REPUBLIC OF IRELAND international Troy Parrott scored another superb hat-trick for Excelsior Rotterdam, but couldn’t save them from Eredivisie relegation.
Excelsior faced a huge uphill battle in their Dutch top-flight relegation play-off against NAC Breda this evening, but fell agonisingly short in their bid for a remarkable turnaround.
They won the game at Stadion Woudestein 4-1, but lost 6-7 on aggregate.
🇳🇱 Goal: Troy Parrott | Excelsior 1-0 NAC Bredapic.twitter.com/2WRbAD72wz
— PushGoals (@PushGoals) June 2, 2024
Parrott, who scored a half-hour hat-trick against ADO Den Haag last week, repeated the feat today, making it his second match ball in three games.
The 22-year-old Dubliner broke the deadlock in the 20th minute with a cool finish, before doubling Excelsior’s lead with a 35th-minute penalty.
An own goal made it 3-0 by half time and Parrott sent Excelsior into dreamland with a well-taken header in the 50th minute.
HAT-TRICK, #Tottenham loanee Troy Parrott has scored again to help Excelsior go from 6-2 down to 6-6 on aggregate! 🤯⚽️⚽️⚽️🇮🇪
— Spurs Global (@spurssglobal) June 2, 2024
pic.twitter.com/TkgT3eE47l
But NAC Breda responded just before the hour-mark and that was as close as they came.
“All over and Excelsior are relegated,” Tottenham Hotspur reporter Alasdair Gold wrote on X, formerly Twitter, afterwards.
“Troy Parrott sits on the turf in despair. He did everything he could this season with 17 goals and five assists for a team that finished 16th in the table. It ends in pain but it’s been a big year of development for the young Irishman.”
Parrott was on a season-long loan from Tottenham, and he has attracted interest from several clubs, including Ajax and PSG, as reported by The 42 in February.
He is now due to return to the Ireland squad for the upcoming friendlies against Hungary and Portugal, having missed the fixtures against Belgium and Switzerland earlier in the year.
