Rotterdam produced a comeback for the ages to snatch an EHL FINAL8 spot, equalising with 2.3 seconds to go against Hamburger Polo Club before winning a shoot-out.
They trailed 3-1 in normal time and then again in a shoot-out but kept fighting back each time to draw 3-3 and then prevail 4-3 in sudden death.
Jeroen Hertzberger and Derk Meijer were the heroes in the midst of the drama; the former scored the leveller and then netted twice in the shoot-out while his goalkeeper kept out three efforts.
The Dutch side had started in the ascendancy with Matthijs van der Wielen turning in a Hertzberger cross from the left baseline.
Polo swapped things around, though, before the end of Q1 with Tom Craig scoring a blistering individual goal and then Kane Russell added a penalty corner for 2-1.
They went close a couple of times when a deflected corner hit a body close to goal, a video review confirming the shot was going wide and so a stroke was annulled.
Russell did add a third in the 41st minute before Rotterdam started their big comeback in the closing quarter. Guus Jansen turned in a deflection move but it looked like they were running out of time until a hopeful ball into the circle got the Hertzberger treatment for 3-3.
Two early saves from Jasper Milt in the shoot-out had given Polo a 3-1 advantage with three chances to get over the line. Rotterdam, though, held their composure to take it sudden death where Hertzberger scored and Meijer denied Tim Brand.
Earlier, Florian Steyrer ripped home a penalty corner with less than 15 seconds to go to give SV Arminen an important win for Austria in terms of the EHL Ranking Table as they defeated TJ Plzeň-Litice 1-0.
Despite the low scoreline, it was a thrilling contest between two well matched teams with all the goalkeepers on show making huge saves.
Jiří Červený made the pick of the first half stops to keep out Philip Schmidt’s angled shot across goal. Litice then hit the frame of the goal twice in the second, Adam Uhliř with a rising shot which ricocheted off Jakob Kregsamer and then through Ondřej Sochor’s thunderous volley.
Arminen, however, salvaged a later series of corners and – from the last of them – Steyrer found all the power to get the only goal of the game. Arminen end in 13th place overall with Litice in 17th.
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