Prague – Day 2 – EuroHockey Championships II

19.07.2015, Brussels; Day 2 opened with the Men’s games and the favorites Poland and Scotland in a face off! Poland won in the dying seconds of the game and put themselves in a good position to make the semi-finals. The second game of the day, Ukraine beat newcomers in the division Croatia 10-5. In the Women’s event, 4 games later saw Ireland and Czech well ahead and assured of semi-finals in Pool A, with Pool B still open.

Poland – Scotland 2-1 (0-0) 

In the group opening game the two favorites played against each other. Also thanks to the mild temperature the match pace was very high from the beginning and the game flowed from end to end. In the first minutes the Scotland players were more on the ball and after couple of chances they got the lead. Until the half-time the game was more in the Polish half and the Scottish team was struggling to add a second goal. After the half time Poland were more in the game and as they tied the game in 58. minute, it was Poland, who was dominating. Though the Scottish fought hard Poland put them under pressure and 20 seconds before the end Poland grabbed the win from the penalty corner by drag flick into the upper-left corner.

Ukraine – Croatia 10-5 (5-2)

In today´s second match we saw whopping 15 goals. It was Ukraine who quickly led 2:0 against Croatia. Within few minutes they managed to score from a short corner and added one more after a quick pass forward. Croatians managed to score before the end of first quarter making it 4:1 for Ukrainians. Within the first half both team managed to add one each making it 5:2 at half time. At the beginning of second half Croatians surprised Ukrainian defense with a beautiful deflection in their circle (5:3) but it was again Ukraine who managed to step up the effort and scored from a short corner. Mid section of second half belonged to Ukrainians who took a short corner and added one more from the game making it 8:3. Ten minutes before full time Croatia managed to fulfill their hopes in another short corner but Ukraine again quickly answered with their goal. Both teams then added one goal each making the final score 10:5.

Belarus – Azerbaijan 4-4 (2-2)

In what must have been a nerve wrecking match for both teams it was Azerbaijan who scored from a short corner as the first one. Belarus answered just minutes later scoring an equilizer. Both teams had more or less same ball possession but after a beautiful combination it was again Azerbaijan who scored. By the end of the first half Belarus stroke again making it 2:2 at half time. In second half both teams continued in the same pace and fought for each ball. Azerbaijan managed to score from yet another short corner but Belarus was having none of this and answered with another goal. After a series of short corners Azerbaijan stroke to make it 4:3 but as before again Belarus did not give up and stroke back with a goal from good combination in the circle. The final score read 4:4 at the end.

Austria – Wales 1-2 (1-0)

After their 1:3 defeat yesterday the Austrian ladies surely wanted to earn their first points in the tournament. In the first quarter we could have seen their efforts to score against their opponents unfortunately for them without any luck. However in the second quarter they managed to strike in the 22nd minute after a pressure in Welsh circle. In the second half Wales stepped up and managed to put pressure on their opponents. They scored from a deflection in the circle making it 1:1. Austria being pushed forward by a large number of fans wanted to take the lead but it was again Wales that managed to score 52 seconds before full time.

 

France – Czech Republic 2-3 (1-1)

After very quick goal of French team, Czech team took over their power, but it wasn’t enough to score. When the French team took control of the game, Barbora Haklova scored the first goal of Czech team. After 9 minutes of the second period Kateřina Laciná has scored and then again Barbora Haklová, so it was 3-1 for Czech team, but after a while French team has scored again from a penalty corner. It was dramatic till the end, but Czech girls were calm enough to achieve another win.

Ukraine  –  Ireland 0-3 (0-1)

In the final game of the day, the first period was dominated by the Irish team and as a result O´Byrne scored the first goal of the match. The rest of the period was still under the control of Ireland. Ukraine was better at the start of the second period, but Ireland scored its second goal from an individual play by Carroll. The rest of the match was again on the side of Ukraine, where it all was finished by penalty corner, scored by Brown.

Pool A A

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