The handball players of Drenth Groep Hurry-Up got the audience on the benches in Zwartemeer. They defeated Bevo from Panningen in an exciting match 34-31.
It was not a given that the young team of coach Sven Hemmes would win against the more experienced Limburgers. After all, Bevo had many refined and experienced players, as well as internationals Niels Poot and Arjan Versteijnen. In return, Hurry-Up provided the necessary young handball players, who can only improve. For example, Hemmes allowed the only 17-year-old Marek Skwarzynski, who normally plays at a lower level in the Premier League for the combination team E&O/Hurry-Up, to make his debut in the main squad.
That was a necessity, because the Zwartemeers team has been plagued by injuries for some time. Routine Patrick Miedema, Wouter Pronk and Sander Bos have been missing for some time. Captain Bernie Vermeer was added on Saturday, who was not fit in the stands.
An exciting battle unfolds
An exciting battle immediately ensued in the BeNe League match, with the guests slightly more dominant. But Hurry-Up showed fighting spirit under the leadership of the young playmaker Emiel Hoogland and was not shaken. The Drenthe, with an excellent Jorick Pol in goal before half time, hooked up again and did not let Bevo go.
Hurry-Up equalized 14-14 two minutes before the end. But then saw power man Sjoerd Boonstra and left corner player Goncalo Graucia sent off with two minutes each due to an unfortunate ball on his foot. The Drenthe team had to survive with only five players on the field until half time. That worked wonderfully well. Bevo did not score in excess, while Hurry-Up did in underscore. As a result, the home team went into halftime with a 15-14 lead.
Strong Sjoerd Boonstra is difficult to stop
In the second half, the Limburgers were stronger again for a while and ran out to 18-22. However, Hurry-Up kept its head down and expertly punished every mistake and loss of ball by the occasionally sloppy Bevo. The very strong Drenthe circle player Boonstra was difficult to stop due to the Bevo coverage. This was usually only possible with a foul, after which the Belgian referee duo invariably blew the whistle for a penalty.
Daniël Tako deadly with penalty throws
Then the Hungarian Daniël Tako invariably stepped in to make perfect use of the penalty. He did that a total of seven times and became top scorer plus one regular field goal. Bevo made too many mistakes to hold off the fiercely competing and smoothly running Hurry-Up. The Drenthe team took a 28-26 lead ten minutes before the end and kept control. The visitors came back to 32-30 after 31-27, but it didn’t get more exciting. Hurry-Up scored again and deservedly won 34-31. Loud applause came from the stands.