Den Haag almost made certain of a place in next season's Europa League last night as a Jens Toornstra hat-trick helped them to a 5-1 victory over Groningen in the first leg of the play-off final. This came despite the Hague based team finishing two places behind their opponents in the Eredivisie and having a poor run-in of four defeats including a 2-4 home defeat to Groningen.There has been no sign of this poor form though in the play-offs as they beat Roda JC 6-3 on aggregate in the semi-final and looked unstoppable last night. The only hope for Groningen lies in their away goal but even then a 4-0 win is the minimum they will need.
