Benjamin Croxall leads Wales to victory over Belarus 3-2 in EuroHockey Nations Championship
Benjamin Croxall’s strike in the dying moments led Wales to an impressive 3-2 victory over Belarus in the final Pool C match in the EuroHockey Nations Championship II played in Vinnitsa, Ukraine on Sunday, August 14, the final day of the championship.
It was quite an entertaining game where the Welsh men completely dominated the first thirty five minutes scoring two goals in that time while the Belarusians remained scoreless in the similar period. However, in the second phase of the game Belarusian Men
controlled the most part of the second half, gathered their energy and levelled the score by making a double strike but unluckily they fell short just two minutes before the close of the play as the Welsh Men scored the decider in the dying moments of the
second part of the game.
In the first half, the Welsh Men started well by gaining the momentum and the pace as the game moved forward but they had to wait for almost 15 minutes to open their account despite of some wonderfully created chances. However, the Welsh Men opened their
account midway in the first half when Huw Jones scored the opening goal in the 15th minute, a wonderful field goal that put Wales ahead of Belarus. Just five minutes after the first goal the Welsh Men doubled their lead when Mike Shaw converted
a drag flick into their second goal that lasted till the interval.
But the second half depicted the opposite story as the Belarusian Men summed up their strength and regained their momentum to find their way into the Welsh circle. It was just a matter of five minutes into the second half when the Belarusian Men ticked the
scoreboard for the first time in the match with Vitali Zyshchyk scoring the opener for Belarus in the 41st minute, an outstanding field goal and brought down the Welsh lead to a single strike. After a period of 15 minutes the Belarusian Men once
again entered into the Welsh circle, winning a penalty stroke there as one of the Welsh defender illegally stopped the Belarusian striker. Belarus levelled the scored in the 56th minute when Aliaksandr Radzivinovich made no mistake in converting
the penalty stroke into their second goal.
However, it was the dying moments of the match and both of the teams were fighting desperately for the victory when the Welsh Men succeeded in bringing the results into their favour just a minute before the match finishes. Welsh Men scored the deciding goal
of the match in the 69th minute when Benjamin Croxall did the job for Wales, a beautiful match winning strike.
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