Men’s EHL Ranking Cup
Mannheimer HC 5 (G Peillat, R Hartkopf, P Zmyslony M Schachner, J Wiegand) HC Minsk 1 (M Staradub)

Three late goals saw Mannheimer HC eventually break the shackles to land fifth place from the men’s EHL Ranking Cup in Brasschaat, seeing off HC Minsk who earn ninth place for their weekend’s work.

Gonzalo Peillat started the scoring with a first quarter drag-flick and it was 2-0 midway through the second quarter when Christopher Held picked a nice passing line to Raphael Hartkopf. His reverse made it 2-0.

But, from there, Minsk proved a difficult opponent to break down with precious few gaps appearing in their defence. Mikhail Paulovich brilliantly denied Mannheim off the line, flying to the rescue to keep it at 2-0.

They also kept out a number of corners before having moments of their own as Ivan Liakh threatened to make a game of it.

Mannheim, though, out the game out of reach with six minutes to go, some delightful skills at close quarters from Paul Zmyslony. Minsk got their goal a minute later, Mikita Staradub delaying and delaying before eventually lifting the ball over the goalkeeper to cut the gap to 3-1.

But the joy was short-lived as Mario Schachner dived in at the back post to tip in their fourth and Justus Wiegand slapped in a corner rebound to close out the fixture.

Umpires: S O’Donnell (IRL), A Ortiz (ESP)