Things in Round 1.1 of the EuroHockey League took a turn for the better this morning when were spared the rain for all of two matches, a record for this wet and miserable weekend so far. We are, however, promised rain for later. On the pitch there was some good news too for fans of English hockey.
East Grinstead seem to be still trying to bed down their star-studded team as they struggled to overcome Polish side Grunwald Poznan in their final Pool G match this morning.
Grinstead had gone two ahead in the first few minutes, the first from Mark Cleghorne and the second from Ashley Jackson from the penalty spot. But Poznan had long periods when they seemed to have the better of the English side, and they were rewarded with 22nd minute penalty corner conversion by Tomasz Dutkiewicz.
East Grinstead increased their lead mid-way from the second half when Danny Hall slotted in a third, but the Poles kept fighting until the final whistle when Dutkiewicz scored again from a penalty corner. Final score 3-2 to East Grinstead, but they clearly have some work to do to knock their team into shape. They certainly have the staff to do it.
In contrast, Beeston looked magnificent against the highly fancied Spanish from RC Polo de Barcelona, last season’s finalists. Beeston knocked two in in the first five minutes, although the first of the two was disallowed on video appeal. The successful goal was by David Ames.
This is not the best Polo side I have seen, but they are still highly competitive and fight for everything, so it was no surprise that they equalised just before the break. In fact goal number three was also credited to Polo, only it was their misfortune that it was off the stick of Alex Carles and into the back of their own goal.
At 2-1 up, Beeston were put under enormous pressure, but kept their heads with some super defending. With 11 minutes left, a sublime deflection off a long pass got Jonathan Beckers name on the scoresheet and gave Beeston a well deserved 3-1 win.
Both English teams head their pools, which impacts on the seeding when it comes to Round 2. Also qualified from the pools in which Beeston and East Grinstead played are Barcelona and Dinamo Elektrostal.
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