The handball players of Drenth Groep Hurry-Up were able to cheer for the third time in a row after their match in the BeNe-League. This time Hubo Handbal had to make do with 25-23 in Zwartemeer.
The young dogs of coach Sven Hemmes are increasingly becoming a well-oiled handball machine. It occasionally faltered against the Belgian merger club from Hasselt and Tongeren, but Hurry-Up never ran into major problems. The Drenthe started the game somewhat weakly, with the coverage not yet functioning properly. Hubo knew what to do with that, led by the grizzled veteran Bartek Konitz. The energetic visitors quickly took a 1-4 lead.
But Hurry-Up, which has been missing multiple international Patrick Miedema for weeks, did not panic. Partly due to the contribution of the extremely strong circle player Sjoerd Boonstra, the coverage of the Zwartemeerders started to function better and better. Behind it, Boris Tot played another excellent match in the Drenthe goal. With the great talent Emiel Hoogland as director, Hurry-Up crept closer and was tied at 10-10 after 10 minutes.
Hurry-Up deservedly leads at halftime
With beautiful combinations and the necessary fighting spirit, the home team took over the initiative from Hubo, but the attack was less successful. Hurry-Up took advantage of the visitors’ loss of ball. It led to a deserved 15-12 lead going into halftime.
Anyone who expected the team from Zwartemeer to push through in the second half and move further away from the Belgians was disappointed. Hubo, whose pipe previously appeared to be somewhat empty, regained his second breath. It was helped by the home side failing to capitalize on a number of big chances. Hurry-Up also had to deal with unfortunate time penalties, which caused the handball machine to falter occasionally.
The audience will see an exciting second half in Zwartemeer
That led to an exciting second half, in which Hubo came very close. For a while the difference was one or two goals. That was always to the advantage of the Zwartemeerders, who kept their heads down. After a miss by Boonstra on the circle it was 23-22 for the home team.
With five minutes to go, Hurry-Up showed, as has often been the case in recent weeks, that it is a team that does not give up and can go all the way. Michael Wennink won the ball, after which Brent Riksten made it 24-22 with a hard shot. After Hubo then threw a pass out of the blue in the attack, Hoogland scored 25-22 with a nice action, with a three-goal difference in Drenthe’s favor.
Hurry-Up can no longer miss a home win prematurely
The crowd stood on the benches in Zwartemeer, because Hurry-Up could no longer miss the third home win in a row. Although Jona Boiten scored again on behalf of Hubo just before the end, the victory was indeed for the Zwartemeerders shortly afterwards. Next weekend Bevo awaits an away match in Panningen.