After a couple of wild weeks in the men’s Hoofdklasse, Oranje-Rood have emerged at the winter break with a three-point lead ahead of comeback kings Pinoké.
It follows a highly competitive autumn phase of the competition with the top seven all showing form at different times.
Oranje-Rood secured their narrow advantage thanks to a 2-1 win in their Brabant derby with Den Bosch last weekend with Struan Walker netting the winner in the 49th minute.
The Scot has been one of the stories of the season; he was not initially on the Eindhoven club’s radar until Nick Bandurak’s move to the club fell through.
Bandurak suggested they look at Walker in his place and he has since struck 16 goals in 12 matches, including all four last week against SV Kampong.
Pinoké stormed back up to second as they recovered from 4-1 down with 16 minutes to go to beat Rotterdam 5-4 on Sunday with Miles Bukkens and Joep Troost scoring twice each.
It drops Rotterdam to third while Bloemendaal sit in fourth after a 2-0 win over HDM.
EHL FINAL8 sides AH&BC Amsterdam (sixth) and Kampong (seventh) have ground to make up as they currently sit outside the top four with the league taking a break until the end of February.
