Viva Men’s EuroHockey Indoor Club Trophy (Vienna, Austria)
Iris Hockey Lambersart (pictured), OKS SHVSM Vinnitsa and Post SV are all dreaming of gold and promotion after a raucous evening session in Vienna sees the three clubs covered by just a single point.
Pool D
Iris Hockey Lambersart’s dream debut tournament assured them of a medal and right in the shake-up for possible promotion as they found their way past a hugely experienced Gaziantep Polisgücü.
Their corner defence was superb while they struck efficiently in attack to land a 7-4 victory.
They swiftly recovered from an early concession with goals from Arthur Golliot and Simon Gauthier to lead 2-1 in the fifth minute and Adrien Cousin’s goal made it 3-1 at half-time.
Golliot added another before Ali Aklin Özkiliç reduced the deficit to 4-2; a goal from Martin D’Halluiin, however, was crucial and it meant the French club could ride out a late exchange of goals for the win.
OKS SHVSM Vinnitsa joined them on seven points with an impressive 4-2 win over hosts Post SV who sit in third place overnight. It was built on a solid first half with goals from Volodymyr Kaplinksyi and Maksym Onofriiuk and Volodymyr Kostechko made it 3-0 in Q3.
Peter Kaltenböck’s double saw Post come right back into it but Kaplinksyi’s second of the day with one minute left confirmed the Vinnitsa win.
Pool C
LKS Gasawa and Three Rock Rovers shared yet another draw in this extremely close-fought competition with precious little between the teams.
Ryan Williams’ goal three seconds from the end made it 3-3 after Rovers had led 2-0 early on before the Polish side fought back to lead 3-2 through Jan Sytek, Jakub Janicki and Robert Gruszczyński. It leaves both sides on four points with two draws going into their final game of the competition.
Slagelse finally got their first win after three comeback draws as they beat AD Lousada 11-6 in a fiery contest. The first half ended locked at 4-4 but a run of four goals in as many minutes – three from Magnus Thorsted – switched the landscape to an 8-4 setting.
Hector Nørgaard ended with five goals as the Danes stayed ahead as Lousada lost a number of players to cards in the closing stages.
