70 mins - Full time - Rotterdam 6 Pembroke 1

A few last chants from the crowd and its all over. Some harsh lessons to be learned about the level needed to compete with the bog boys, a first encounter with a Dutch side by an Irish side in the EHL shows the standards being set at the very top. Pembroke's players applaud the crowd but can reflect on a weekend where the primary objective was acheived. They pose for a few photos and disperse for their warm-down.

Full report on the Hook in due course.

68 mins

Another chance skims just wide as two Rotterdam attackers dive at a ball in.

67 mins - GOAL - Rotterdam 6 Pembroke 1

A peach from Phil Burrows as he redirects vd Horst's ball past Henderson. A measure of the pace on the ball is that vd Horst's stick broke in the process!

65 mins

Pembroke looking very tired out there. They've put in a heavy stint. Fulton gets a great tackle in on Jeroen

64 mins - GOAL Rotterdam 5 Pembroke 1

Jeroen - straight drag - he whips it in for his hat-trick.

Rotterdam 5 Pembroke 1

63 mins

Jeroen's reverse comes up off a Pembroke stick and it loops just wide. Pritchard has a go at it mid-air  but Ehlers awards Rotterdam their third corner

62 mins

Could well be a card here for Fulton, poor challenge, the game plays on, though, with no stoppage for 30, 40, 50 seconds... finally a break in play but nothing doing.

61 mins

Quick thinking at the auto-pass from McConnell and he's in a scoring position but his reverse is dealt with.

59 mins

Razor sharp Rotterdam attack but Lewis gets back to clear the danger

58 mins

Sjoerd Gerretsen makes his way to the flick spot with the ball but finds Nigel Henderson standing tall and the save rebounds onto the left midfielders foot and its a free out.

57 mins

Briefly three on three - but Fulton's lay-off goes awry and the chance is gone.

56 mins

"There's only two Stephen Dorans" - one of the odder chants of the day

54 mins

Jeroen shows some of his 'Let's dance' skills as he flashes in a reverse - he has been part of a celebrity come dancing style show on Dutch television in the last week. Gormley gets a touch to keep it out.

54 mins

Conor Harte makes another interception, the big man has been colossal in defence.

THREE QUARTER TIME - Rotterdam 4 Pembroke 1

A couple of late probes are repelled by Pembroke and there's no further damage. No doubt about the highlight of the quarter, Nigel Henderson's incredibly headed save, no fear whatsoever. A decent quarter for Pembroke in terms of possession and chances but looks very much like they'll be taking second spot in the pool. One last push to end a good weekend's work.

50 mins - GOAL - Rotterdam 4 Pembroke 1

Pritchard goes down the barrel and takes a nasty ball to the body from vs Horst's drag. He takes a quick break and is back for the reset effort.

This time its smartly switched right and vs Horst roofs this effort for 4-1.

49 mins

vd Horst cuts right through the Pembroke defence, tackled by Tim Lewis but it rolls down his stick onto his foot for another corner.

48 mins

Sherriff thinks he's won a corner, finding a defender's foot but Lizana rules it out for driving into the p0layer.

46 mins

They do have a Jeroen drag-flick... but its fairly weak and Henderson saves but Hidde Kruize's rebound is a zinger - but Henderson saves with a firm head-butt over the bar. Crowd loves it!

45 mins

Clever play from a five metre allows Jeroen to pick Tim Lewis foot and Rotterdam's first corner of the game. No Sohail Abbas this year!

45 mins

Shot of Craig Fulton on the EuroSport screen - he hasn't been on the pitch much today.

47 mins

Giles intercept on halfway from Gerretsen, feeds Gordy Elliott who gets to the byline and finds McConnell but his shot is weak and is scrambled away by Blaak.

42 mins

Rotterdam back to 11 men but Pembroke enjoying a good spell.

41 mins

Henderson collapses on another attack to mute the danger - very different style to Harte who acts more as a sweeper in the circle but has been reasonably effective to date.

40 mins

McConnell ball finds Mossie close in to goal but he can't dig it out of his feet to shoot from four yards and the chance is gone. Good chance that.

39 mins

vd Horst ghosts through the centre of the Pembroke defence only for Harte to produce an amazing full length tackle to block the shot. Maurits is sin-binned, meaning he passes the captain's armband to brother Willem. Pembroke with man advantage again.

37 mins

Jeroen sets a great ball into Burrows path but the return pass is behind him and the attack breaks down.

36 mins

And we're back in action. Cross wind still slightly in effect, still hot.

HALF TIME - Pembroke 1 Rotterdam 3

That goal with Pembroke some hope of nicking a result. Rotterdam's speed of thought and movement is a joy to behold and shows the different strata in club hockey across the continent. But Pembroke have rode their luck and hung in there to grow into the fixture. A couple of chances were created and Mossie Elliott is proving a handful. Sothern's blockbuster makes it a much more appetising half-time score of:

Pembroke 1 Rotterdam 3

34 mins

Henderson pulls off a stunning save and the rebound from Ryan Archibald is deflected wide by a swarm of Pembroke defenders.

33 mins - GOAL Pembroke 1 Rotterdam 3

An absolute ripper from Alan Sothern from slightly to the right of the top-circle. Nailed high and right of Pirmin Blaak - fifth goal in two games.

32 mins

Pembroke win the first corner of the game as Tim Lewis crash-ball clips Maurits foot. Mossie Elliott's skills are causing a few problems too.

30 mins

Stu Garrett makes his first appearance of the weekend in place of Adam Pritchard.

29 mins

Justin Sherriff fires in Pembroke's first shot of the day and soon after they earn a free on the edge.

28 mins - GOAL Rotterdam 3 Pembroke 0

Jeroen sizzles one through Nigel Henderson on his reverse, fed by van den Horst and its 3-0.

27 mins

Jeroen goes for spectacular aerial effort but misses the ball from Willem's high, deflected cross.

25 mins

Gerretsen back on as Fulton flies down the right wing, tries to find a foot but misses and Rotterdam clear. Umpire Lizana shows some quick work to evade a Knowles overhead.

24 mins

Pembroke 'clap clap clap' Pembroke 'clap clap clap'

23 mins

Gerretsen green carded for some rough stuff and Pembroke have the man advantage for two minutes.

23 mins

Harte concedes possession to Burrows and its three on two. Jeroen is on the circle's edge but Pritchard's robust tackle prevents a shot.

19 mins

The stadium timer has broken down temporarily and is reset as a few Pembroke shouts are countered by a Rotterdam chant. Conor Harte makes a huge tackle to deny another attack on the circle's edge

18 mins

Wind picking up a little to provide a little bit of coolant. Still very very hot out there and we're back underway for the second quarter.

17mins - QUARTER-TIME - Pembroke 0 Rotterdam 2

Conor Harte's overhead flies into the crowd and is caught by Glenanne's Karl Kelly in the stands much to the delight of the Glens supporters. He flexes his muscles in celebration and that's the end of the first quarter. Tough start for Pembroke against a side eager to take top spot.

Pembroke 0 Rotterdam 2

15 mins

vd Horst steals from McConnell but the centre midfielder produces a wonderful full-length tackle to recover the situation in the circle.

13 mins GOAL Rotterdam 2 Pembroke 0

Rob van den Horst drives down the endline, digs it into Jeroen's path. He kind of digs at it as you would with a pitch-fork and it punches the ball over Henderson and dribbles in for 2-0.

11 mins

Alan Giles thought he was in but a bit of crossing and is pulled back but better field position. Having said that, Jeroen flies in down the right, bounces the ball off Tim Lewis' foot twice before Maas has a chance three metres out. Henderson saves and Lizana plays on much to Jeroen's annoyance.

9 mins

Pembroke really struggling in the face of a full press. An adequate ball pace for Leinster and Irish action is being exposed by the Dutch club's far higher speed of movement and its a struggle to get out of the 25.

7 mins - GOAL - Rotterdam 1 Pembroke 0

Clear goal on the replay and Paul Maas is the man who got the final touch to Jeroen's cross.

7 mins - VIDEO REPLAY

Gormley robbed on the 25, Jeroen ran in and crossed and there was a touch before the ball rolled in. Did it hit a player's body? Not sure but umpire Lizana thinks so and rules it out. Rotterdam appeal.

5 mins

Graham Shaw enters the ground sporting a Pembroke yellow jersey bearing the name Gormley - good inter-team support as plenty of Pembroke men wore green yesterday.

3 mins

Jeroen Hertzberger - there's three brothers in the side who will be known as Jeroen, Maurits and Willem from now on - flashes a brilliant reverse across Henderson's goal but no one gets a touch. Its fast and furious...

1 min

Very nervy start from Adam Pritchard who has given the ball away twice inside 30 seconds in the face of Rotterdam's full press and Pembroke under immediate pressure.

0 mins

The Pembroke players give a quick wave to the crowd while the Rotterdam fans pipe up with a quick song and the handshakes begin. Umpires Ehlers and Lizana to preside over affairs. Hand-shakes then high fives and we're ready to go.

Team presentation

The teams are ready for the presentation to the crowd and we're just waiting for the ok from the television producers. If you can't get on to the EHL site, try www.net5.nl - the Dutch channel is broadcasting the event with former ladies captain Minke Booij doing the presenting duties.

Pembroke off to the Netherlands at Easter

The EHL have confirmed that the KO16 and KO8 rounds of the competition will be set in the Netherlands at Easter time. The finals weekend will leave its home of two years, Rotterdam, and is set to be played in a venue outside of the Netherlands.

Weather conditions

Its a bit of a scorcher out there, about 23 degrees- we've just had the first sighting of a cloud for the day but there's not wind to speak off to take the edge off the heat. Humidity of 53 percent - sure we'll call it an even 50. The sides are on pitch with Pembroke sporting a variety of new training tops - some red, some royal blue. Rotterdam take the old school option of wearing their white jersies and a few fluorescent orange bibs for their pre-match four on four game.

Starting line-ups

As expected, the big change for Pembroke is the return from retirement of Nigel Henderson, stepping in place of exam-tied David Harte. Other than that, Pembroke start with the same side that lined out against Kelburne with Craig Fulton starting from the bench.

Rotterdam have a star-studded line-up with the three Hertzberger's joined by Kiwi duo Burrows and Archibald though Simon Child is marked absent. Mark Knowles is one of the world's best defenders and Waseem Ahmad provides flair from left back. Hidde Kruize is another name to look out for. He is the son of one of world hockey's greatest ever players Ties.

Pembroke: Nigel Henderson, Alan Giles, Ronan Gormley, Conor Harte, Gordon Elliott, Paddy Conlon, Andy McConnell, Justin Sherriff, Adam Pritchard, Alan Sothern, Tim Lewis
Subs: Simon Thornton, Craig Fulton, Maurice Elliott, Michael O'Connor, Patrick Good, Stu Garrett

HC Rotterdam: Pirmin Blaak, Mark Knowles, Phil Burrows, Waseem Ahmad, Ryan Archibald, Jeroen Hertzberger, Sjoerd Gerretsen, Maurits Hertzberger, Willem Hertzberger (capt), Paul Maas, Rob van den Horst
Subs: Hidde Kruize, Marc Schwarz, Mark van Lambaart, Johrus Gommers, Tristan Algrea, Hidde Turkstra

Welcome to the Pembroke vs Rotterdam live match-tracker

Pembroke take on Rotterdam to decide who progresses as group leaders and who takes the runners-up spot in Pool G. The Dubliners need the win as they currently hold an inferior goal difference to the Dutch club. Rotterdam, for their part, took a while to get motoring against Kelburne though they rarely looked troubled by the Scottish outfit and were in cruise control in the second half as they extended the lead from 1-0 to 6-0.

It will be the first encounter between Irish and Dutch competitors since the inauguration of the EHL three seasons ago. Rotterdam have reached the last four stage of the EHL for the past two years and, with a number of additions, hope they have a squad in place to take the whole shooting match this time out.