English clubs certainly put up a brave fight in continental competition but ultimately failed to make it count when it mattered across a weekend of top European men’s and women’s action.
Amy Costello, a GB women’s reserve at Tokyo 2020, shone for her new side UHC Hamburg as her penalty corner double earned victory for the hosts over Surbiton women.
The German side finished in fifth at the women’s ABN AMRO EHL Ranking Cup in Hamburg with the English side settling for sixth in a tight contest, while here you can see more online betting promo codes.
The deadlock was broken in the 11th minute when former East Grinstead star Costello powered her shot through the defences of Sabbie Heesh.
Surbiton captain Sarah Evans had a clean drive slip just wide but while they could not make full use of their corner chances, UHC nailed their second goal with Costello ripping one down the glove.
UHC held on for the victory to boost Germany’s Ranking Table coefficient while Surbiton had chances to claw back the deficit.
Three second quarter goals put Hampstead & Westminster on course for a strong 4-1 win to earn a share of 13th place overall from the men’s ABN AMRO EHL Ranking Cup in B, with Three Rock Rovers ending 17th in Braaschaat.
The Londoners went in front in the 17th minute when Matt Guise-Brown nailed his side’s second penalty corner.
Josh Kelly doubled up within a minute when he followed up from a Conor Quinn save; Matt Ramshaw took over the flicking duties for their third corner and duly made it 3-0.
Rovers, meanwhile, got on the board via Jody Hosking’s pin-point reverse-stick shot which picked out the bottom corner, 3-1 at half-time. On the break, Joe Sharp got off the turf quickly to slip home from close quarters to put the game to bed.
On Saturday, Hampstead and Surbiton had both endured shoot-out defeats after putting up fine performances.
Loic van Doren and hosts KHC Dragons produced a sublime shoot-out to beat Surbiton and reach the fifth place playoff against Rot-Weiss Köln, with the English side ending with a 13th place ranking after a 1-1 draw. Dragons then slotted home all their shoot-out efforts.
Felix Denayer then put on a showcase to delight the home Dragons crowd as they closed out the weekend with a 5-1 win over Rot-Weiss Köln.
Earlier, 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.
Meanwhile, East Grinstead women were also in action in the EuroHockey Club Trophy. They began with an 8-1 defeat to Gantoise HC on Thursday before responding in style as a hat-trick from Sophie Bray saw them beat Lille 7-0.
They then lost 4-3 to Spanish side Sanse Complutense and on Sunday were defeated 5-0 to Belgium’s Braxgata as the West Sussex side finished fourth overall. Bray finished with four goals.
