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3rd June 2006
Cardiff men through to Euro Promotion
play-offs
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Friday 2 June 2006
Cardiff stay on course for Promotion
play-offs
In their second game Cardiff faced Lamas of
Portugal who had proved their resilience in
their first game by coming back from two goals
down
to draw with Lazio of Italy. Cardiff started
strongly, dominating the early exchanges, and it
wasn't long before they had their reward. In the
sixth minute Che Makan converted a cross from
Bevan Hari to open the scoring, and only a
minute later Hari scored himself to double the
lead.
Lamas were restricted to few chances, but
eventually managed to pull a goal back late in
the second half through a penalty flick.
As they had done in their first game, Lamas then
managed to find an equalizer early in the second
half with a goal on the counter attack.
After that it was all Cardiff pressure, but the
star of the show was the Portuguese goalkeeper,
who pulled off three outstanding saves. In
addition to an astonishing save by a defender to
deny Tim Jones, this secured Lamas a 2-2 draw,
which they were clearly the happier with.
In the other group game Lazio beat Hungarians
Epitok 12-1, which means that Cardiff require a
draw in their last game to make the promotion
play-offs.
Saturday 3 June 2006
Cardiff earn late, late draw to take
promotion play-off place
In the early game, Lamas of Portugal beat Epitok
14-2 to secure their place in the play-offs and
leaving Cardiff needing a draw against Lazio to
progress. However, Cardiff started unusually
sluggishly and allowed Lazio to exploit their
expertise at penalty corners to take the lead,
despite two good saves from Steven Gardiner.
Cardiff rallied though and equalized through a
penalty corner of their own, with Mark Ramage
scoring after hitting the ball harder than has
been at any time in this tournament. There were
chances for both sides after this but the half
ended 1-1.
The first ten minutes went all Lazio's way,
as they first went 2-1 up through another
penalty corner and the 3-1 from a penalty flick.
Things looked even bleaker for Cardiff when
Steve Perchard was yellow carded for a mistimed
last ditch tackle, but Lazio then lost two of
their own players, one for taking a swing at
Mark Ramage and another for a brutal tackle of
Tim Jones. During this period they halved the
deficit when Che Makan scored from close range
and the momentum was with Cardiff. By now the
neutral spectators were firmly behind Cardiff as
the Italians' constant play-acting and time
wasting was loudly booed and derided.
Cardiff came close to the crucial equalizer
when Che Makan hit the crossbar and Bevan Hari's
drag flick was superbly saved. With ten seconds
left on the clock Cardiff had their final chance
- a penalty corner. From this Mark Ramage
smashede the ball onto the top of the backboard
to take Cardiff through to the play-offs.
Unfortunately the inevitable celebrations were
marred by some ugly scenes as Brendan Noble was
hit on the back of the head by an Italian stick
and Cardiff players and umpires were confronted
by the angry Lazio players.
Tomorrow Cardiff play hosts Mladost for
promotion..
Click here to view competition
results
For information regarding the Welsh Hockey Union,
please contact
Chris Brewer on 02920 573940
or email
[email protected]
Please note: Information
published in news stories was correct at the time
of publication. Information, circumstances and data
may have chance since.
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