Men’s ABN AMRO EHL Ranking Cup
M7: Saint Germain 2 (P Parrilla, W-I Jeammot) Gantoise 4 (P Scheen 2, A Bugallo, E Tynevez)
It was hard work but Gantoise picked up their first ever EHL win with a 4-2 success against Saint Germain, giving them a 13th place overall in the rankings while Saint Germain had to settle for 17th.
The Belgian newcomers had a wealth of chances in the early stages and they went 1-0 up in the 11th minute when Pepijn Scheen found a route past Guillaume de Vaucelles. The French goalkeeper made a series of great saves while his defence put in a huge shift to limit the damage to two goals in the first half.
The second came from Agustin Bugallo in the 16th minute, brilliantly following up with a mid-circle volley. From there, Gantoise made most of the running but found the St Ger goal leading a charmed life.
On the flip side, St Ger were only denied a reply by the quarter-time whistle with the ball en route to goal when the hooter went.
A strange experience for Blaise Rogeau, playing for @LaGantoise against the @StGerHockey club he had been part of since age 5 for the first time! #EHL pic.twitter.com/2F8fQmWZXK
— Euro Hockey League (@EHLHockeyTV) October 1, 2021
The French side did grow in confidence to make a game of it, getting their first goal in the 45th minute when Pol Parrilla whipped home a penalty corner.
Scheen’s second corner restored the gap to two goals before Gantoise moved 4-1 clear with the pick of the goals, Etienne Tynevez deflecting in a lovely move. Incredibly, that came when Gantoise were down to nine players, the second time they had done that in two days.
William-Ike Jeammot scrambled in a second for St Ger with three minutes to go but too late to affect the outcome.
Umpires: S O’Donnell (IRL), D Rodriguez (ESP)