The women of Misker E&O seemed ready for their first victory this season. But the game against fellow low-flyer V&L was also lost in Emmen on Saturday.
The team from Geleen was too strong for the Emmer women of coach Jan Gerald Mulder with 19-26. That was a major setback. Because it was not so secretly hoped that E&O, which returned to the Premier League after a five-year absence, could achieve the first win of the season. After all, the number next to last from the stand came to visit with the Limburgers.
Although E&O is scoreless at the bottom, it sometimes shows that it can play handball much better than the position in the rankings suggests. For example, the Emmer women played an excellent game against Kwiek in Raalte last weekend. They were close to their first victory in the Premier League, but narrowly lost 30-28. That was extra good because E&O reached number five in the standings with Kwiek.
E&O starts the match very slowly
But the girls from Emmen did not reach that level on Saturday in their own Sports Hall Angelslo against the also struggling V&L. The home team started the match extremely slowly and quickly fell behind 1-5. We shot poorly and lost too much ball. The coverage of E&O showed some gaps and the Limburg women knew what to do with this. E&O’s defense found it difficult to get a grip on the high-scoring Veerle Steijns in particular.
Steijns was also often effective with penalty throws, which the referees often handed out after E&O players were forced to pull the emergency brake. As a result, V&L was further and further ahead against the then powerless home team. The Emmen team again had the experienced Tessa Hilbrands, who was absent for a long time due to an injury. But she had not yet focused her sights on her shot attempts.
Bills give E&O impetus
V&L effortlessly expanded to a 5-13 and, going into halftime, an 8-16 lead. It is that goalkeeper Amber Foree occasionally stopped a ball in the Emmer goal, otherwise the deficit for E&O would have been even greater.
In the second half, the Emmer girls showed for a period that they did not want to be led to the slaughter like tame sheep. Coach Mulder, who succeeded the expelled Dane Henrik Bergholt, had replaced some other players. That benefited E&O’s game. For example, coach Manon Keurs gave a new impetus to the Emmer game, while her teammate Romy Stadens turned out to be the most dangerous shooter. The latter became the top scorer for the Emmen team with six goals.
It all led to E&O reducing the deficit point by point. V&L, who saw the Emmer women coming closer and closer, became increasingly nervous. Not much was possible anymore for the team from Geleen. E&O reduced the gap with V&L to a gap of three goals. The audience in the hall sat down, because perhaps with the score of 18-21 – after a goal by Tessa Hilbrands – even more was possible.
The revival is coming to an end
But a possible first victory for the Emmer women was no longer possible. E&O’s revival came to an end with a number of failed passes and loss of ball. V&L recovered and regained control of the match. The Limburgers scored five more times, while the home team only managed once in the final phase. The game was over with a score of 19-26.
In the next match, which will not be played until January in Amsterdam, a good result for E&O cannot yet be expected. Then the opponent is reigning national champion VOC.