Men’s EuroHockey Indoor Club Challenge II (Vantaa, Finland)
Valhalla are a step closer to the promised land of Sunday’s final as they ended day one in Vantaa on top with seven points, three clear of the chasing hosts.
A sublime personal haul of six goals from Vilmer Karlsson saw Valhalla ease to a 6-1 win over hosts Vantaa. He scored two in Q1 and Q2 for a 4-0 lead and his next couple extended the lead to six before Attlia Farkas got a consolation goal for the Finns.
Valhalla followed up with a 2-2 draw against Oslo SK in a close-fought battle. Hussein Zafar’s penalty stroke gave the Norwegian side the lead in the 11th minute but Jakob Juul and Kristian Yacoub swapped things around by half-time for a 2-1 lead.
Asif Talha Sheikh got the only goal of the second half, leaving Valhalla on seven points for their day’s work.
The Norwegian side then summoned the energy to close out the day with another draw, this time 5-5 against Vantaa in a thrilling affair.
The Finnish side were firing in the first half with Farkas, Noa Sallinen and Massimo Ruohonen all scoring for a 3-0 lead. Oslo came back with the next four goals, however, in a four-minute spell either side of half-time to make it 4-3 – Mohammad Khidash Kiyani scoring twice.
Vantaa replied, Farkas and Ruohonen making it 5-4 going into the last quarter only for Mohammed Ashraf to tie it up. The result leaves Oslo on four points and Vantaa on two ahead of Saturday’s rematches.
Results:
13 Feb
| Time | Teams | Title | Scoreline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11:30 | VALHALLA – VANTAA | Pool A | 6 – 1 |
| 15:00 | OSLO – VALHALLA | Pool A | 2 – 2 |
| 18:30 | VANTAA – OSLO | Pool A | 5 – 5 |
Women’s EuroHockey Indoor Club Challenge II (Vantaa, Finland)
Cardiff & Met hold the overnight lead in the women’s EuroHockey Indoor Club Challenge II in Vantaa after back-to-back wins.
Cardiff started the competition on a high with a 3-1 against the hosts; Ella Bradley put them in front in the second minute and they doubled the gap in Q2 via Megan Watts. Lucy Crompton made the game safe with the third three minutes from the end before Johanna Yoshimura got Vantaa on the scoreboard.
The Welsh team followed up with a 4-2 victory against Hungary’s AHC. Watts was again the star with a hat-trick of goals, helping transform a 1-0 deficit into a 4-1 lead with Ruth Bowe also on the mark. Sára Józan got both of the AHC goals.
Vantaa returned to the fray to record a vigourously celebrated 5-2 win over AHC. They raced into a 2-0 lead in the first two minutes through Janna Ruuska and Jenni Juntunen but the Hungarians bounced back with Sára Józan quickly replying and then Dóra Barki made it 2-2 at half-time.
The hosts, however, finished the stronger with Janna Ruuska restoring the lead and then Janette Ruuska scored the vital goals in the 36th and 39th minute to put them in the clear.
It leaves them in second place overnight ahead of the rematches on Saturday.
Results:
13 Feb
| Time | Teams | Title | Scoreline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10:00 | CARDIFFMET – VANTAA | Pool A | 3 – 1 |
| 13:30 | AHC – CARDIFFMET | Pool A | 2 – 4 |
| 17:00 | VANTAA – AHC | Pool A | 5 – 2 |
