In a downright thriller, Drenth Groep Hurry-Up and Aalsmeer shared the points 28-28. With that, the visitors in Zwartemeer were just a little happier than the home team.
While the playing time had already ended, star Patrick Miedema was allowed to moor one more time for one last shot. In front of him was a seemingly impenetrable wall with waving arms of Aalsmeer players. Nevertheless, the Hurry-Up game distributor managed to avoid it, but saw his shot being tapped over by goalkeeper René de Knegt. Immediately afterwards, the exciting game ended 28-28.
The spectators, who had watched the last few minutes standing in the stands biting their nails, calmed down somewhat. In itself, the division of points was a good reflection of the mutual strength in a duel that was fought on the razor’s edge and with a lot of battle. Still, Hurry-Up, which led 24-20 after fifteen minutes in the second half, could have collected the full two points with a bit more luck.
Vaidas Trainavicius scores the equalizer against his old club just before time
With thirteen seconds to play, Hurry-Up still led 28-27. Aalsmeer tried with all its might to find holes in the Zwartemeer defense, in which the home team defended like lions. The clock ticked inexorably towards the end. A special action was needed for the visitors to still score the equalizer. The crafty Aalsmeer coach Bert Bouwer, who is leaving after this season, gave his players the last attacking instructions in a time-out. They did not fall on deaf ears.
Playmaker Vaidas Trainavicius, the Lithuanian who previously played for Hurry-Up for many years, scored with a surprising and sneaky low shot: 28-28. There were only seconds left on the clock after that. Hurry-Up coach Joop Fiege in turn called his players for a time-out and discussed the plan to still make the winning. The Zwartemeerders started their last attack, but it stalled because Miedema was swept down hard for the umpteenth time. De Emmenaar, who has been named the best midfielder of the BeNe-League, was then allowed to shoot one more time by the referees, but without result.
Ronald Suelmann is working on second youth at Hurry-Up
That was more of a damper for Hurry-Up than for Aalsmeer, which had dragged the draw away from the gates of hell in the attractive and fascinating duel. The Zwartemeerders have not been able to play at the top of their game in recent weeks due to multiple injuries. Coach Fiege was able to use almost everyone again against Aalsmeer, although the necessary match rhythm is still missing here and there. In addition, Ronald Suelmann seems to be in his second youth in the Hurry-Up team. The Klazienavener, who actually said goodbye to play in the second in 2021, is fully participating in the selection corps again. He does not seem to be deprived of the chance to finally become Dutch champion.
Time penalties and penalty throws help Aalsmeer back in the game
Aalsmeer is certainly a champion candidate. It was great that Hurry-Up became the parent after an equal first half after the break (13-13). The Zwartemeerders punished Aalsmeer’s mistakes mercilessly and led 23-19 and 24-20. Hurry-Up had to give a lot defensively. That was not always according to the rules. The referees handed out the necessary time penalties to the home team, which meant that Hurry-Up was often with a man less. The Drenten also conceded a number of penalty throws, with which former international Jeffrey Boomhouwer knew what to do.
That gave Aalsmeer the opportunity to fight back in the game. The North Hollanders reduced their backlog point by point, resulting in the thriller-like final phase.