5-8 April 2007, Corradino, Malta

POOL A
HK Zelina (CRO)
Cardiff University (WAL)
Rosco Budapest HC (HUN)
RCOR-MIF Minsk (BLR)

POOL B
Eagles HC (GIB)
Slagelse HC (DEN)
Seinäjoki United (FIN)
Sliema Hotsticks HC (MAL)

7th April 2007
Match Schedule
The following match schedules have been amended since first publication.

Day 1 : Thursday 5 April 2007

Cardiff Uni in Europe
In what was to be their first match in Europe for a number of years, the failure of the Hungarian team to arrive meant that they were disqualified from the tournament. Cardiff will now start their fixtures against the Bulgarians from Minsk who had a 5-0 victory in their first match against HK Zelina from Croatia. The other group’s results showed a difference in class between the teams with 8-1 and 9-0 wins for Eagles (GIB) and Slagelse (DEN) respectively.

Day 2 : Friday 6 April 2007

Cardiff Uni in Europe
Cardiff's first match ended in a hard fought victory over Minsk from Belarus. The Uni had difficulty in adapting to the style of their opponents for the first 15 minutes and seemed unable to maintain possession. Goalkeeper Ian Ferguson was called on a number of times to keep Minsk at bay but had little chance when a penalty stroke was awarded against the Uni. when they failed to deal with an overhead pass resulting in a missed time challenge. Not to be outdone, within 2 minutes Cardiff had drawn level through their own penalty stroke from Duncan Courtney following a deliberate foul by the Minsk goalkeeper. Cardiff were now taking control of the match and a fine individual run by Martin White ended with him striking the ball into the roof of the net to enable Cardiff to go into half time leading 2-1. Cardiff continued to pressurise their opponents and Martin White scored his second and the University's third from a narrow angle. A flurry of yellow cards awarded against players from both teams allowed each to gain some control for periods of time but despite a number of penalty corners being conceded Cardiff ran out worthy winners 3-1. They now face Zelina (CRO) in their final pool game and must feel confident of taking 1st place in the pool. In other matches, Eagles (GIB) recorded the highest score of the tournament against Seinäjoki (FIN) who have only 10 players in their squad. Eagles now face Slagelse (DEN) with the winner being guaranteed top spot in Pool B.
 

Day 3 : Saturday 7 April 2007

Cardiff Uni in Europe
Cardiff ensured they would be playing in one of the promotion matches after a hard fought victory over HK Zelina of Croatia. In a fairly even first 20 minutes both sides tried to command their opposition without success until Nick Gough opened the scoring (23') which was quickly followed by the University's second from Martyn White (27'). With the 2 goal advantage Cardiff played some good open hockey which was further rewarded by their third through Captain Paul Hayes on the stroke of half time. Although Zelina reduced the arrears following a penalty stroke (48') Cardiff replied immediately through Tom Nicholas (49') and saw the game out 4-1 to set up a winner take all match against Slagelse (DEN) tomorrow (Sunday). The other promotion match will be Minsk (BLR) against Eagles (GIB) with the latter having beaten Slagelse 4-1.
 

Day 4 : Sunday 8 April 2007

Cardiff University deservedly won promotion in their play off match with a professional performance against Slagelse (DEN). Playing some of the best hockey seen all weekend Cardiff opened their account with a deflected goal from Martyn White after just 7 minutes. Slagelse were never allowed to play their own game and Cardiff dominated throughout with further goals from White (penalty corner 28'), Gavin Vollmer (39') and David Hughes with another penalty corner after 44 minutes. Although Slagelse pulled a goal back late in the game the result was never in doubt with White completing his hat trick a minute before the end. The University can be justifiably proud of their achievement and the professional manner in which they played should hold them in good stead for next season when they will play in the Gerrard League Premier 1 division.

Final Rankings
=1st  Cardiff University (Promoted)
          RCOR-MIF Minsk (Promoted)
=3rd  Eagles
        Slagelse HK
=5th  BDO Sliema Hotsticks
        HK Zelina
7th    Seinajoki Utd

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