Men’s EuroHockey U21 Championship II-B (Plzen-Litice, Czechia) – day two round-up
Scotland and Czechia both confirmed place in Saturday’s final of the EuroHockey Championships II-B with victories over Türkiye and Wales, respectively.
For the Scots against Türkiye, Tommy Austin gave his side the perfect start, opening the scoring just three minutes into the opening quarter. Türkiye threatened from a pair of penalty corners midway through the first quarter but were unable to find a breakthrough.
The Scots then took control in the second quarter when Austin converted from the penalty spot; just a minute later, Findlay Duncan added a third goal from a corner.
** Picture: @novacek_photography
The Turks did get one back via Aydin Sahin in the 25th minute, but Scotland quickly restored their three-goal cushion as Archie Stephen found the net from yet another penalty corner before half-time.
Mehmet Aydin kept Türkiye alive in the contest in the third quarter but Kyle Flockhart – after a two-minute spell in the sin-bin – returned to score Scotland’s fifth goal in the 52nd minute, sealing an impressive 5-2 victory.
Czechia, for their part, won a 4-2 thriller against Wales, getting over the line despite a wealth of late drama.
James Niven gave the Welsh the lead only for Marek Mušinský and a penalty corner drag from Matyáš Hána swapped the lead. Benjamin Lazarevic got Wales back on terms in the 20th minute.
The game was decided by two Czech goals in the second half with František Toms volleying in a loose ball and Adam Holík – the latter scoring in between three sin-binnings for his side in the last 10 minutes – swung the points their way with a penalty stroke.
The pool standings now make for an interesting scenario; after Thursday’s rest day, Scotland will Czechia on Friday at 10.00 (CEST) and Wales play Türkiye at 12.15.
Those pairings will the meet again on Saturday with the Scots and Czechs playing for gold and the other match being for bronze.
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