The teams and officials arrived and everything was prepared and tested and set for the opening day of the EuroHockey Indoor Club Trophy 2019 in S.I. Zelina. We have here 8 great and well-prepared teams who are playing for only 2 promotional places. And there is no doubt that we shall watch some great indoor hockey.
EAST GRINSTEAD – AMIENS 8 – 2
The opening match of the group A of the EHI Club Trophy 2019. It was early morning but both teams are prepared to present some excellent indoor hockey.
East Grinstead took the first lead in the 8th minute. French quickly respond two minutes after.
And then East Grinstead took the control of the match with two quick goals in a row.
In the second period, English gave more pace to their play and score four more goals in ten minutes. And game over for Amiens.
But Amiens tried without a keeper and they scored one but it was not enough to catch the Englishmen who score one more in the finish of the match.
SOERBYMAGLE – GAZIANTEP 2 – 12
The second match of group A with Soerbymagle from Denmark and Gaziantep from Turkey. And started at a fast pace. In the 3rd minute the Turkish side with a Celal´s goal and with a very interesting goal celebration. But Danish side quickly put the match again in a draw one minute later.
Four minutes hold out Soerymagle without a goal and then started Turkish cannonade. They scored four goals till the end of the first period. Celal scored hat trick in the first period.
Gaziantep started in the second period where they finished in the first one. They scored seven goals and the Danish side succeeds to score only one.
At the end of the match big result for the Turkish side, 12 – 2. Big result for them with which they took a lead in group A after the first round.
GRUNWALD POZNAN – SLAVIA PRAGUE 2 – 2
The third match of the day 1 and first match of the pool B. Polish side against Czech side.
Another interesting match. Yeah, we are watching some high paced indoor hockey in Zelina. Grunwald pressed Slavia and took a lead in the fourth minute from the penalty corner. Dutkiewicz scored.
The Polish side kept to press Slavia but Slavia´s keeper had a few nice saves. Since Grunwald missed their good chances, Slavia found the net from the penalty corner four minutes before the end of the first period.
Tough match. Very tight. Seven minutes in the second period and Mikula scored for Grunwald from the penalty corner. Grunwald attacked more then Slavia but Hanus, Slavia´s keeper had some amazing saves. He made crazy Grunwald attackers. And then there is Vacek again for the Czech side for the equalizer.
But Grunwald earned themselves penalty corner with a buzzer. Mikula strikes but Hanus saves the day for Slavia.
COMPLUTENSE – ZELINA 8 – 5
The final match of the first round with the host side against the Spanish side. Important match for both sides. Zelina set them up as a host must do with pressure on the Spanish defence. And in the second minute, Kovalneko intercepts one ball and scored for Zelina´s lead. The minute after and it was 2 – 0 for Zelina. But Complutense comes to themselves and scored. Two more goals for the host before the end of the first period for a comfortable lead.
In the second period, there was a great come back from Complutense after another Zelina´s goal. Five goals in seven minutes for major turn over with one goal lead.
The crowd stands up and cheered for their team!!!!!
Zelina had a penalty corner for the equalizer but they couldn´s find the net with two shots.
When Prol scored for the Spanish side from the penalty corner, Zelina was in a problem. They took out keeper to increase pressure on Complutense but they didn´t score. But Corral scored with a buzzer in the empty net.
Zelina had four goals lead and in the end, Complutense fought a great victory against the host.
AMIENS – GAZIANTEP 2 – 5
The second round started with the match between Amiens and Gaziantep. The French side had one lose and the Turkish side had a win from the first round. So, for both of them, this was a very important match and Gazinatep was favourite on paper.
But first goal came from Amiens in 5th minute to shock the Turkish side from the penalty corner.
Gaziantep made a turn over in two minutes. Amiens returned back in the last minute with a field goal.
The second half went on the Turkish side. What goals from Beiranvand and Aydin! What actions!!! Fabulous performance by the Turkish side.
Amiens took out goalkeeper but nothing happened then for Gaziantep with a buzzer. Norouzzadeh scored their fifth goal on the empty net for five new points on the pool A scoreboard. And Amiens lose that one point for lose with three-goal difference.
SOERBYMAGLE – EAST GRINSTEAD 3 – 6
Another match in the pool A. East Grinstead came in the match with 5 point advantage from the first match and Soerbymagle with a zero. Victory will take East Grinstead directly to promotion group with Gaziantep who also have two victories. So East Grinstead knows what is at stake and they pushed hard from the beginning and scored two goals in the first five minutes of the match. But Soerbymagle put themselves back with the penalty corner goal. Another double score for East Grinstead and both goals came from Ashley Jackson. The Danish side refused to surrender and scored a two penalty corner goal and diminish East Grinstead’s lead only to one goal. A very dynamic and interesting period with seven goals.
In the second period, we didn’t see so many goals. Just two and both scored East Grinstead for a three-goal difference result and five new point that leads them to the promotion group.
Tomorrow we shall have a fantastic match between East Grinstead and Gaziantep. The team who wins will have a great push in the back in the promotion group.
GRUNWALD POZNAN – COMPLUTENSE 4 – 3
Grunwald and Complutense opened second round in the pool B. Complutense have five-points in the bag following their fantastic turn over against host Zelina and Grunwald had two points after drawing against Slavia. So Grunwald needed the win. They started better and scored two goals. One field goal and one penalty corner. But Complutense showed character again and returned back in the match with two-goals
The interesting first period ended as Dutkiewicz with the penalty corner scored after the buzzer.
Complutnese showed became a turn over master. In the first minute in the second period and they equalize. Following the match, Grunwald had better chances and Mikula got Grunwald a goal lead. And that goal was last one in the match worth a victory for Grunwald and five points.
ZELINA – SLAVIA PRAGUE 6 – 0
The match of the truth for the host team. They must win if they stay in the game for the promotion group. Slavia stood better with two points on their account. A great start for Zelina. In the second minute and they scored. Four minutes later the same player Kovalenko scored another one from the penalty stroke to raise the stands. Slavia succeeded to calm down Zelina furious start and started to play much better but Zelina´s keeper Koval had his moment. Some great saves and the post and the results stayed 2 – 0. Two minutes before the end of the first period Fujs scored.
In the second period, we saw a very tough match with lots of cards on both sides. Hršak scored his fourth goal for Zelina and after that Slavia took out goalkeeper. They tried to find chances for a goal but Zelina successfully defended their goal and attacked well on the counter. They had penalty corner and penalty stroke on empty net but Slavia´s captain defend a goal with his body. Great chances for Zelina and even better saves by Slavia´s captain. But they could not last so long to not receive goal and Fujs scored his second goal for the big lead. The last goal came from the penalty corner with a buzzer. Ilinović scored for the final 6 – 0 and five-points for Zelina which brings them back in business for the promotion group.