a series of penalty corner attempts repelled, while Holland’s Terrance Pieters and England’s Chris Griffiths both had sights of goal.

Early in the second quarter and Phil Roper’s reverse hit was palmed away by Maurits Visser in the Dutch goal. England were working hard to create opportunities, but were hit by an absolute thunderbolt of a second goal when de Vilder slammed home again for 2-0; truly unstoppable.

England will have been disappointed with the manner of the Netherlands’ third as Tjep Hoedemakers stole possession between the home defence and ran into the D to smack past Ollie Payne.

The home side did not let their heads drop though, and Peter Scott danced superbly down the left hand side to create a chance for Nick Bandurak which he finished with aplomb.

Into the second half and England continued to press, getting their second with a very neat Stuart Rushmere finish from a corner on 38 minutes. But they were hit with a sucker punch just before the end of Q3 as Hoedemakers volleyed home superbly after being found in space.

When Jorst van der Hair made it 5-2 early in the last quarter, England would have been forgiven for thinking the game was up, but again they showed great stoicism and quality as Rushmere produced a brilliant run and finish with seven minutes left.

England kept going, and Visser had to produce a great stop to keep out Phil Roper’s corner in the last couple of minutes. With England going to eleven outfielders, Dennis Warmerdam was able to run clear to score into an unguarded net and seal all three points for his side.

So a great game ended 6-3 to the visitors, and while it was of course, not the result we wanted, England did show resilience and now look to the visit of Belgium in a fortnight as the conclusion of their Pro League campaign.

To see the matchday breakdown click here.