Dutch captain Jeroen Delmee can't believe the turn of events that saw the reigning Olympic champions scrape past a dominant India in the closing stages of their Champions Trophy opener in Amstelveen, venue of some of Holland's biggest wins.
Considered Holland's lucky venue since they tamed India in the 1973 World Cup final, the Dutch have won the Champions Trophy twice out of three previous occasions when it was staged at the Wagener stadium. The only time they did not win Champions Trophy title here, they were runners-up to Germany.
Holland's outstanding record seemed to count for nothing on Saturday when India, who have been starved of international success since the last of their eight Olympic gold medals two decades ago, took a vice-like grip with a 3-0 lead in their opening game.
Suddenly India stopped playing, and the Dutch were a bit surprised by it. But instead of wasting time wondering what had gone wrong, they concentrated on pumping goals.
The morning after their great escape, the Dutch captain was still contemplating what brought about the dramatic transformation.
"For one, it was good the timer clock in the stadium wasn't working," said Delmee. "That allowed us to just play our game.
"Had the watch been working and we'd realized there were just 5-6 minutes left, we'd probably have given up the fight," he said.
The Dutch captain had a word of advice for India, who seemed to fall back into a relaxing mood after scoring three goals in a keen contest.
"Players should know a hockey match lasts 70 minutes, not 63," the Dutch skipper said, reflecting on India's easy-going approach in the last stages that left vast gaps for the home team to exploit.
"I've never featured in such a match. The only parallel I can draw is with the Sydney Olympic Games, where the South Koreans scored twice in the last two minutes to force the final match into extra-time," he said.
"It reminds me of the Olympic final, where the Koreans came back strongly with a brace of goals in a flash," the Dutch skipper said.
Holland had won a thrilling game, but their coach Joost Bellaart doesn't fancy playing any more games like this.
"Things became too tense, it wasn't a pleasant way of winning. I hope we can seal wins in a less dramatic manner," he said.
"The home crowd's support spurred the players to fight back, but I never thought we'll score four times and win with a last-minute goal," said Bellaart.
Indian skipper Dhanraj Pillay was watching helplessly from the sidelines when his team conceded the last-gasp goal that fetched Holland three points from a match where it had trailed until two minutes ago.
Pillay earned the dubious distinction of becoming the first player to get a yellow card following an argument with the umpires over the legality of Holland's third goal that brought back the teams on par.
Pillay said he was trying to draw the umpire's attention to what had transpired when shown the yellow card.
"I don't understand this ... I was shown the green card when I first tried talking to the umpire as the captain, and then got the yellow card on the second instance," Pillay said.
The Indians had a few questions on the umpiring, and even were even planning to submit a formal protest against the third Dutch goal. Even the Indian Hockey Federation officials concurred with the plan to lodge a protest.
The protest was drafted and signed, but a disagreement over what purpose will it serve now made the team management change its mind. Considering that the International Hockey Federation always comes out to defend its umpires in post-match scrutiny, the protest letter stayed in the Indian manager's pocket.
