A lively first day in Budapest, packed with drama, six teams remain in the mix for top four spots at the men’s EuroHockey Indoor Club Trophy.

In Pool A, Old Georgians and and TJ Plzeň-Litice hold sway on seven points but KS Pomorzanin Toruń will be looking to overtake them on Saturday morning.

In Pool B, Valenciennes and SV Arminen have the top two spots but AD Lousada will have plenty to say on the matter when they meet the latter in the final series of group games on Saturday morning.

Pool A

Pool A began with a bang as Old Georgians and TJ Plzeň-Litice produced a cracking 8-8 draw. Eduard Gerlický’s pair gave the Czechs a 2-0 first quarter but four Q2 goals from the debuting English club reduced the deficit to 5-4 at half-time.

Four more in Q3 from OGs created an 8-7 advantage but Lukáš Benda had the final say in the 35^th minute.

KS Pomorzanin Toruń took the early initiative in the group when they snagged a 7-5 win over hosts Soroksári with five second half goals making the difference.

The Hungarians whipped into a 3-2 half-time lead but – with three from Wojciech Rutkowksi – Pomorzanin turned things around with the next five goals in succession.

Old Georgians produced a similar run with an incredible run of five unanswered goals in the final quarter to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 7-3 win in the last 10 minutes againsgt Pomorzanin Torun.

They are level at the top of their group with TJ Plzeň-Litice who defeated Soroksári 12-2 in the day’s closing game.

OLDGEORGIANS – PLZEN	8 – 8
POMORZANIN – SOROKSARI	7 – 5
POMORZANIN – OLDGEORGIANS	3 – 7
PLZEN – SOROKSARI	12-2

R	Team	GP	W	D	L	GD	P
1	TJ Plzeň-Litice (CZE)	2	1	1	0	10	7
2	Old Georgians HC (ENG)	2	1	1	0	4	7
3	KS Pomorzanin Torun (POL)	2	1	0	1	-2	5
4	Soroksári HC (HUN)	2	0	0	2	-12	1

Pool B

HC Valenciennes won a cracking 8-7 battle to open up the weekend in Budapest; it was back and forth throughout with the third quarter ending 4-3 in AD Lousada’s favour.

The key spell saw the French team score three times in as many minutes to move 6-4 ahead and they just about stayed clear in a flurry of late goals. Malo Martinache scored five for Valenciennes.

SV Arminen started their Pool B in style with a healthy 9-2 win over KPH Rača with captain Sebastian Eitenberger scoring four times.

In the day’s second series, the fireworks began right from the start with Lousada and Rača sharing six goals in the first nine minutes. The side from Portugal went 6-4 clear at half-time and 7-6 after Q3 before getting some daylight in the closing quarter for an 11-8 win.

SV Arminen and Valenciennes subsequently drew 3-3 in which the Austrians led twice but were pegged back before Adrian Cousin gave the French outfit the lead for the first time in the 33^rd minute. Michael Minar, however, earned a share of the spoils.

The result leaves both on seven points after day one with AD Lousada on six.

Teams	Scoreline
VALENCIENNES – LOUSADA	8 – 7
ARMINEN – RAČA	9 – 2
LOUSADA – RAČA	11 – 8
ARMINEN – VALENCIENNES	3 – 3

Rank	Team	Pl	W	D	L	Goal Diff	Pts
1	SV Arminen (AUT)	2	1	1	0	7	7
2	HC Valenciennes (FRA)	2	1	1	0	1	7
3	AD Lousada (POR)	2	1	0	1	2	6
4	KPH Rača (SVK)	2	0	0	2	-10	0