Viva Men’s EuroHockey Indoor Club Trophy (Vienna, Austria)
Post SV have the advantage going into Pool D in the race for promotion as they sit on five points ahead of Irish Hockey Lambersart, OKS SHVSM Vinnitsa and Gaziantep Polisgücü after a lively end to the opening group phase.
In Pool B, Slagelse made it three successive comeback draws, this time working back from 3-0 down to 3-3 against OKS SHVSM Vinnitsa. The Ukraine team led by three as early as the 12th minute through a Volodymyr Kaplinskyi double and one from Rostyslav Yakovenko before the Danes fought back.
Hector Nørgaard got two before half-time and then Magnus Thorsted got the leveller two minutes from the end.
Iris Hockey Lambersart joined Vinnitsa in the top four group with a 5-3 win over LKS Gasawa, fighting back well to get the win they needed.
Gasawa led 2-0 and 3-2 but Simon Gauthier’s second of three goals levelled the game just before the end of Q3. Adrien Cousin and Gauthier then added on the winning goals in the final quarter to send them through on nine points.
OKS SHVSM Vinnitsa and Iris Hockey Lambersart carry forward two points each to the next phase of the competition for the promotion pool. Slagelse and Gasawa will start the relegation pool also on two points.
Gaziantep Polisgücü got their first win of the competition to jump above Three Rock Rovers in the Pool A table with a 6-2 win over the Irish side.
The Turkish outfit built a 3-0 lead in the first half and were always in the clear after that as they scored three corners and two strokes.
Post were already assured of advancing ahead of their game with Lousada but needed a win to advance with five points to their name. The side from Portugal, meanwhile, wanted a win to avoid the relegation pool.
And Lousada had the lead for much of the game, José Valinhas and Ricardo Teixeira putting them 1-0 and 2-1 up but Bartosz Szmidt got the all-important goal for Post late on for a 2-2 draw.
It means Lousada go into Pool C along with Three Rock Rovers, Slagelse and LKS Gasawa with all teams starting on two points.
