Lousada and Pomorzanin both fight back to win promotion – Men’s Challenge I final day round-up

KS Pomorzanin Torun and AD Lousada won their final men’s EuroHockey Club Challenge I battles in Croatia to earn Poland and Portugal promotion tickets as they saw off Grammarians and hosts HK Zelina, respectively.

Lousada were first to get their win following a helter-skelter start to the tie. Zelina netted twice in the first five minutes via Mario Ilinović and Domagoj Hrupec for a 2-1 lead.

But the Portuguese side did not panic; they were level in the 23rd minute courtesy of Ricardo Teixeira and went ahead of the first time through Carlos Almeida; 3-2 at half-time.

It stayed lively throughout the second half until Jose Santos put daylight between the teams at 4-2 with six minutes left.

Pomorzanin also needed to come from behind to defeat Grammarians. The Gibraltar side missed an early stroke but did go in front via that method in the 36th minute from Eric Casciaro.

But the deficit did not last long as Lukasz Kurniewicz equalised and then Dmytro Luppa – the tournament top scorer – struck the conclusive goal with four minutes to go.

In the earlier games, Polisportiva Ferrini Cagliari ASD stayed up with a 7-3 success against Soroksári – Olcote HC, as did HK Lipovci with a 5-3 victory over Lithuania’s Šiauliai Ginstrekte ŠSG.

** Follow all results, pools, and game stats below from the EuroHockey Club Challenge I, Men in Sveti Ivan Zelina

All games are available to re-watch on www.eurohockeytv.org 

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