Club Egara – Monkstown HC

Match report

Club Egara just about saw off Irish champions Monkstown as a 3-3 draw saw the Spanish side claim top spot in
Pool D, advancing to next Easter’s KO16.
Before the game, the equation was simple, Egara needed a
draw while Monkstown required a victory to top Pool D and it proved a huge
tussle for three quarters.
David Fitzgerald proved the key man for Monkstown in the
first half making a quartet of key interventions, the pick of which saw him get
an out-stretched toe to Eduardo Arbos’s snap shot on the turn.
He also kept out a corner and its rebound to keep the
scoreboard blank. While he was the key man, Monkstown did have plenty of good
moments on the counter and they grew into the match in the second half with the
skills of Lee Cole and Gareth Watkins opening up a number of chances. They were unable to convert from a corner, though, and Egara were the ones who
eventually took the initiative in a tension-filled phase of the game.
It came from a swift right wing attack from Josep Farres which Fitzgerald
got a touch to but Lluis Mercade was in the perfect place to gobble up the
chance and roll in to the goal. He celebrated in style.
It left Town needing two goals but it was Egara who were in
the ascendancy and won two more corners that Fitzgerald kept out. But they
could not hold out beyond and they fell 2-0 down in the 52nd minute
when Edi Tubau hammered the backboard.
Within a minute, he was tapping home the third goal from a
quick counter and that was the game done and dusted. Kyle Good got one back
from close range with four minutes to go and Gareth Watkins powered another to the roof of the net with 90 seconds left.And then Caruth bashed home a corner rebound for 3-3 with 12 seconds remaining but it was too late to deny Egara the ticket to the KO16.
Image Credit: Euro Hockey League/Frank Uijlenbroek. This image may not be reproduced without the explicit permission of the EHL or the photographer.