Slagelse and Three Rock Rovers came out of the pack to take the two promotion spots on offer from the men’s EuroHockey Indoor Club Challenge I in Puconci, Slovenia.

For Slagelse, they won a title decider against Western in style while Three Rock picked up two contrasting wins on Sunday to ensure they return to Europe next season.

Overnight, both Western and Slagelse had the chance to secure promotion for their country in their first games of Sunday but both came unstuck.

For Western, they were undone 2-1 by Three Rock Rovers in a very tight game of cat and mouse in which the Irish low press proved effective with Ross Canning and Jody Hosking scoring the key goals.

Then Slagelse were the next side to see their 100% record broken as they were beaten 3-2 by Italian side Valchisone ASD. The two sides shared four goals in Q2 before Agustin Ceballos got the only goal of the second half, lifting his side to third in the table and meaning four sides were still very much in the mix for promotion at that stage.

Cardiff & Met picked up their third win when they defeated Triglav Predanovci 4-0 with captain Ieuan Davies to the fore with two goals.

Three Rock then moved to the temporary lead at the head of the table, boosting their goal difference with a 29-0 win over SLF Mesaicos, giving them a nervous wait to see if the next two results worked in their favour.

The meeting of Slagelse and Western was pivotal – a draw would see both go up while a narrow loss would also be enough for the Danish side.

And it looked extremely tight in the first half with Oscar Birch-Hald and Cameron Moran trading goals. Slagelse, though, took full control in Q3 with three goals without reply before Hector Nørgaard made extra sure in the final minutes for a 5-1 success.

That secured Slagelse their promotion while the final spot did have the outside chance of Italy’s Valchisone ASD snatching second if they could find a 10-goal win.

And they gave themselves a chance when they dug out a 3-1 lead against Cardiff & Met but the Welsh side finished much stronger. Four goals in quick succession in Q3 helped them end with an 8-5 win and fourth position.

Hosts Triglav Predanovci finished their weekend’s hosting on a high when they defeated Mesaicos – who did get their first goal of the competition – with a 9-1 victory.

EuroHockey Indoor Club Challenge I – final standings

1. Slagelse (Denmark)
2. Three Rock Rovers (Ireland)
3. Western Wildcats (Scotland)
4. Cardiff & Met (Wales)
5. Valchisone ASD (Italy)
6. HK Triglav Predanovci (Slovenia)
7. SLF Mesaicos (Sweden)