Play-outs (H): Hurley behind, SCHC-Schaerweijde draw

At Amsterdamse Bos, the visitors from Tilburg were leading 0-3 against Hurley at half-time, but almost gave away that comfortable lead in the fourth quarter. With two goals in the closing stages, it became another defeat with perspective for the Hoofdklasse side from Amstelveen.

The start was anything but spectacular. Lots of effort, few chances. Hurley got the first corner of the afternoon through Indra Aerts, but hit goalkeeper Jan van Groesen. It was Tilburg that broke the matches open. Youri van der Ruyt - not playing in his own shirt - tapped in the first real chance. Barely recovered from that blow, the 0-2 was already in the net, thanks to a faultless push by specialist Pim Haring.

Tilburg hit everything in the first half. Just before half-time, Wouter Bornebroek made it 0-3. Hurley had another chance to connect quickly through Aerts, but his shot lacked precision. The Tilburg promotion team went to the dressing room with a large lead.

After half-time, the picture changed. Hurley became more threatening, but remained without any real chances for a long time. Hjalmar Voskuil hit the post and later pushed wide, while Tilburg was shown a green card and gradually came under more pressure. Hurley's reward finally came: first it was Aerts who hit the target from a corner, followed shortly after by a Voskuil penalty corner goal: 2-3.

In a chaotic final phase, in which Tilburg captain Felix Gulinck had to leave the pitch with a yellow card, Hurley squeezed everything out of the tank. But the equaliser did not fall.

In Bilthoven, home team SCHC took the lead twice, but both times Schaerweijde overturned the deficit.

SCHC treated the home crowd to a quick lead. Casper Hafkamp popped the first penalty corner of the afternoon impeccably into the net: 1-0. Yet SCHC was unable to push on.

Schaerweijde got three penalty corners in a row at the end of the first quarter, but couldn't find a hole. The equaliser fell through Thur Stadelmaier, who coolly finished off an attack on the left. After half-time, Schaerweijde stepped up the pressure, but it was SCHC that struck. A clever cornering move was cleverly slipped in by Alistair Empey: 2-1.

The game tipped over again when Sam Martens of SCHC was forced to the side with a yellow card after a heavy collision. Schaerweijde took advantage: Daan Troost convincingly played in a flowing attack and levelled the score.

With a 2-2 final score, everything is still open for the return game in Zeist, where Schaerweijde hopes to exploit the home advantage in the hunt for promotion to the Tulp Hoofdklasse.