Men’s EuroHockey Indoor Club Challenge I (Sofia, Bulgaria)
HC Bra became the first side to earn promotion in Sofia as an excellent late showing saw them overcome Inverleith, leaving a big battle between the Scots and KPH Rača on Sunday morning.
Pool D
KPH Rača built on their morning momentum to defeat Širvintos 5-2 and put themselves in the frame for one of the two promotion spots. They were in front from the Juraj Bogá opened the scoring in the third minute and he doubled up before Justinas Blažys reduced the deficit to 2-1 at half-time.
Matej Boho and Tomas Romanec helped Rača pull away further and secure the five-point victory.
They will face a direct battle with Inverleith for the second promotion spot with the Slovaks needing a win while the Scots require a draw or better.
That is because HC Bra swept their way to promotion with a 7-5 victory over Inverleith in the final game of day two, a proper indoor rollercoaster.
Q1 saw Bra open the scoring, fall behind and then recover to lead 3-2 after 10 minutes; Q2 saw a trade off goals to advance to 4-3 and the Scottish club fought back to make it 5-5 in the third quarter.
The destination of the victory, though, was settled in the closing stages with Priyesh Bhana and Simone Ghiglia both shooting home, lifting Bra to 10 points and assured of success.
Pool C
In relegation pool, Soroksári assured their safety with something to spare as they defeated Cardiff & Met 10-4; it was close at half-time at 3-2 but Adam Losonci continued his scoring form to help them pull clear.
Cardiff now face an all-or-nothing battle with Triglav Predanovci to try and avoid the one relegation spot. Triglav, meanwhile, got their first win when they defeated hosts FHC Slavia 1921 with Nejc Potokar scoring three times including two in the last two minutes of their 5-3 success.
