BELARUS 10 GREAT BRITAIN 5

Belarus ended Great Britain’s dreams of a medal in the LEN European Nations Trophy at the Manchester Aquatics Centre with a quarter-final victory.

Britain will now play Ukraine again on Sunday in a bid to win fifth place in the competition. They have already secured qualification for the European Championships qualification tournament, where they will vie to compete against Europe’s best. Belarus will play tournament favourites Montenegro in Saturday’s semi-final.

Adam Scholefield broke the deadlock after three-and-a-half minutes, scoring from five metres into the bottom right of the Belarus goal. Tom Curwen doubled the advantage. His powerful shot from the left wing hit the left-hand upright before ricocheting into Mikhail Yazerski’s net off the Belarus goalkeeper’s head.

But Belarus scored four goals without reply. Captain Dzmitry Vankevich got the first and Siarhei Fralou levelled. Dzmitry Kulik then put Belarus ahead for the first time and Armenaic Elizbaran gave Belarus a two-goal cushion at the end of the first quarter.

Curwen converted his seventh five-metre penalty throw of the competition to claim his second goal of the game and reduce the deficit to one but when Scholefield was sent out at the other end, Kuzmenko’s skip shot beat Scott for Belarus to re-establish a two-goal lead.

Kulik netted from an extra man and then Ivan Kulakov claimed Belarus’ seventh, leaving Britain to overcome a four-goal deficit in the second half.

The first goal of the second half came after 3:42 of the third period, when Vladimir Basic’s shot from six metres arrowed into the top-right corner. Mark Banwell scored Britain’s fourth from a 6-on-5 but Kuzmenko grabbed a quick reply for Belarus. Curwen then missed a penalty.

Fralou earned his third personal foul for a challenge on Rob Parker, but Britain’s extra-man failed again. Scott saved from Alexcei Zalugnyi, but then Carpenter fouled the Belarus centre forward to concede a penalty, and Elizbaran scored from five metres. Curwen scored a penalty 1:59 before the end but it was too late.

Result: 10-5 (4-2; 3-1; 2-1; 1-1)

Belarus: 1. Mikhail Yazerski, 2 Ivan Kulakov (1 goal), 3 Aliaksandr Andrayuk, 4 Dzmitry Kulik (2), 5 Alexcei Zalugnyi, 6 Armenaic Elizbaran (2), 7 Aliaksandr Navumenka, 8 Dzmitry Vankevich (Capt, 1), 9 Siarhei Fralou (1), 10 Aleksey Kuzmenko (2), 11 Uladzimir Martyniuk, 12 Vladimir Basic (1), 13 Kanstantsin Kavaleuski

Great Britain: 1 Ed Scott, 2 Sean Ryder, 3 Mark Banwell (1 goal), 4 Scott Carpenter, 5 Craig Figes (Capt), 6 Andrew Squires, 7 Alex Parsonage, 8 Tom Curwen (3), 9 Rob Parker, 10 Adam Scholefield (1), 11 Chris Gilbertson, 12 Matthew Thresher, 13 Matthew Birch

MACEDONIA 15 UKRAINE 8

Macedonia advanced for a semi-final meeting with France with a comprehensive victory over Ukraine on Day Six of the LEN European Nations Trophy at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.

Following two defeats in two days – the first on Thursday night, 10-9 to hosts Great Britain – Ukraine will now await the losers of the quarter-final between Belarus and Great Britain in the 5-6th play-off on Sunday.

Ukraine struggled to combat Macedonia’s centre forwards, who earned numerous exclusions, while the team from the former Yugoslavia were also prolific shooting around the arc. Risto Maljkovic and Ivan Vuksanovic each found the net four times.

Centre forward Marko Basic was the focal point of the Macedonia attack and caused Ukraine no end of problems, particularly captain Kostyantyn Shevchenko who was excluded twice in the first period for fouls on Basic. Basic put his side in front, but Serhiy Grishyn equalised. Macedonia then scored four goals without reply. Firstly, skipper Saso Popovski scored a man-up goal after Shevchenko’s first personal foul. Then Vuksanovic added a third goal.

Volodymyr Voytenko conceded a penalty for fouling Marko Micic, but Vuksanovic saw his shot saved by Denys Volonchuk. Maljkovic scored twice, the second after Shevchenko was sent out for a second time. Then Ukraine replied through Denys Kolesnikov after Micic had been deemed guilty of a personal foul.

Basic put Macedonia four goals up once more, but Tymur Shylin pulled one back. Micic scored his first and then Yevgen Obedinskyy pulled one back again. Roman Olefirenko fared little better as Shevchenko’s replacement, and was excluded before Maljkovic completed his hat-trick inside the first half.

Maljkovic and Vuksanovic took Macedonia to double figures early in the second half with outside shots. Vuksanovic scored from five metres to complete his hat-trick. Kolesnikov scored his second of the match when Radislav Kocovski was excluded. Vuksanovic grabbed his fourth on the counter attack to restore the seven-goal advantage.

Vladimir Kreckovic was excluded and Kolesnikov got his hat-trick from the resulting man-up. But Macedonia hit straight back, when Kreckovic broke away to beat Petro Radivilov when through one-on-one. Voytenko grabbed his first, but Macedonia replied through Micic to retain a unassailable seven-goal lead with little over two minutes remaining.

Kreckovic lobbed Radivilov for his second of the quarter and Vadym Kozlov got Ukraine’s eighth with 17.9 seconds left.

Result: 15-8 (5-2; 3-2; 4-1; 3-3)

Macedonia: 1 Milos Urosevic, 2 Sava Isakovski, 3 Ivan Vuksanovic (4 goals), 4 Risto Maljkovic (4), 5 Nenad Ivanovski, 6 Saso Popovski (Capt, 1), 7 Marko Micic (2), 8 Vladimir Kreckovic (2), 9 Nenad Petrovic, 10 Marko Basic (2), 11 Radislav Kocovski, 12 Bobi Kuzmanovski, 13 Darko Stosic

Ukraine: 1 Denys Volonchuk, 2 Kostyantyn Shevchenko (Capt), 3 Tymur Shylin (1 goal), 4 Vadym Kozlov (1), 5 Volodymyr Voytenko (1), 6 Roman Olefirenko, 7 Denys Kolesnikov (3), 8 Vladyslav Soslovskiy, 9 Sergiy Pantyukov, 10 Yevgen Obedinskyy (1), 11 Igor Piperko, 12 Serhiy Grishyn (1), 13 Petro Radivilov

BELGIUM 9 ISRAEL 10

Israel won through for a match with Turkey which will help determine the 7-10th place teams at the LEN European Nations Trophy with a close win over Belgium.

The teams tussled frantically to avoid the unwanted Saturday fixture for the Wooden Spoon. Belgium were ahead after the first and second quarters but imploded in the third, conceding four times without reply. They won the fourth 5-3, but it was too little, too late and they will play their seventh and final match at the Manchester Aquatics Centre bidding to win an 11th-place finish.

Amit Seker, the Israel captain, put his side in front only for Samuel Gomez to equalise with an outside shot. Ori Raz was excluded and Michael De Boever scored from the resulting 6-on-5 for Belgium to take a one-goal lead at the end of the first quarter.

Israel hit back 21 seconds into the second period when centre forward Ofir Golombek showed strength to score. Niels Verhegge was excluded but Israel’s man-up failed and Belgium broke to go ahead again through Cedric Grammens. Seker then received his first exclusion and Belgium captain Tom Van Oost scored from the extra-man attack. But Israel replied once more through Golombek’s second of the quarter after Thomas Delorge had been sent out.

Or Keren had a goal disallowed for an attacking infringement before Belgium lost Gomez for the remainder of the match. The Belgium No 7 showed dissent at a refereeing decision by throwing the ball at Shy Hemed from close range. Seker scored his second of the game to equalise from the 6-on-5. Israel scored again through Hemed and Navot Luria scored twice as Israel scored four unanswered goals in the third period.

Delorge turned the centre defender before being fouled by Israel goalkeeper Itamar Inbar, who conceded a penalty. Van Oost made no mistake from the five-metre line. However, Israel bounced back 17 seconds later, scoring through Dolev Koifman’s left-wing shot. Grammens scored his second of the game to take Belgium to within two, but Israel increased the lead once more when Verhegge received his third personal foul and conceded a penalty. Or Keren converted.

Van Oost brought his side to within two with his third goal, this time from a man-up when Hemed was excluded. But then Israel skipper Seker got his hat-trick when Stefen Van Tieghem was sent out. Kevin Chavepeyer restored Belgium’s lead for the quarter with 75 seconds of the match remaining. Or Keren was wrapped for dissent and Belgium called a time out with 18.7 seconds left. De Boever scored but it was too late for Belgium.

Result: 9-10 (2-1; 2-2; 0-4; 5-3)

Belgium: 1 Pieter Van Snick, 2 Stefen Van Tieghem, 3 Kevin Chavepeyer (1 goal), 4 Thomas Delorge, 5 Niels Verhegge, 6 Ken De Wilde, 7 Samuel Gomez (1), 8 Michael De Boever (2), 9 Cedric Grammens (2), 10 Tom Van Oost (Capt, 3), 11 Sammy Claes, 12 Niels Vanderlinden, 13 Michael Callens

Israel: 1 Itamar Inbar, 2 Shy Hemed (1 goal), 3 Ofir Golombek (2), 4 Navot Luria (2), 5 Maoz Gaver, 6 Or Keren (1), 7 Gil Lunliner, 8 Amit Seker (Capt, 3), 9 Ayal Keren, 10 Ori Raz, 11 Dolev Koifman (1), 12 Itamar Schwartz, 13 Alex Malkis

MALTA 13 IRELAND 6

Malta’s victory over Ireland gives them the opportunity to win seventh place in the competition.

However, Ireland, who were surprised to qualify for the LEN European Nations Trophy, will play their last game of the competition on Saturday, seeking to avoid last place in the 12-team competition.

Steve Camilleri scored six for Malta, while Graham Fogarty grabbed three for Ireland.

Ireland won plenty of exclusions, but their extra-man struggled to function and Malta countered well. Ireland showed plenty of fighting spirit, but they will need a much-improved performance to defeat Belgium or Israel in the Wooden Spoon match.

Camilleri opened the scoring on a fast break after Ireland’s 6-on-5 attack had failed. Matthew Zammit doubled the lead with a centre forward strike. Graham Fogary pulled one back with a man-up goal from the left wing after Karl Montfort had been excluded. But Malta scored straight back through captain Paul Privitera and Camilleri scored again on the fast break for a three-goal advantage.

Montford scored with an outside shot, before Mark Meli scored after Patrick Lowery had been excluded. Ireland failed to convert two more extra-man chances, but Malta made no mistake when Graham Fogarty received his first personal foul and Camilleri completed his hat-trick. Ireland centre forward Jonathan Kirk won a penalty when he was fouled by Paul Fava and Graham Fogarty managed to squeeze the ball under Josie Cachia’s arm in the Malta goal.

Camilleri scored twice in the third period but it could have been five as he was denied three times after putting the ball into the back of the net for an attacking infringement. Ireland could not breach the stern defence at the other end and were limited to speculative outside shots.

Michele Stellini scored an extra-man goal after Alan Fogarty had been sent out for Malta to go into double figures and they scored again when Zammit was fouled by Stephen Murphy. The centre forward took the penalty himself. Ireland replied when Montford received his third exclusion and Kevin Thornton scored from a well-worked extra-man move. Then Ireland’s Jonathan Donnelly stole the ball back from the centre before finding Jonathan Kirk in acres of space and the latter put the ball beyond Ian Bugeja, the Malta substitute goalkeeper.

Privitera added his second. Ireland substitute goalkeeper Eoin Doyle stopped Camilleri from adding to his tally with a save from the centre forward. Stellini was excluded and Ireland used their second time out. Meli was excluded as Stellini returned to the pool but Eoin Nolan managed to fire home to take Ireland’s total to five. Camilleri scored on the fast break to restore the eight-goal lead. And Malta called a time out with 30 seconds left. Graham Fogarty broke away when Ireland lost the ball and was found by Doyle before going through one-on-one to complete his hat-trick.

Result: 13-6 (4-1; 3-1; 2-0; 4-4)
 
Malta: 1 Josie Cachia, 2 Niki Lanzon, 3 Paul Fava, 4 Paul Privitera (Capt, 2 goals), 5 Mark Meli (1), 6 John Soler, 7 Steve Camilleri (6), 8 Jurgen Borg, 9 Karl Montfort (1), 10 Matthew Zammit (2), 11 Clint Mercieca, 12 Michele Stellini (1), 13 Ian Bugeja

Ireland:  1 Christopher Hodgkinson (Capt), 2 Alan Fogarty, 3 Eoin Nolan (1 goal), 4 Kevin Thornton (1), 5 Graham Fogarty (3), 6 Patrick Lowery, 7 Darren McHugh, 8 Jonathan Donnelly, 9 Ciaran Walshe, 10 Jonathan Kirk (1), 11 Michael Kelleher, 12 Stephen Murphy, 13 Eoin Doyle