Ukrainian Men defeat Sweden 4-3 in seven goal thriller in EuroHockey Nations Championship II
Late fight back by the Ukrainian Men led them to an important victory in EuroHockey Nations Championship II as they defeated their Swedish counterparts 4-3 in their last Pool C match played in Vinnitsa, Ukraine on Sunday, August 14 the final day of the championship.
The game was pretty entertaining and sensational as the Swedish Men dominated entirely the first half and the early part of the second half scoring two goals in the first thirty five minutes and a solo goal in the second part of the game while the hosts,
Ukrainians, remained goalless in the first thirty five minutes but in the last thirty minutes of the second half they really shocked the Swedish athletes by scoring four goals in that span of time.
The first half started slowly as both the teams struggled to find their way into the opposite’s net but they remained unsuccessful in the early minutes. The game got the momentum in the middle of the first half where both the opponents were putting more
and more pressure on opposite’s defence line with Swedish Men dominated the most part later in the first half. However, the Swedish Men opened their account latterly in the first half when Magnus Mattson scored the opening goal in the 23rd minute,
a wonderful field goal that put Sweden ahead of Ukraine. Just five minutes after the first goal the Swedish Men doubled their lead when Johan Bjorkman converted a penalty corner into their second goal that lasted till the interval.
The second half also started with a great action by the Swedish Men as they tripled their lead three minutes into the second part when Karl Hemvik beautifully converted another penalty corner in to goal. But the last thirty minutes showed the other side
of the coin as the local boys came back strong to stun the Swedish athletes. Ukrainians finally broke the deadlock by scoring their first goal in the 40th minute when Oleh Polishchuk made a wonderful field strike. It took almost another ten minutes
as the Ukrainians doubled their lead in the 51st minute as again there was Oleh Polishchuk with a sensational field goal.
Reducing the Swedish lead to just one goal the Ukrainian did not stop at that instead consistently gained the momentum and levelled the score just four minutes after their second goal when Serhiy Suprun brought a beautiful field goal in the 55th
minute and thus levelled the scoreboard. The remaining fifteen minutes proved a very hard battle among the sides but it was again all for the Ukrainians who scored the winning goal just two minutes before the close of the play when Artem Ozerskyi converted
a penalty corner in to the decider in the 68th minute.
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