13th January 2018: Day two of the EuroHockey Indoor Championships III in Nicosia 2018 began with a fiercely competitive match between Scotland and Slovakia. The game seemed to be heading for a draw until Slovakia scored twice in the last two minutes, and although the Scots pulled one back with a penalty corner after the final hooter, it was too late and Slovakia secured a hard-fought 5-4 win.
In the next game, Belarus comfortably defeated Slovenia by 12-1. Belarus again dominated from start to finish with Yauheni Mikheichyk scoring five goals.
In the third game of the day, host nation Cyprus faced Greece. Cyprus was much the better team but managed only one goal in the first half. Chasing the game in the second half, Greece substituted their goalie with an outfield player but it did not pay off, as Cyprus went on to score three more goals to win by an emphatic 4-0.
Next up was Slovakia against Wales. In a tense and physical game, Wales were leading 4-2 early in the second half, but Slovakia managed to come back and equalised in the 37th minute to secure a 4-4 draw.
The evening session opened with Scotland vs Belarus. It was a fast and furious encounter, arguably the best game of the tournament so far. Victory could have gone to either side, but in the end it was Belarus that won it 3-1 to maintain their perfect record.
In the next match, Slovenia claimed the three points with a 6-1 win against Greece.
Cyprus faced Wales in the last game of the day. Playing in front of their fans, the Cyprus team was no match for the Welsh, who were in control throughout and came away winners by 14-0.
At the conclusion of day two, there have been 125 goals scored: 75 field goals, 42 penalty corners and 8 penalty strokes.
Tomorrow’s Games:
08:00 SCO – SLO Pool A
09:10 WAL – GRE Pool A
10:20 SVK – BLR Pool A
11:30 SLO – CYP Pool A
12:40 SCO – WAL Pool A
13:50 GRE – BLR Pool A
15:00 CYP – SVK Pool A