The return to form of Richard Mantell as Great Britain’s principal penalty corner striker was in evidence again this afternoon as GB took on Germany in the second of their three match test series in Essen. GB got off to an unpromising start, going two behind within the first four minutes thanks to goals from Niklas Meinhart and Sebastian Draguhn. GB nearly managed to get to the break on level terms after penalty corner conversions from Matt Daly (pictured) and Richard Mantell, but Matthais Witthaus put Germany back into the lead from a penalty corner. The second half was a few minutes old when James Tindall was fouled in the circle and Richard Mantell stepped up to convert the subsequent penalty stroke. Fourteen minutes later Mantell scored his hat trick with a penalty corner strike to briefly give Great Britain the lead. Unfortunately, Mantell was not the only player on the pitch who was finding the net from corners and with five minutes left Matthais Witthaus put the sides on even terms. Final score 4-4. GB play Germany again tomorrow in their final match, a game which may decide this three-match series.
Leicester women recorded a victory this afternoon in their second match of the European Club Championships in Cologne, beating Ritm Grodno 6-1. Leicester’s fortunes may well hang on the outcome of the match between host club Rot-Weiss Koln and Club de Campo being played later today. Leicester drew against the Spanish yesterday and play their final pool match against Koln tomorrow. Meanwhile, in Pool A, ‘s-Hertogenbosch continued their march towards the championships with a 10-0 win over Volga Telecom.
EUROHOCKEY LEAGUE SEMI FINALS IN ROTTERDAM by Susan Edgehill in Rotterdam and Peter Savage.
It was a devastated Club Egara side that left the pitch after the first of the EuroHockey League Semi Finals in Rotterdam this afternoon. Much against the run of play they managed to take a 1-0 lead into the second half in their match against Uhlenhorster, David Alegre scoring the opener. It was a lead that they managed to increase to 2-0 four minutes into the second half after a terrific run by skipper Eduard Tubau was put over the line by Jordi Clapes. Uhlenhorster seemed to be getting back into the match when Patrick Breitenstein converted a penalty corner but the turning point came when Club Egara’s Ramon Romeu found himself sitting out a green card. A Moritz Falcke cross was tipped into the goal by Phillip Sunkel to put the sides on two apiece. The goal was originally credited to Jonas Furste but watching the replay it became obvious that Furste was some distance from the action when the ball went in the net. It just goes to prove what enthusiastic goal celebrations can do! With less than eight minutes remaining Club Egara left Christopher Amend unmarked and his shot from the edge of the circle looped over the unfortunate ‘keeper to give Uhlenhorster the lead for the first time. A minute later Felix Oldhafer was deemed to have been fouled by Cortes in the Club Egara goal and the ensuing penalty corner was converted by Patrick Breitenstein. Just to add to Club Egara’s misery, Benjamin Kopp pushed through a crowd of players to make the score 5-2.
So Uhlenhorster go through to tomorrow’s final against the winner of the all-Dutch match between HGC and Rotterdam. Missing some of their key players on international duties, Rotterdam were a shadow of the side that knocked out Reading in the previous round. HGC’s giant defender Bram Lomans opened the scoring with a penalty corner conversion, followed by field goals from Rody Hofkamp and Timmo Kranstauber. Rotterdam’s fearsome penalty corner striker, Pakistan international Sohail Abbas, managed to pull one back, but HGC went into the break with a 4-1 lead thanks to a goal from Joris Albers. In the second half Rotterdam seemed to be on the verge of a revival with a goal from Jeroen Hertzberger and a second penalty corner conversion from Abass. But the match slipped away from them as Albers scored his second and Barry Middleton and Ken Pereira added their names to the scoresheet. Rotterdam were able to get a late consolation goal just before the final hooter, courtesy of Michiel van Vugt, but the final scoreline of 7-4 in HGC’s favour means that Rotterdam will play in the 3rd/4th place match against Club Egara tomorrow.
