The Netherlands denied hosts Belgium a first ever women's medal at the TriFinance EuroHockey Championships as they proved too strong in the bronze medal match in Boom.
Charlotte de Vos provided an excellent 55th minute goal to give them some hope of upsetting the Olympic champions but, in the end, the Dutch closed out the tie.

They had earlier hit the front courtesy of Caia van Maasakker driven low drag-flicks in the ninth minute after a lively opening spell.

Belgium thought they had equalised when Jill Boon danced across the circle and shot in on her backhand but, on video review, Emilie Sinia was adjudged to have blocked Willemijn Bos's attempts to put in a tackle and the goal was disallowed on video referral.

Soon after, Carlien Dirske can den Heuvel made it 2-0. It came from a corner that was not stopped but the Dutch improvised well, passing the ball around the circle to Kitty van Male who crossed in front of Aisling D'Hooghe and van den Heuvel duly touched the ball home.

They held that lead for much of the second half but the game was put back in the mix when Barbara Nelen played through de Vos in the 55th minute and she unleashed a brilliant reverse-stick shot.

And her side kept pushing for the equalising goal, taking off their goalkeeper in favour of an extra outfield player late on. The gamble did not work, however, as the Netherlands passed their way through the circle a.