Kelburne make it to the final

EUROPEAN CLUB CHAMPIONS TROPHY –  DAY
3

Glynhill Kelburne made it into the final of the European
Club Champions Trophy in Lille, but made heavy weather of securing
the necessary 3-3 draw with Austrian champions SV Arminen yesterday
to finish top of the pool.  

Player/coach Mark Ralph predicted that this would be Kelburne`s
most difficult game in the pool competition and he was proved
correct.   However, the Paisley side contributed to their
own problems with some sloppy defending and three yellow cards in
the second half which almost jeopardised their aspirations.

In the opening exchanges Kelburne goalkeeper Mark Fulton had to
make a couple of telling saves to prevent Arminen taking an early
lead.  The Scots came back into the contest and took the lead
with the goal of the tournament so far.  Chris Nelson took a
pass from Jonny Christie and from a narrow angle fired a vicious
reverse stick shot past the stranded keeper into the top corner of
the net. 

Kelburne`s route to the final seemed certain when Michael
Christie scored a second from close range after Mark Ralph, Michael
Bremner and Gareth Hall had carved open the Austrian defence. 
Then the wheels seemed to come off, with Ross McIntrye in the
sin-bin,poor defending allowed Sebastian Eitenberger to pull one
back for the Austrians.  Within seconds Kelburne`s two goal
lead was restored, a shot by Willie Marshall was illegally stopped
on the line by a defender and Alan Forsyth scored from the spot
with a low shot.   Again Kelburne`s failure to clear
their lines was punished by Arminen and Robert Bele made it
3-2.

The tensions of the occasion mounted, Michael Bremner was the
next Scot to visit the sin-bin and in the interim Manuel Grandits
levelled the score at 3-3

The Paisley defence recovered sufficiently to hold out for the
invaluable two points, and that included a late penalty corner save
from Mark Fulton, but again down to ten men with Jonny Christie
taking his turn in the sin-bin.    “We made it in
the end, not easy when we were reduced to ten players at three
points in the game.  We gave the Austrians too much leeway at
the back, we will need a stronger defence for the final,” said
Harry Coles, Kelburne`s manager.

Kelburne will play either hosts Lille or Italian side HC Bra in
tomorrow`s final at 15.15 local time.

In the women`s event Grove Menzieshill staved off relegation
with a 5-1 thumping of Italian side Libertas San Saba in
Belfast.   The only goal of the first half came from
Louise Baxter from a penalty corner rebound, although the Scots had
the ball in the net again at another set piece but it was
disallowed for a lifted first shot.

After the interval Grove began to tear the Italian defence
apart, an Ali Bell pass set up the second for Linda
Clement.    Clement scored the third from a
deflection on a Baxter initial shot, then Libertas scored their
only goal of the contest.   Undaunted Clement went on to
complete her hat-trick to make the score 4-1 and the same player
rounded a defender, squared the ball to Ailsa Wyllie to nudge home
for the fifth just on full time.

With Victorya Smolevichi (Belarus) and MSC Sumchanka (Ukraine)
drawing 4-4 in a later game, Grove will now play off for 5th/6th
place tomorrow.

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