Austria moved to the brink of the men’s EuroHockey U21 Championship II-A title with a vital win over Poland while Scotland set up a title showdown with Switzerland in II-B.
II-A Walcz
Austria moved into prime position to win the men’s EuroHockey U21 Championship in Walcz as they beat the hosts 4-2, giving them a three-point lead in the round-robin group going into the final day.
It kept their 100% record going while denting that of Poland. It started with a flurry of goals – a penalty corner for Austria in the 1st minute from Maximilian Kelner; Jakub Hołosyniuk levelled from a stroke but Austria were ahead again in the fifth minute through Kelner again.
It took until the 42nd minute for the next goal to be scored, this time it was Mateusz Nyckowiak who, again from a penalty corner, made it 3-1 for Austria.
And, despite a yellow card for Arthur Kucera, the Red Yamahas added another via Adrian Fink for a three-goal advantage. Robert Pawlak’s late goal was a mere consolation.
“Poland was the strong opponent we expected today,” said Austria coach Robin Rösch. “We probably played the best game in the tournament – very structured and mature. We didn’t let the equaliser get us crazy, but responded with another goal straight away.
“In the second half we controlled the game, Poland was always dangerous with individual actions, but we were able to defuse them well.
“There is certainly room for improvement in our defensive behaviour, so that we should not be outnumbered so often, but all in all it was a very deserved victory considering the way we played.”
Austria now need a draw or better against fourth-placed Ukraine on Saturday to land the title. If they falter, both Poland and Italy can mathematically on goal difference – those two teams meet each other in the final game of the competition.
Earlier, an Oleksandr Boiko second half hat trick saw Ukraine defeat Luxembourg 5-1; Yevhen Petrenko and Oleksandr Val got the first two to make it 2-0 at half-time with Luxembourg’s reply coming from Maximilien Clarinval when the score was 3-1.
Italy won another high-scoring contest 7-4 against Lithuania the first half was relatively tame with the Italians leading 2-1. The second half exploded into life with Felix Dionisi Vici, Jonas Carelli and Daniele Cavallini advancing the score to 5-2 with Povilas Sinkevičius firing in the Lithuanian goals.
A second from Carelli and one from Sinkevičius made it 6-3 and Lithuania sniffed a result when Danielus Petkevič netted but Italy grabbed one more goal.
Pool A
| Rank | Team | Played | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goal Difference | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Austria | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 12 |
| 2 | Poland | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 9 |
| 3 | Italy | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 9 |
| 4 | Ukraine | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 6 |
| 5 | Lithuania | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -21 | 0 |
| 6 | Luxembourg | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -33 | 0 |
II-B Lausanne
Scotland set up a title decider with Switzerland on Saturday as they ran up a big 9-2 win over Czechia in Lausanne with the winner taking gold, as well as qualification for the European top tier and the Junior World Cup.
The first half was laden with goals as Scotland surged into a 7-0 lead at half time, the first two of which came in the opening quarter.
Four minutes into the game and Ben Galloway opened the scoring with a sublime top corner penalty corner finish. He struck again with another top corner finish and he completed his hat trick after Ali Douglas also weighed in.
Jedd Campbell, Galloway and Tommy Austin made it 7-0 at the break. Czechia did rally in the third quarter through Jakub Homołka and Janu Vojtech made 7-2 but Scotland finished the stronger with Alex Marsland and Austin chipping in.
Scottish coach Gavin Byers said, “It was a great performance and we were very clinical today, which is what we needed. We’ve been getting better each game, and today’s first half in particular was as complete a performance as it could have been.
“We’ve got a lot to play for now. Our message is pretty simple: we have to beat Switzerland. The Swiss are a good team, and they have the home support behind them, but if we play like we did today we have every chance of heading home with a gold medal, and qualifying for A Division and the World Cup.”
In the other game played today, Wales eventually got the points against the ever-improving Finland side. Charlie Johnson and Owen Sutton put the Welsh 2-0 up at half-time but a 32nd minute Emil Könönen penalty stroke put Finland right back in contention.
Captain Euan Dyer did give his side a bit more breathing room when making it 3-1 and then three goals in quick succession – two from John Bennett, one from Matthew George – inflated the score to 6-1.
Sunday’s schedule sees Wales play Czechia at 10.15 CET and then the Scots face Switzerland with the latter needing a draw while the former need a win to take the laurels.
Pool A
| Rank | Team | Played | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goals For | Goals Against | Goal Difference | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Switzerland | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 5 | 17 | 9 |
| 2 | Scotland | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 5 | 11 | 7 |
| 3 | Wales | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 4 |
| 4 | Czechia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 14 | -3 | 3 |
| 5 | Finland | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 27 | -26 | 0 |
